NIIT announces 13th Bhavishya Jyoti Scholarships

Company press release, August 6, 2003

New Delhi

NIIT, the IT training pioneer, has announced the 13th Bhavishya Jyoti Scholarships (BJS) to reward meritorious and financially challenged students enrolling for computer programs at NIIT.

Based on their performance in an All-India competitive written test, followed by a personal interview, NIIT will award successful students, fee waivers ranging from 15% to 100%. The application forms for the test are currently available at all the NIIT education centers across India. The admission test will be held on August 24, 2003.

The idea behind Bhavishya Jyoti scholarships is to attract meritorious students in the IT industry while helping financially challenged scholars to gain access to world-class IT education, said Mr. Pradeep Narayanan, Head, NIIT Education Business in India.

The Bhavishya Jyoti Scholarships were launched by NIIT in 1991 to provide skills to enable financially challenged meritorious students to pursue a career in computers and contribute to the nations trained manpower base. Till date, over 100,000 students have benefited from these scholarships and launched their careers in the IT industry.

Students who have completed their Class XII or equivalent and/or those currently pursuing graduation are eligible for the scholarships for Futurz and Maximedia programs. Students who are currently in VIII standard and above would be eligible for the scholarships for CATS programs while students currently in class VI or above are eligible for scholarships for the Swift programs.

Under Futurz, NIIT offers a series of programs--including GNIIT, DNIIT and CareerEdge-- helping students acquire strong computer skills. Its three-year integrated flagship career program - GNIIT, continues to offer students the most stable, strong and safe dual qualification option alongside college education. The two years at NIIT, gives a solid grounding on software concepts, engineering and skills, followed by an intense one year of Professional Practice in a company where the student picks up invaluable work experience, thereby becoming more work ready.

DNIIT, a foundation course based on latest curriculum, helps students get direct entry into the 3rd year of B Sc (IT) degree program from Karnataka State Open University and the 3rd year of B Tech (Software Engineering) degree program from Rajiv Gandhi Technical University.

NIIT's Curriculum for Advanced Technology Studies (CATS) provides in-depth training to experienced IT professionals on the advanced technologies, helping them to upgrade their skills and stay ahead of the competition. NIIT's alliances with technology leaders like Computer Associates, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Citrix and Sun Microsystems provide the CATS student a preview to the technologies of the future.

NIIT SWIFT programs are a series of simple, short and affordable training modules catering to diverse audiences--ranging from first time computer users to computer literates.

NIIT's multimedia training program Maximedia, available in duration varying from 6 months to 2 years, offers specialization in six areas including in Printing & Publishing, Web Authoring, Interactive Multimedia, Film Animation and Visual Communication.

About NIIT Training

NIIT pioneered IT training in India in 1981 and has evolved from a predominantly education company to an IT Solutions Corporation with balanced Software and Education revenues and a presence in 44 countries.

NIIT's distinct training programs include 'Planetworkz'--an IT Enabled Services (ITES) industry-endorsed initiative to address the manpower needs of the growing ITES industry in India; Futurz--A series of programs of varying duration including GNIIT and CareerEdge; CATS--Curriculum for Advanced Technologies Studies--offer training on advanced technology; SWIFT--Short Work Programs in Information Technology--caters to the IT and Internet literacy needs of people. NIIT has 3882 education centres in 31 countries.

NIIT@School delivers IT Training to over 7,50,000 students in 2000 schools while eGurucool addresses the K-12 curriculum support market through Study Assistance Programs. NetVarsity.com, the e-learning portal offers a distinctive blend of content, technology and services.

NIIT is the first and the only Asian Education and Training Organization to feature among the IDC top 15 global IT training market leaders. The company has been conferred the Best Training Company Award by Microsoft 2001.

For details contact:

Geetanjali Sharma

Ph: +91 11 26203377

Fax: 91 11 26203386

Email: geetanjalis@niit.com

Or

Shivanjali Singh

TBWA India PR

Ph: 91 11 26142292

Email: shivanjali@tbwa-india.com