This decision forms a significant part of the Centre's much talked about third mission, the exact details of which have still not been disclosed by the Department of Electronics.

In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express R K Arora, executive director of C-DAC, spoke in detail about the third mission which is being widely speculated in the supercomputing segment of the IT sector.

Springing a surprise which also gives an insight into its new strategy, C-DAC has decided to prioritise training in advanced computing.

``Currently we are holding dialouge with US based private IT enterprises and internationally acclaimedengineering colleges to enter into collaboration for providing most advanced IT training to the manpower in India,'' said Arora.

The task of this ambitious project will be assigned to Centre's Advanced Computer Training School (ACTS) which has proved a runaway success in the country.

The Centre was formed in 1992 to fulfill the mandate of creating high-quality manpower in advanced computing creating high quality manpower and the IT industry in general.

Keeping in view the IT industry requirements, the course content of ACTS was broadened from parallel processing to advanced information technology covering parallel processing, object oriented programming, MS Windows programming, UNIX, graphical user interface digital multimedia, data communication and networking.

``We want to impart the international standard training in advanced computing. The collaboration will help the Indian students to get exposure to world class technology right in their own country through C-DAC network,'' said Arora.

He addedthat new concepts will be introduced through these programmes taking into consideration the emerging disciplines in advanced computing.

The areas which will be focussed include data warehousing, datahouse management, internet technologies. Besides, the most talked about discipline of e-commerce will also be introduced.

Over the past years, C-DAC has franchised its training programmes to 18 ACTS. These same centres will now run the collaborative IT courses. The selection of ACTS for the education venture becomes more apparent if one considers the business generated by the education wing.

During the financial year 1997-98, ACTS contributed Rs 4.6 crore to the overall Rs 25.5 crore business earnings of C-DAC during the financial year 1997-98.