Details of the alliance would be announced soon, he said. Aptech's China venture would be the second foray into the Chinese market by an Indian company. NIIT has already been in China for over two years now. Another Indian software company, Infosys is also reportedly keen to enter the relatively untapped Chinese computer education market, official sources said.Aptech Ltd and its subsidiaries in the USA, UK and Singapore control the largest global training network of information technology (IT) centres, company officials said.

The company's entry to China has come at a time when China is increasingly stressing on it to step up the country's comprehensive national power and security. On Friday, the ministry of education announced that it would become a compulsory course in Chinese primary and middle schools from 2001.

Under this, senior and junior high schools around the country in urban and other areas will start compulsory it courses from 2001 and 2005 respectively, vice-minister of education Lu Fuyuan said. Chinese educational experts say that pushing forward IT education is vital for modernising and upgrading the education standards in the country's educational system.IT related sales in China reached $37 billion in 1998, 14.1 per cent more than sales of 1997.

Sales of personal computers is expected to touch $5.1 million units this year, 25 per cent more than 1998. China's largest personal computer maker, the Legend group, is one of the world's top 15 companies in this area in terms of market share in 1998. China has not developed a penetrating software industry, though it boasts a vast software market and the universally recognised fine software development resources, a news agency recently quoted Liu Jiren.

He said China's software industry is still in its infancy although it has 5,000 software companies.