IBM, Indian Universities Develop Curriculum for 'Service Scientists'

• By Paul McCloskey
• 07/10/07

IBM Corp. has cut a series of curriculum development deals with Indian universities designed to train students in the field of "service science," skills associated with the burgeoning market for offshore technical services and support.

IBM said the field combines research and teaching in the fields of computer science, computer engineering, business strategy and management to help students develop the skills needed in a technology-based, services-led economy.

IBM has agreements with the Indian School of Business--Hyderabad (ISB), the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Science to develop the interdisciplinary curriculum, which it calls service sciences, management, and engineering (SSME).

In the United States several universities are also forming SSME programs, IBM said, including the University of California, Berkeley; Arizona State University; and North Carolina State University.

"The new academic initiative is designed to prepare graduate students for careers in the evolving multi-disciplinary field of services management," said Dr. C. Mohan, an IBM Fellow and Chief Scientist, IBM India, said. "In the 1950s, IBM made a similar effort to help establish computer science as a new academic discipline."

"We clearly need to develop a more systematic approach to services innovation if we are to sustain this vital new sector in the economy," added Dr. Guruduth Banavar, Associate Director, IBM India Research Laboratory, Bangalore.

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