MongoDB Partners with AICTE to Upskill 500,000 Students in India

MongoDB announced the expansion of its MongoDB for Academia initiative in India, through a partnership with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Education, Government of India. The goal of the partnership was to equip over 150,000 students with the skills required to use MongoDB Atlas, the leading multi-cloud developer data platform, through virtual internships facilitated by the SmartInternz learning platform developed by SmartBridge.

As part of the program’s expansion, MongoDB also announced a new partnership with GeeksforGeeks, a popular platform for computer science resources in India. This collaboration aimed to make the MongoDB Developer Learning Path accessible to all of GeeksforGeeks' 25 million registered users.

The MongoDB for Academia program, which launched in September 2023, provided training for students, curriculum resources for educators, and credits to use MongoDB technology at no cost, along with certifications to support students in starting their careers in technology. This initiative became critical as many Indian organizations faced challenges in finding developers skilled in building modern applications and leveraging emerging technologies like generative AI. A report from the National Association of Software and Service Companies revealed that India’s technology sector would require more than one million engineers with advanced AI skills over the next three years. By 2028, the sector is expected to have six million digital roles, with the available talent pool projected at 4.7 million workers, underscoring the need for increased collaboration between industry and academia to bridge the gap.

Dr. Buddha Chandrasekhar, CEO of Anuvadini AI and Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE, Ministry of Education, stated, "In India, we have a massive opportunity with the current wave of AI and modern technologies that will transform our lives and economy in the coming years. But to take advantage of that opportunity, it is vital our developers have the right skills. We’re excited to partner with MongoDB to help make that possible."

In response to this challenge, MongoDB for Academia partnered with AICTE, India’s authority on technical education, and SmartBridge to launch a virtual internship program through the SmartInternz platform. Aligned with the government’s Skill India Initiative, the program aimed to provide full-stack development skills to more than 150,000 students. Each internship included 60 hours of experiential learning, bootcamps, courses, and project work, all within simulated corporate environments, where students applied their skills, collaborated with peers, and received mentorship.

Amarender Katkam, Founder and CEO of SmartBridge and SmartInternz, commented, "We’ve seen great appetite and interest on our platform for modern database technologies like MongoDB. We want to equip students with knowledge of in-demand technologies so they have skills they need to become the job-ready candidates India's organizations are looking for."

In the past year, the MongoDB for Academia program had made significant progress toward its goal of upskilling 500,000 students. Over 200 partnerships with educational institutions had been established, and collaborations with government and private organizations had flourished. More than 100,000 students had already received skills training, with over 450,000 hours of learning completed, and hundreds of educators had been onboarded onto the platform.

Sachin Chawla, Area Vice President of MongoDB India, expressed his pride in the initiative, stating, "India loves developers and so does MongoDB. I’m so proud of the work our MongoDB for Academia team is doing to empower Indian developers and to support the next generation of tech talent in this country."

The program’s expansion also involved a partnership with GeeksforGeeks. This collaboration aimed to syndicate full-stack development courses across GeeksforGeeks' online and offline centers in India. Additionally, the MongoDB Developer Learning Path was expected to reach more than 100,000 aspiring developers through GeeksforGeeks' vast user base.