Core Projects, ILFS, IGNOU join for revolutionary project

Coming together in a Higher Education project using the Space Age technology developed by the NASA sponsored Center of Higher Learning (CHL), CORE Projects & Technologies, Ltd. (CORE) has signed two Memoranda of Understanding with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd., (IL&FS), and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The projects involve a capital expenditure to the tune of $750 million and setting up of as many as 1,000 learning centres across the country.

The revolutionary project will create education content using space age technology – Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) – developed by scientists of the Center of Higher Learning (CHL) at the NASA Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. CORE has exclusive rights for this technology from CHL for the Asia Pacific region.

CAVE enables educators to take a dramatically different approach to imparting education. The Immersive Visualization technology allows users to be fully immersed in an Interactive 3D virtual environment. Research has shown that students retain information at a much higher rate when working in more tangible interactive 3D environments than when information is presented in textbooks or other flat, 2D representations.

Commenting on the MOU signed with CORE, Mr Rajsekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, said: “Deployment of this technology in classrooms will greatly enhance the ability of students to understand complicated topics. It will also enable them to conduct innovative experiments leading to cutting edge Research and Development efforts. The inherent talent and potential in our students will be exploited by the use of such advanced technology.”

Interestingly, it has been recently reported that the Planning Commission has allocated Rs. 84,000 crores for Higher and Technical Education over the 11th Five Year Plan, over and above the Rs. 1,25,000 crores allocated for primary education, indicating the Government of India’s commitment to enhance the reach and quality of imparting education to students in India.

Improving the quality of education has gained significance in view of a recent study that showed that only 23% of all management graduates are employable. Employability is a measure of the industry-readiness of the candidate as it is a combination of specific hard and soft skills that make one candidate better geared to handle business situations than another. Imparting Education in 3D interactive form will help develop these specific hard and soft skills.

CORE’s dual efforts with IL&FS and IGNOU will change the landscape of instructional technology and significantly improve the efficacy of learning materials, thus enhancing the quality of education and helping the education system to churn out professionals of the highest caliber, matching international standards.

Mr Sanjeev Mansotra, Chairman and Managing Director of CORE, said: “This business will add about USD 200 million per year to our top line and net accretion to post tax profits will be about USD 30 million per year in India alone. We also plan to set up similar centers in the Asia-Pacific region and in some parts of the USA.”

Under the MoU with CORE, IL&FS will provide the physical infrastructure for housing and locating the immersive visualization technology to be provided by CORE. In addition, CORE and IL&FS through its affiliate IETS will spearhead the development of content for teaching as well as prepare teacher training materials and packages.

Commenting on the collaboration, Mr Hari Sankaran, Vice Chairman of IL & FS said: “We have been closely involved in the evolving education landscape in India over the last decade. We are very excited about the prospects of bringing our vast library of content and curriculum on to the CAVE platform. The investment in education over the next few years will be the key to India’s growth and will play a significant role in unlocking the latent potential of our country’s humungous human resource assets. We are fully committed to playing a significant role in the Education domain with our partners like CORE”.

CORE will maintain a staff of visualization scientists trained by CHL to develop a substantial library of Immersive 3D Education Software titles. CORE and its partners will cover subjects ranging from Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry, Molecular Science, and Physics to training topics for Medical, Engineering, and Vocational students. CORE will create a path for a more effective way for students to learn subjects and explore concepts that were previously only available in the dry confines of textbooks.

IGNOU’s role in its unique partnership as per the MOU signed with CORE will be to set up Visualistion Laboratories at all its centers, suggest the educational content and provide subject matter experts in the development of the educational products. It will also develop an education program to cultivate additional visualization scientists to manage and maintain the Visualization Labs constructed at each IGNOU campus. IGNOU will advice and give recommendations for specifically tailored applications to be developed by CORE. IGNOU will also provide professional consultation in support of the creation of the IGNOU Visualization Labs in India and worldwide.

Core Projects & Technologies Ltd has been at the forefront of administrative school software. With several large application installations throughout the United States and UK, and with additional opportunities emerging in India, CORE is a leader in providing school administrators with the tools they need to help provide quality education to students.