GUVI Startup ties up with US-based UiPath to host ‘Robotic Process Automation’ event to prep students for new age jobs, Post COVID-19

Chennai: GUVI (www.guvi.io), a startup incubated by IIT Madras and CIIE.CO-IIM Ahmedabad, has joined hands with UiPath, a global software company that develops a platform for Robotic Process Automation, to host ‘RPA SKILL-A-THON 2020,’ a National Level Intercollegiate contest in this emerging technology.

The key objective of GUVI, which offers an online platform for students to learn information technology skills in their native languages, in organizing this event is to prepare students for new age jobs post COVID-19 by giving them an exposure to Robotic Process Automation. More than 40,000 students from 220+ colleges across India are participating in the event, for which registration is free of cost. It is being held from 31st May 2020 to 4th June 2020.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the use of software with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities to handle high-volume, repeatable tasks that previously required humans to perform. Colleges/Students can enroll this course free of charge at www.guvi.io/rpa and also download the academic alliance version of UiPath for free once they enroll in this course.

Speaking about this event, Mr. S.P. Balamurugan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, GUVI, said, “UiPath is the leader in RPA across the globe and having them as ‘Course Authors’ in GUVI platform will benefit our student community to learn about this emerging technology. The course is intended for students and anyone else who wants to learn the basics of Robotic Process Automation. More jobs are expected in this domain and this alliance will lead the path to those jobs. GUVI, being a vernacular learning platform, will work to have these courses be made available in different regional languages shortly.”

More than 40,000 students from nearly 220 Colleges have been skilled through this ‘RPA SKILL-A-THON 2020’ initiative. This number is expected to reach 60,000 by end of 4th June 2020, when the event concludes.

Highlighting the unique aspects of this event, Mr. Manish Bharti, President, UiPath India and SAARC, said, “At UiPath, we believe in democratizing RPA to build a community of experts and drive our mission of a robot for every person. Companies and enterprises across sectors are turning towards automation to ensure business continuity. This will further accelerate new job opportunities, and also create a need for people to upskill. This partnership with GUVI is a step in the direction to create future ready talent and we are proud to have more than 40,000 people take up the program.”

GUVI is an integrated ed-tech platform in vernacular language, having a deep penetration in India with a presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges. It has already upskilled more than 3.5 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java, Deep Learning and Machine Learning, among others, and helped students gain placement in IT firms.

Through this five-day SKILL-A-THON, RPA will be introduced to students. The course assumes no prior knowledge of RPA and takes a use-case approach. It begins by defining a real-world, generic problem and how it can be solved in a non-RPA environment. The course goes on to teach skills that enable the students to create a robot using free UiPath software (Academic Alliance Edition) to automate the solution.

Separately, GUVI is also offering online IT skilling courses to prepare for campus placements and upskilling with up to 90 per cent discount to students been impacted by the nation-wide shutdown due to COVID-19.

The mission of GUVI is to take technology skills to all the deserving students and ensure demography is never a barricade to acquire skills. Towards this, GUVI offers technology skills that are in-demand in the industry in regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali besides English. GUVI is transforming lives by offering tech skills in the language, which the students are familiar throughout their life and is bridging the gap between academia and industry.