Veranda aims to increase students’ Employability Quotient through its Veranda Acacia Delivery Centres across the country

New Delhi : Veranda Learning Solutions Limited (“Veranda”), a public listed EdTech company (BSE: 543514, NSE: VERANDA), today announced the launch of Veranda Acacia, a comprehensive learning platform aimed to bridge the workplace-ready IT skills gap in India, through a nationwide network, with the signup of its first set of Delivery Centres across 25 locations.

The Acacia Phase 1 programs for Full Stack Web Development, Cloud and DevOps, as well as Data Science are aligned to Competency Standards developed by SSC NASSCOM in collaboration with Industry and approved by Government of India. IT-ITES Sector Skills Council NASSCOM is the national standard-setting body for IT Skills set up under the aegis of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Ministry of Skills Development & Entrepreneurship of the Government of India (GOI). The programs are based on an outcome-oriented approach that focuses on enhancing the learners’ employability quotient through a 100% practice-oriented and industry-aligned curriculum, a regimental pedagogy, and a robust placement support mechanism.

Acacia programs (career tracks) are fully aligned to the contemporary and emerging needs of the skilled workforce at IT industries, based on regular interactions with partner organisations, to provide them with work-ready college graduates. These career tracks are offered to the undergraduate and postgraduate students, both at Acacia’s Delivery Partner Centres and in institutional campuses. A total of six career tracks are offered, three each in Phase 1 and Phase 2, namely Full Stack Web Development, Cloud and DevOps, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Mobile App Development, and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Speaking about the launch of Veranda Acacia, Mr. Kalpathi S. Suresh, Chairman cum Executive Director, Veranda Learning Solutions, said, “All our programs are outcome-driven and with Veranda Acacia we aim to bridge the current skilled workforce gap in the tech sector. We will deliver high quality, affordable, and experienced instructor led courses across tier 2 and tier 3 towns to enable learners to quickly integrate within the industry in the coming 12 months. We are committed to investing in People, Product and Performance for providing students with sustained career excellence. We are working with several tech companies to provide them with a skilled workforce that can assist them in achieving their growth trajectories.”

All the learners enrolling in Acacia’s career track are not just trained for the employment-aligned tech stacks, but also provided with an all-round placement support encompassing technical and non-technical interview preparation, soft-skills training, resume, and portfolio building and mock interviews. The learners will have access to its one-of-a-kind placement terminal with direct feed to the recruiters while creating interview opportunities for all the learners who meet the performance criteria. After successfully completing the above-mentioned aligned courses, and passing the SSC NASSCOM assessment, learners will be eligible for GoI Incentive scheme.

Through the FutureSkills Prime program, the Ministry of IT and NASSCOM have built an aggregator of aggregators platform to build an ecosystem of partners who will work together with us to bridge the yawning gap between the supply and demand of talent skilled in the digital technologies.

Commenting on the genesis of Veranda Acacia, its Business Head – Mr. Himanshu Dandotiya said, “With Acacia, Edureka forays into an offline business with hybrid mode of academic delivery through our partners. The Indian IT sector needs millions of work ready graduates, while on the other hand the employability of our graduates is nowhere close to the demand that exists. Having trained fresh recruits for several leading IT companies over the years, we have precisely framed this program for making a fresh graduate work-ready and deployable. The quick sign-up of our first 25 centres is encouraging as we already see this number growing significantly.”

Speaking on network expansion, Acacia’s National Head of Sales and Operations, Mr. Manish Mathur commented, “We at Acacia are committed towards building a state-of-the-art partner-network across India and soon beyond the borders of the country too. This will enable aspirants to learn new technologies with high-quality accredited content, while enhancing their placement quotient without migrating to cities. We strongly believe that this will make a difference to the demand supply gap and bring social equality.”

“We are very pleased to partner with Veranda Acacia to offer industry relevant IT courses with employable skills so that learners can secure long-term careers in the tech field, while providing us with a highly rewarding long-term investment opportunity. As Veranda Acacia’s Phase 1 programs are certified by SSC NASSCOM, learners are assured that the curriculum is based on an outcome-oriented approach that will bridge the gap in demand and supply of skilled IT professionals” said, Ms. R. Visalaakshi, Founder & Director, V NET Technologies (Delivery Partner).