IBM donates $5M in resources to MSU

Officials from New York-based IBM today visited MSU to announce the school’s participation in the IBM Academic Initiative – a partnership that will provide free access to a range of IBM resources, valued at about $5 million.

Not only is there a shortage of college graduates with degrees in information technology, said Ron Bottin, dean of MSU business administration, but the students who do major in IT use outdated software in the classroom. The IBM partnership will allow MSU’s faculty to teach using the same technology that’s used at many companies across the country – and, in turn, better prepare students for the work force, he said.

“It’s software that’s a dominant player and used in a high percentage of Fortune 100 companies,” said Phil Farley, Academic Initiative program manager at IBM, at a news conference this afternoon. “The faculty won’t be teaching different concepts; they’ll just have a new set of tools.”

Those tools include courseware on Eclipse, Derby and IBM’s Rational Development Technologies, all to be available in more than half of MSU’s 11 application development courses.

IBM’s software uses open-source technology – a system widely used in large corporations that allows an application’s code to be altered by outside sources.

Considering the increasing demand for IT graduates, Bottin said that MSU would need to quadruple its current computer information systems enrollment of 400 students to meet the hiring needs of 2008.

MSU faculty members already have attended a software training session and have begun implementing it in their classrooms, Bottin said. All IBM resources should be available to students by fall.

IBM has partnered with nearly 2,000 universities in the Academic Initiative, though MSU is the first Missouri college to come on board. Bottin said the donation is the largest of its kind in MSU’s history.[[In-content Ad]]