Patni signed a memorandum of understanding (with BITS Pilani through the ''BITS off-campus distance learning and collaborative programmes'' scheme to hone the skills of Patni employees for the growing product engineering services (PES) division.

Revenues of Indian IT companies from engineering services are growing exponentially with Nasscom estimating engineering services offshoring to be a $55 billion opportunity by 2020.

"BITS Pilani is one of the select universities offering a masters level program in embedded systems," said Prof. Natarajan, BITS Pilani. "Over the last three decades, we have built some strong industry-academia collaborations and are glad to extend our relations with Patni. The company has been instrumental in creating milestones in educational endeavours, and is the first company that we have tied-up with for hi-tech industries - medical devices, telecom, consumer electronics, storage, and automotive."

The programme has been customised to Patni''s needs, but would contain the same rigoyr and standards associated with the on-campus and corresponding degree offerings by BITS. Under the agreement, the employees would be deemed as BITS, Pilani students and trained by a combined faculty from Patni and BITS. The program would be available to all Patni employees, and the Company would further aid the students with financial support, course material and infrastructure. Virtual classrooms would be organised over the weekends for the participating students.

Patni also offers its employees an off-campus masters program in software engineering from BITS Pilani, with over 170 employees currently enrolled in the programme.