Mumbai: Leading global consulting and information technology services company Satyam Computer Services Ltd (NYSE:SAY) and The University of Melbourne (MU), have signed a memorandum of understanding that will enable up to 10 students from Melbourne Information and Communication Technology to undertake a software development internship with Satyam each year.

According to Virender Aggarwal, director and senior vice president, Satyam, "Additionally, Satyam will recruit as many as 20 software engineers from the university every year."

The selected students will undergo a three-month training course in India and China, Raju added. Upon completion of the programme, Satyam will place them on projects in Australia, or one of its other 55 global locations.

The alliance enables Satyam and the university to carry out joint research projects and creates opportunities for Satyam executives to deliver guest lectures about the company''s core competencies to MU ICT students. In addition, both organisations will invest in collaborative research on futuristic IT solutions such as grid computing.

Rama Raju, Satyam's CEO and co-founder, and Professor Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis, deputy vice-chancellor, The University of Melbourne, signed the MoU.

Braach-Maksvytis called the alliance a major coup for the university, and for Melbourne. "We are very pleased and excited to have this formal collaboration with Satyam," she said. "Our students will have the opportunity for internships with Satyam, which will expose them to real-world problems in a commercial environment. It will clearly benefit both organisations."

Braach-Maksvytis also said MU looks forward to much closer collaboration and stronger research ties with Satyam, as well as opportunities for ICT knowledge transfer. "It is good to know that a company of Satyam''s caliber recognises the potential we have here in Australia. For example, Satyam has set up its largest Global Development Centre outside India here in Melbourne, and collaborated with Australian academia before."

Last year, Satyam had embarked on a similar initiative with the Victoria University. Students received intensive software training on the latest technology and were assigned to onsite and offshore projects, most of which involved data warehousing.