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Published on March 24, 2008

However, this problem may be eliminated through a new internship programme which will allow senior computer engineering students to work on software development within the industry.

The programme, initiated by the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI), will train senior students on the software programming and development process so that when they graduate, they are industry-ready and able to contribute to their full potential.

The association is collaborating with the Office of the Commission for Higher Education, the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) and the Rajamangala University of Technology to help build a new generation of Thai programmers from across the Kingdom.

Somkiat Ungaree, the president of ATSI, said the programme will contribute to building the career of new graduates by equipping them with the programming skills needed in the industry.

As of now, the industry has to retrain new graduates for work in a real development environment, which costs the industry a lot of time and money.

With the internship programme, ATSI will help senior computer engineering students, especially from the Rajamangala University of Technology network, kickstart their careers.

Under the plan, each of the nine universities part of the Rajamangala University of Technology system will send their students for training and work at local software companies in the ATSI's network.

This group of students will have their own specific job description and work as part of the company's staff, Somkiat said.

The association is now in the process of designing the job format for the internship programme so that  students experience the actual work environment of a software development house, he said.

"Our hope is that this group of students, after completing the internship, will be able to join the workforce immediately.

This will help the industry with more human resources and reduce the cost of training new workers," he said.

The association hopes to train about 1,000 students from the nine campuses of Rajamangala University of Technology in the first year. The programme is expected to start this year and is expected to double that figure in the years to come.

Somkiat said the internship concept could also be applied to train students from other fields such as law, accounting administration and marketing.

"The software business requires people from fields apart from software development. We will train people from non-technical fields to understand the nature of the software business for support functions within the industry," he said.

The association is also working with Nectec and the Rajamangala University of Technology system to tailor the university's educational computer courses to better suit market demand. The modified courses are also expected to leverage skills of computer engineering students and encourage them to develop more intellectual property-based software innovation.

The course adjustment process is under way and the ATSI plans to invite technology companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, to join the project and help develop courses.

Somkiat said the internship programme, alongside the university course adjustment, will help the industry create industry-ready programmers for the market in big numbers.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation