The inauguration of the Department of Software and Service Engineering, which was jointly established in Ningbo by IBM and Zhejiang University to foster future technology leaders to drive local economic development.

The department, named the Department of Software and Service Engineering and located in the university's Ningbo campus, is designed for postgraduates and aims to create a modern curriculum that combines theory with hands-on experience using the resources and experiences of both parties.

"The department has the mission of fostering talent qualified to compete in the global market and meet the demands of the local outsourcing industry," said Wu Zhaohui, vice president of Zhejiang University.

"We are inspired by the commitment and investment of IBM – an international IT company of the highest level. We are confident that the hard work of both parties will provide urgently needed support for both society and the enterprises." Wu said.

The service outsourcing market in China is flourishing, and Ningbo, as a rising force, is playing an increasingly important role. Over the past few years, the city has made remarkable progress in the scale, capacity and branding of its outsourcing industry.

The growing demand for outsourcing professionals, however, has begun to pose a serious challenge to the development of the industry.

Back in June, IBM and the university formed a strategic partnership aimed at expanding education, research and innovation cooperation, which was viewed as an important step of providing the outsourcing industry with qualified talents. And a few months later the Department of Software and Service Engineering came into being, marking the first milestone in this strategic cooperation.

"The establishment of the department will lay a solid foundation for the human resource needs of Ningbo's outsourcing industry as well as contribute to local industry upgrade and the city's medium and long-term economic development," Wang said.

According to Wang, more than 5,000 experts from the IBM China Development Center will provide their support as well as assure the department's quality with their skills and experience.

The department will train application-oriented software engineers specialized in software architecture, demand analysis, development and testing.

The courses will consist of basic courses, run by professors from the university; specialized courses, undertaken by IBM professionals; experimental courses; and training courses.

Classroom teaching will be combined with real-life experiments and all course materials will embody the latest technology.

IBM will provide local customer cases for discussion and simulate actual project development, which will train students in project planning, demand analysis, design, coding, testing and delivery.

A number of innovative teaching methods will also be offered, including the Master's Classroom and online tutoring, to create an effective platform for dynamic communication between students and IBM experts.

Aiming to foster talent for China's service industry, IBM has lived up to its commitment to support and contribute to education in the country. Since 1984, IBM has built partnerships with more than 50 Chinese universities, with the newly established department representing the most ambitious cooperation to date.

"IBM will send its experts and senior technicians to teach and provide students with work experience opportunities," said Cui Feng, general manager of Shanghai Laboratory of IBM China Development Center and Director of the Department of Software and Service Engineering.

"By helping students develop their skills through practice, we will create an innovation incubator which could be likened to a Huang-pu Military Academy of the Chinese IT industry," Cui said.