Kochi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced that it will be opening admissions for two new highly specialized M.Tech courses this year in Embedded Systems Design and Information System Security for serving engineers, teachers in engineering colleges and engineering graduates.

K.R. Sreevathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor of IGNOU announced at a press conference recently that the two programmes would aim at meeting the standards and needs of the industry and the requirement for state of the art higher education programmes.

The M.Tech courses were launched under IGNOU's Advanced Centre for Informatics and Innovative Learning (ACIIL) through IGNOU's Regional Centre in Kochi.

The Rajagiri Educational and Charitable Trust, which has collaborated with IGNOU to launch the two programmes, will act as the specialised study centre.

The curriculum for both courses would be revised every year so as to maintain the currency of the course content and meet the expectations of the industry. Experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science and other industry experts would be roped in to revise the syllabus each year.

The programmes are scheduled to begin from July/August this year. According to IGNOU officials, the students opting for the programmes would be exposed to projects in top laboratories and industries during summer. Special lectures on emerging technologies would also be organized for the students.

This year, only 30 seats would be available for each course.