BWI: Wipro Partners with UMass Boston to Launch Fellowship Program on Science Education for US School Teachers

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: WIPRO
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 04:03 PM IST (10:33 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, People; Business: Business services, Education & training, Information technology, Major diversified industrial groups; Technology
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Wipro Partners with UMass Boston to Launch Fellowship Program on Science Education for US School Teachers
Program will Build a Cadre of Teacher Leaders over 3 Years

Boston, United States and Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Wednesday, August 29, 2012 -- (Business Wire India) -- Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) and the University of Massachusetts Boston today jointly announced the launch of a 12-month fellowship program in the US to train 120 school teachers over three years, with the aim of fostering excellence in science education among students from disadvantaged areas of Boston and New York.

The one-year Wipro Fellowship program for teachers is aimed at developing competencies and galvanizing their leadership potential to make them catalysts of change in their schools, districts and among educators.

"The US is the cradle of innovation. This program is part of Wipro's efforts to align with US' goal to engender an environment that continues to instill and nurture scientific temper and innovative spirit among young people", said T.K. Kurien, Chief Executive Officer of IT business and Executive Director, Wipro Ltd.

The program, to be entirely funded by Wipro, will identify 40 experienced science teachers in the Boston and New York areas - from those engaged with kindergarten to grade 12 - every year, after a rigorous selection process. The nomination process for the fellowship will commence in January 2013 and the selection is due to be completed by March 2013. The course is scheduled to begin on September 1, 2013.

Selected teachers will undergo 250 hours of intense capability development training by a team led by Arthur Eisenkraft, distinguished Professor of Science Education and Director of the 'Centre of Science and Math in Context' (COSMIC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Each teacher will continue to teach in their respective schools, and during the duration of the fellowship, they will also engage with local communities and other interested teachers to catalyze broader improvement. The program deeply integrates three dimensions to help enable this: leadership, reflective practice and adult learning.

The program involves a comprehensive set of activities that will seek to improve teachers' pedagogical and content knowledge with the aim of boosting the performance of underprivileged students.

UMass Boston will partner with a university in the New York City area and multiple school districts in the Boston and New York to administer this program.

Wipro's science education initiative aligns with the "Educate to Innovate" campaign that seeks to improve the performance of US students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

"The University of Massachusetts Boston community is grateful for Wipro's investment in the education and futures of our young people. Effective, engaging STEM education is crucial to students' success; we are delighted to play a role in providing Boston's teachers with new skills for imparting mastery in these fields," said UMass Boston Chancellor, J. Keith Motley.

"The program is designed to create a cadre of teacher leaders and help underprivileged students achieve excellence in science education. This dovetails with our goal of working with academia to identify and develop leaders of tomorrow. This is another step towards our vision to contribute to achieving high quality universal education." said Anurag Behar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wipro Limited.

Since the beginning of the last decade, Wipro has unveiled several initiatives aimed at remedying the ills plaguing India's education system. Wipro's Applying Thought in Schools is our initiative to help in societal change and development by improving the quality of education. Mission10X is a not-for-profit initiative by Wipro, wherein the company works with teachers to enhance employability skills of engineering graduates in India.

About Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT)

Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services, including systems integration, Information Systems outsourcing, IT enabled services, package implementation, software application development and maintenance, and research and development services to corporations globally. Wipro Limited is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally. Wipro also has a strong presence in niche market segments of Infrastructure Engineering and Consumer Products & Lighting. For more information, please visit our websites at www.wipro.com.

About UMass Boston

With a growing reputation for innovative research addressing complex urban issues, the University of Massachusetts Boston, metropolitan Boston's only public university, offers its diverse student population both an intimate learning environment and the rich experience of a great American city. UMass Boston's eight colleges and graduate schools serve nearly 16,000 students while engaging local, national, and international constituents through academic programs, research centers, and public service activities. To learn more about UMass Boston, visit www.umb.edu

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

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Wipro and UMass Boston Logos
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CONTACT DETAILS
Dirk Lewis (India), Wipro Technologies, +91 7760983976, dirk.lewis@wipro.com
Eric Belove (US), Wipro Technologies, +1 732 216 6242, eric.belove@wipro.com
Rahul Kadavakolu (UK), Wipro Technologies, +44 7920205496, rahul.kadavakolu@wipro.com
Crystal Bozek, Associate Director of Media Relations, University of Massachusetts Boston, +1 617 287 5383, crystal.bozek@umb.edu

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, PEOPLE, BUSINESS SERVICES, EDUCATION, IT, GROUPS, TECHNOLOGY

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