IBM and Dalian Neusoft Institute of Information (NII) initiated a new personnel training project on Saturday in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Wen Tao, president of the Dalian Neusoft Institute of Information (left), Guo Changming, deputy director of Dalian High Tech Industrial Park(middle) and Henry Lin, director of IBM Greater China Group software brand, launch a new personnel training project on Saturday in Dalian.

According to the plan, they will take advantage of both the company's practical experiences and the institute's teaching resources to cultivate more interdisciplinary talents for China's IT industry.

The IT sector has continued its rapid growth in China. However, there is a huge shortage of high-level and application-oriented talents, Wen Tao, president of NII, said at the launching ceremony.

Wen said that as an institute focusing on IT education, NII has always cooperated with well-known IT companies in order to meet the needs of the employment market. The new project aims to provide IT talents who can quickly adapt to work after graduation.

Wang Qinxia, a senior executive with IBM GCG, said the program would bring new technologies and international standards to the students. According to Wang, IBM will participate in the overall process of the program, covering the aspects of constructing curriculum, assigning experienced trainers, compiling textbooks, establishing labs, and supporting graduates to obtain employment and so on.

The cooperation between IBM and NII dates back to 2002, when they signed a software talents education partners agreement. In 2008, the two signed an MOU to guarantee DB2 faculty training, introduce practical systems, and reform NII's teaching methods on database direction.

Since 2008, more than 1,000 students have benefited from the cooperative program between IBM and NII. The new project is expected to supply more IT engineers.