ALCoS Overview

Action learning Centers of Software (ALCoS's) are being set up in Pakistan under the joint sponsorship of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) , and the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan(HEC), government of Pakistan, headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as its Chairman.

PLANWEL under PLANWEL was established in the year 1990. It is an institute of higher learning, focused on research and development and has been awarded and recognized as an ALCoS business Partner by the Pakistan government to set up specialized training institutes in the region, for imparting quality manpower training and skill enhancement in computer software in accordance to the needs and requirements of the international software market in target developed countries. Further The objectives of PLANWEL are to promote education and research in the region such that quality education could reach underprivileged masses globally . Education can, indeed, be used as a tool for developing countries to improve quality of life of underprivileged communities; in turn help the globalization process for the entire world. For this purpose, it is necessary to have an unified educational system able to cater for the entire underdeveloped population and translated globally. This educational system should be of a better standard and accessible globally compared to the present conventional system and should commence right from infant age to the highest educational level, including adult education; and also at an affordable cost. This however, will only be possible if the developed nations will share their part of knowledge base to the underprivileged masses of developing countries through the concept of Virtual University / distance learning.

ALCoS Objectives

The specific objective of this program is to create the most effective framework which allows profitable private investment in the Information Technology education sector on a widespread scale. The will to create and sustain an IT education industry in Pakistan is at the core of the ALCoS Program.

However, the ALCoS Committee, the regulatory body of the ALCoS Program, will only exercise macro-level controls, which ensure that a level of quality is maintained to cater to the export market. The immense diversity and specialization in the software industry allows a massive capacity for absorption of training institutions.

The ALCoS Program ensures that all this capacity is available to investors in this area by allowing us to tailor a large part of the curriculum to our chosen area of expertise. This will create a varied market of software education institutions which will churn out graduates who are well-versed in specific areas of software rather than having generalized skill-sets which then have to be adapted to their employer's preference.

ALCoS Business Opportunities

The prime attribute of the ALCoS proposition is the vast capacity in Pakistan's software education market for absorbing diversity. The need for software engineers within Pakistan and in the export market is distributed across a wide range of platforms, languages, technologies, and even software products

PLANWEL ALCoS under PLANWEL will train software engineers of international quality both at Karachi (Phase I) and at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan (phase II), who will enter the market equipped with software development skills and engineering theory, basic management concepts, business communications, knowledge of the Internet, a brush of English and Japanese as well as plenty of experience in their own area of expertise. These graduates will be formidable candidates for employment in the most challenging environment possible. The PLANWEL ALCoS program has the power and the flexibility to make all this happen.

PLANWEL ALCoS is planned on purely commercial lines, based on the fees received from the trainees. No government contribution is being envisaged. PLANWEL shall act as the parent body only for policy guidance and institutional strengthening. The members of the Board of Management of PLANWEL are a select group of national and international professionals and shall act as an Advisory body. The academic, administrative and financial affairs shall be fully independent and autonomous controlled by the Director of the Planwel University.

The information technology industry is the fastest growing global industry. The combined business of computer hardware, Telecommunications, software and related support services already exceed one trillion US dollars. The growth prospects and high profitability of these high technology industries and perhaps more important, the strategic importance of the core technological competencies associated with producing and applying IT have attracted the attention of both the industrialized and developing countries. Software production is nowadays an industry, essential for the growth of the economy and as such the launching of programs to promote strong and indigenous software industries is a priority task. Software engineers are some of the most sought after professionals in the world today. Pakistan currently produces less than 200 international quality software engineers annually. The local demand for software engineers is not met by this number . There is widespread agreement that the single most important input to the software production process is skilled labor but equally that the relative lack of such skilled labor is the most serious constraints to software industry development. A huge expansion in Pakistan's software market is envisaged and, therefore, this initiative can only be supported by a commensurate increase in Pakistan's output of software engineers - the key requirements of which are: quality and volume. In shouldering this urgent responsibility, the Private Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and the The Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC) have launched this program in the private sector and this initiative has given birth to the Action Learning Centers of Software Program (ALCoS Program).

The ALCoS program offered on the pattern of a franchise which will have an identified value and standard of quality in the software market. This will ensure that ALCoS will immediately after its registration will assume a profile which is associated with identified levels of quality. Added to this is the advantage of being associated with and being marketed with the national software initiative. This translates into immediate recognition in the export market for graduates of ALCoS as eminently employable individuals who would have received training with an emphasis on the demands of the international software market

The Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC) is the apex body for the administration of university level and higher education in Pakistan.