Infosys Technology's Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan in conversation

Interviewed by Miss.Sridevi Purayannur, Faculty - Amrita School of Journalism ,
Transcribed by Mr.Soyesh H, PGDJ Student , School of Journalism.


Sir, how do you feel about Amrita?

I feel that such institutes of higher learning are a must and especially, this institute where you look after the spiritual needs of the individual as well as the technical and technological education in this institute. Peace of mind is very much required to increase the rate of absorption of knowledge and I think this whole campus, whole atmosphere is very different and I think that’s what is interesting.

How do you compare the academic environment with the other universities in the country?

See, you are able to attract some of the best people. So, I cannot, I have to imagine, because I have not gone through with curriculum or coursework here. That in turn will result in very high quality education. Because it all depends on the teachers. The physical infrastructure anybody can see and which is good. It then depends on teachers. And you are able to attract some of the best teachers.

Infosys had conducted a massive recruitment process here a few days ago. And it did take about 19 students from our institution. We are also looking forward to some joint research labs with Infosys. Could you elaborate on these two points please?

We are recruiting constantly. As you know this industry is projected to grow around 25%, which means that this year alone the industry will recruit about 200,000 people. Infosys itself is projecting to recruit about 8,000 people. So you know, this is a good time to pass out because people will be after you to take up their offers. It is challenging even in this environment to get the best students and you have to try very hard which means go around the country conduct interviews, go through the rigorous filtering process to try and get the best people possible.

Regarding collaboration, there is interest from both sides, we have to come up with some one idea to start with, implement it and then take it forward. So, we have to figure it out. Infosys is reasonably well focused. We want to do only few things. Those few things we want to do very well. Probably in the area of computer science, may be there will be some opportunities and we will discuss that probably in the coming few weeks to see whether we can come up with something.

You have witnessed our e-learning network. Would you say this is the first-of-its kind e-learning network in universities in India?

As far as I know. There have been some attempts actually in one to one connection, ie from one location to another location. Probably this is the first of the kind where you are connecting multiple locations; you are conducting interactive sessions and you know something which is permenant. You create like a classroom, something is permanent and in that sense it is probably the first one.

How far- reaching do you think satellite-based education is going to be in, say, the coming 20 years or so?

It has to be a must. Especially in a country like India. If you go outside the tear one universities, the standard drops, then from the tear one universities then if you go to rural areas the standard drops as well as you don’t find teachers. So even in school education, college education, I believe leveraging technology is a must. We have to leverage technology to get education across the country. We still have a huge number of people, almost 500 million people, who are considered illiterate. The job in front of us is really challenging. And we have to use any possible means, technology etc to bring education. In that sense it is a must. We should not stop it.

Would Infosys like to be associated with the e-learning network in Amrita?

Yeah, there are possibilities also. With ISDN links etc, we can connect and may be broadcast some of the lectures we have in our campus to Amrita Institute. Provided of course the lecture can be broadcast. Some times the person may not agree. But if that is possible, today it is possible to connect. We have a video conferencing facility, we can make adhoc connections to anywhere in the world. So I don’t see any reason why we can’t link up. And I think probably the starting point would be to - some special lectures, we get lots of visitors from industry etc and they give special lectures for our employees. For example James Gosling was there at Java, he gave a lecture to our employees. People like that keep coming and may be we can link up and try and broadcast those lectures. That could be the starting point and then, there are other opportunities, we can participate in some of the special classes here.

So, provided all these are happening in Amrita, in what areas do you think Amrita can emerge as a major player in the future?

You know it has an open mind. It wants to try new things. It is attracting the best people. So, clearly those are really the attributes of a leader- having an open mind and willing to try new things, attracting the best people. So naturally you would expect Amrita Institute become a leader in the area of higher education and around the world. I think you have to start attracting the foreign students also. You know one is the brand building side; second it forces you to raise your infrastructure to global standards because otherwise they will not come. Just because it’s cheap they may not come. They expect certain facilities and certain kind of infrastructure to be available, and it is also good for everybody, so I think those are some of the opportunities.

Finally, a message to our students who are entering into the corporate world.

Definitely I feel that this is one of the most exiting periods to get into corporate world. There is tremendous optimism, as you would have seen in the corporate world today. Companies feel that they can compete globally; Companies feel that they can succeed globally. There is a huge investment happening in new technologies, in coming with new products, ideas etc. Not just in software, if you look at Automotive, in pharmaceuticals, in biotechnology, in something as traditional as steel. Tata Steel is today the second lowest cost producer of steel in the world. So in many of the traditional industries there are huge opportunities to actually be part of building what I believe could be an India, which is, if we go by the Goldman Sachs report, the third largest economy in the world. And it’s not long way into the future - it is in the next 50 years and which is what any student coming out today can look forward to. I think its exciting times.