The Dublin-headquartered Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) has just signed a contract valued at more than €3m with the largest training body in Asia – NIIT India – to offer digital marketing education and certification in India. Some 25,000 students in India will be upskilled in this area over the next three years.
The deal follows on the heels of a similar deal to bring digital marketing training to South Africa.
The professional diploma in digital marketing has been developed in co-operation with many of the leading digital companies in the world and is recognised in more than 25 countries, including the UK, USA, and South Africa, and countries in Europe and the Middle East.
As part of the alliance, DMI will run specialist training programmes with NIIT faculty. More than 150 professional subject matter experts were involved in developing the curriculum.
“In line with our vision to offer cutting-edge career-focused training programmes in the emerging areas of the knowledge society, we are delighted to partner with DMI to offer globally recognised programmes in digital marketing,” said G Raghavan, chief executive, Career Building Solutions, NIIT.
“With DMI’s expertise in certification and training, we hope to create a globally competitive workforce for the digital marketing industry in India.”
Digital marketing boom
In bringing its flagship course – the Global Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing – to the Indian market, the DMI will make a substantial financial investment and create a number of new jobs in Ireland and Asia.
“The Digital Marketing Institute has a very active partnering programme and this deal with NIIT India represents another big leap into the worldwide marketplace of digital marketing education,” the Digital Marketing Institute’s chief executive Ian Dodson explained.
“We operate strictly through education partners who understand local market dynamics and are delighted to be partnering with such an exceptional organisation as NIIT. It has the expertise on the ground in India to help us to deliver our programmes to the highest professional standards for many years to come.”
Global digital media spend will exceed US$104bn in 2013 and is growing at a rate of more than 10pc annually.
The rate of growth in Asia is nearly 25pc year on year. India is the third biggest user of the internet in the world and education-related searches on Google in India are the second highest in the world. Seventy-five per cent of all youths use the internet, with mobile internet usage growing by a factor of five in the last five years.
“There’s a real drive and commitment from Indian people for quality education and skills,” Dodson added.
“We expect to welcome well over 5,000 students in the first year and are confident in achieving our revenue targets as India develops into a potential world leader in the digital field.”
