The DOEACC Society, an autonomous body for the department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, is all set to open a centre in Bangalore to offer courses in Bioinformatics before September 2004. The syllabus of DOEACC courses has been prepared by an expert committee comprising leading academicians and professionals from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, ISI, Kolkata, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, IIT Delhi, JNY Delhi and Jamia Milia Ismalia university, Delhi, GGS Indraprastha University, Delhi and the department of information technology.

The society has already developed courses in Bioinformatics 'O' and 'A' levels equivalent to diploma and postgraduate diplomas. These courses have been launched on a pilot basis at 12 of the society's centres spread all over the country. The eligibility criterion for the 'O' level course is graduation. The duration of the course is one-year, informed Dr. PN Gupta executive director, DOEACC Society.

One of the objectives for DOEACC to decide on Bangalore, according to Dr. Gupta is that the city is fast emerging as the IT and BT capital of the country. "The global market share of Bioinformatics was expected to generate a demand for trained Bioinformatics professionals at various levels in the world. With the industry booming, there is a growing demand for professionals in the field," he observed.

Gupta highlighted the fact that since the present output of professionals from Universities is abysmally low, DOEACC has taken the initiative to raise the resource pool of Bioinformatics professionals by introducing a series of courses at various levels.
According to him the prospective candidates for the courses are students /professionals with a background in pharmaceuticals, bio-fertilisers, agriculture, energy sector, environment engineering, research and education organisations. The 'O' level diploma professionals can look forward to become assistant programmers, technical assistants, information assistants. Those opting for the 'A' level advanced diploma professionals can become programmers, training faculty and research assistants, he said.

The decade-old DOEACC Society was set up with the objective of developing quality manpower in IT by utilising the expertise available with the non-formal computer training institutes.