RCPI first in Ireland to partner with Tata on MOOCs project

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian multinational Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with the aim of creating a large worldwide digital community of physicians.

IT services brand TCS will now work with RCPI as its first Irish education partner to rapidly develop an online hub of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

TCS was introduced to the heads of Ireland’s third level institutions by former Dragons’ Den investor and entrepreneur Peter Casey last November, and since then the company has been progressing the project swiftly on the ground.

The Irish team were joined last week by the global head of Ion TCS Venguswamy Ramaswamy (Swamy) and Casey for meetings with Minister Gerald Nash, IDA Ireland and various institutions.

“Our team at TCS are confident that our talks with other universities and institutes are also at a stage where we will be making further announcements in the near future,” said Swamy.

Casey, who recently published a book on Tata, said the talks represented a major opportunity for the Irish economy to become involved with a company that employs 300,000 people worldwide and has a turnover of US$15bn.

“I believe that Ireland’s education ecosystem can leverage the TCS technology platforms and exploit the massive opportunities for both ourselves and India to jointly gain a real early adapter advantage in this exciting area,” he said.

“This has huge potential for engagement with the diaspora of both countries as well as giving Irish universities the opportunity to really break into the US market where MOOCS are the coming thing.”