Continuing with its already existing efforts to push students and Indian developers to develop apps on Microsoft Technologies including Windows 8 and Windows Phone platforms, Microsoft announced that it conducted an AppFest in which more than 10,000 students participated across the country. According to the press release, the day long coding fest was held in 54 key hubs in 45 cities across 18 states of India. An estimated number of 3000 complete apps were contributed by the participating students. The students participated in huge numbers at an approximated strength of around 250 from each college. These included colleges from metros including IIT Mumbai etc., as well as from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The Appfest was inaugurated at Saroj Sadan University of Mumbai, Kalina by Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International.
Dr. Rajan Welukar Vice-Chancellor for University of Mumbai said “University of Mumbai is keen in creating competent skills in students as per the need of Government, Industry and other Social Sectors. Conducting workshops on application development for the students by the leading industries thus facilitates them to achieve the expertise required. We are bringing up new specialized courses such as IT infrastructure management in collaboration with industry to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Appfest by Microsoft being conducted across fifty centers in India and being inaugurated here in University of Mumbai will stand as a landmark for achieving the above objectives”
The app fest provided a good platform for participating students to receive support, help and guidance related to app development and provide a way for them to interact with professional developers in the app development industry. A lot of support staff like mentors, trainers and student partners were available at the event to supplement the app development process and made the learning experience even more worthwhile.
