RED Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, launched its Open Source Collaboration Innovation (OSCI) initiative on 8 April 2008. Open source software refers to non-proprietary software that gives users the licence to copy, distribute, share and modify it, as its source code is made available to users. As a strategic partner of Red Hat, ITE would play a key role in the OSCI initiative by becoming a member of the Red Hat Academy in ASEAN programme, which comprises four other partners – the Asia Pacific College of the Philippines, Bangkok University, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic.

Open Source in Schools
The Red Hat Academy is a programme for educational institutions, such as ITE, to teach students valuable Linux and open source skill sets, by incorporating Linux courses into the curriculum. Dr Lim See Yew, Director/School of Electronics and Info-comm Technology, ITE College East, said this means “training in most operating systems, not just the traditional ones.”