IBM has signed an agreement with the China Electronic Information Application Center, the training arm of China's Ministry of Information Industry, to provide software development programs for 40,000 students in China over the next five years.

As part of the contract, IBM will provide courses covering areas like basic programming in Chinese, Java, Linux and e-business, aimed at both university and college students, as well as graduates, and expected to complement the students' academic backgrounds and better prepare them for work in the software industry.