Learning solutions company NIIT Thursday said it has signed an agreement with Aria Institute of Higher Education of Afghanistan to create a pool of IT professionals in that country.

Under the agreement, NIIT will provide educational programmes in software engineering and networking. The duration of the programmes would be from six months to two years.

"It has been our endeavour to introduce programmes which prepare students to take on global assignments in IT," said Ajai Manohar Lal, senior vice president, International Education Business (IT), NIIT.

The company also said the students will be benefited by getting access to the latest curriculum and online learning portals.

Currently, NIIT under its IT education vertical trains five million students in 40 countries.