Bhubaneswar, Jan. 13: It may have come late and after much deliberation and debate, but state universities are slowly beginning to experiment with skill development programmes.
Last week, Utkal University signed an agreement with National Aluminium Company (Nalco) that will see the Navaratna company support skill development training programmes for underprivileged students.
Varsity vice-chancellor Ashok Kumar Das and Nalco's director (human resource) B.K. Thakur signed the MoU for vocational training to the varsity students.
The two will also collaborate on research and development projects, baseline and impact assessment surveys for CSR projects and industry-institution interactions. The manufacturing giants will also offer internships to aspirants.
In September, the varsity's School of Women's Studies had organised a skill development workshop for self-help groups.
The workshop was a holistic programme of micro-enterprises that covered all aspects of self-employment and capacity building, planning of activity clusters, infrastructure building, technology, credit and marketing. It laid emphasis on activity clusters based on resources and occupational skills of people and availability of markets.
In December, the varsity signed a deal for a programme called Teach for Odisha that it will execute in collaboration with the state government, NGOs and other universities. Inspired by the Teach for America programme, it aims to engage willing and dynamic individuals to work with skill development institutes - Industrial Training Institutes and polytechnic colleges - for 12 months to enhance the quality of education.
"We have already begun work on our second campus at Chandikhole, which will become operational next year. It would primarily be a skill development centre and the university's rural outreach hub where we will provide skill training to students in collaboration with nearby industries. We will incorporate the training programmes into postgraduation courses and initially focus on commerce streams," Dash said.
Rama Devi Women's University, in partnership with Centurion University of Technology and Management, has also launched a skill enhancement certificate course for undergraduate students.
The course aims to provide hands-on knowledge and experience-based learning to help students gain better employment opportunities.
It intends to ensure employability and entrepreneurship through vocational training and skill education in different sub skills - bakery, chocolate making and entrepreneurship development, coffee processing and entrepreneurial development.
"We will provide vocational training to 660 undergraduate students to help their careers grow," said vice-chancellor Padmaja Mishra.
