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Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University’s first academic session likely to begin next year
The chief minister said that those designing courses will show the curriculum to industry bodies and companies and ask them if students who learn this will get jobs.
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The Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University’s first academic session is expected to start next year in close consultation with companies, who will be treated as “customers” in this endeavour, so that courses are in tune with industry demand, Chief Minister Arvind Kejirwal said on Monday.
Kejriwal made the comments after meeting the newly appointed vice chancellor and board members of the university.
“The Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University has been established through an Act of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. I am glad to announce that the university has started functioning today. The first board meeting of this university was held today,” the chief minister said at an online press conference. “Students will be imparted skills and training at the university so that they can easily get a job as soon as they pass out from the institute or can pursue business by getting hands-on business training,” Kejriwal said.
The government has appointed Dr Neharika Vohra, the head of the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM-Ahmedabad, as the vice-chancellor. The board members include Pramath Raj Sinha, founding dean of the Indian School of Business and Founder of the Ashoka University; Genpact founder Pramod Bhasin; Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani; entrepreneur Shrikant Sastri and IP University founder Vice-Chancellor KK Aggarwal.
“We have appointed the vice-chancellor of the university and its board members. I spoke to all the board members and told them that the only objective and ideology of this university will be ensuring jobs for every student passing out from this university, or they should be able to pursue business,” Kejriwal said. “The first academic session is expected to start next year, in close consultation with companies who will be treated as customers in this endeavour, so that courses are in tune with industry demand,” he added.
The chief minister said that those designing courses will show the curriculum to industry bodies and companies and ask them if students who learn this will get jobs.
“The university should also address the qualitative gap that exists in the skilling sector. This was seen when all industries, businesses, shops, and markets were shut down during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, and people lost their jobs,” he said. Kejriwal said that with the easing of restrictions of the lockdown, he met people who did not have jobs, and those who had businesses but did not have people to work for them. “It means that both were available, but they could not come together on a platform. We then started a job portal and created a single platform for job-seekers and job-providers. As a result, there were lakhs of jobs available for job-seekers in Delhi. This is the same concept. On one hand, many young students are unemployed and on the other, industries are not able to find skilled and trained labor. If we impart skills to our children, the industries will give them jobs,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, said, “The university will have a focus on quality and quantity - provide high-quality courses in the entire spectrum of skills training from traditional skills to those of the future and ensuring that the intake of students is large enough to cater to the existing demand.”
