TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: The Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University will begin its new and very first academic session from 2021. The Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, announced the same in an online press conference held on Monday.
“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 academic session is expected to start next year. It will be done in close consultation with companies who will be treated as customers in this endeavour so that courses are in tune with industry demand. The courses which will be taught in the university will be designed in a manner that the students get jobs based on the design and curriculum of the course,” said Kejriwal.
He elaborated that the government has set up the board of the university. The first-ever meeting of the members took place on Monday. The government selected Dr Neharika Vohra as the Vice-chancellor of the institution. Dr Vohra is the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) Head at IIM Ahmedabad. The committee comprises of Pramath Raj Sinha, founding dean of the Indian School of Business and founder of Ashoka University; Pramod Bhasin, Founder of Genpact; Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder, Naukri.com; entrepreneur Shrikant Sastri and IP University founding vice-chancellor KK Aggarwal as its members.
Briefing about the aim of the university, the CM said that people who look forward to becoming entrepreneurs would benefit from the productive surrounding of the university.
“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,” he added.
According to a senior functionary, the university will have many branches spread over Delhi. Moreover, the university will design a favourable date-sheet along with the details about the entire process of admission in the upcoming months.
“The main campus will be located in southeast Delhi, even as there will be multiple centres in different parts of the city. The admission schedule will be rolled out next year, 2-3 months before the start of the academic session,” the official reported.
Kejriwal added that the members would forward an outline of the curriculum to the companies and industrial sectors for their feedback and recommendations to clarify its credibility for various 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. With the easing of lockdown restrictions, I 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 common platform for both job-seekers and job-providers. As a result, there were lakhs of jobs available for job-seekers in Delhi. This is the same concept,” the CM said.
Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, emphasized that the university will be both quality and quantity oriented. It will impart quality programmes and will train in both traditional and future skills, said the Education Minister. Further, it will equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge and enable them to meet the demands of the industries in the present scenario.
Since the government’s implementation of a nationwide lockdown, a considerable number of people lost their jobs and became a victim of economic crisis. In the view of the inadequate guidance and increasing unemployment, the university may become a great relief for those seeking employment.
