New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM) have joined hands to enhance understanding and excellence to promote exchange, cooperation and deliver skills integration in higher education, academics, research (especially action research), innovation and entrepreneurship.
JNU, India’s premier institution and a central university, and CUTM, India’s first premier skills university and a Centre of Excellence (COE) of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) based out of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, on Wednesday signed an MoU for institutional collaboration through sharing experiences, best practices and knowledge with the key objective to promote and strengthen academic and research cooperation to deliver relevant, appropriate and market-driven skills integrated higher education.
The wide-ranging collaboration is extremely significant in view of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which has laid special emphasis on vocational education through integration and mainstreaming of vocational education with general education.
This partnership will help students and learners across the country in acquiring various skills as per requirements of the industries and needs of the society besides complying with the core objectives of the NEP.
JNU and CUTM have decided to undertake a mission-driven approach aimed at:
* Collaboration in designing and delivering higher education, academics, research, vocational education and skill development as envisioned in NEP 2020
* Exploring specific areas of engagement between School of Languages, Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship, School of Biotechnology, School of Physical Sciences, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health and other Schools or Centres to enhance and integrate skills in higher education
* Exploring and working closely in community outreach programmes focusing on skills integration for enhancing employability and entrepreneurship
* Exploring possibilities for joint certificate programmes in various industrial clusters as per need of the industries and in line with NCrF
* Exploring possibilities for a pilot centre at the earliest in Delhi closer to JNU to deliver action learning and skills integrated certificate and advance courses
* Roping in industry partners to enhance quality and outcome of teaching and learning.
“It is a matter of privilege and honour for all of us, and for our Centurion University to have collaborated with JNU. Together, to implement the National Education Policy, 2020, we hope to explore and work on a range of skills outreach work across India, integrate future of skills with future of education. This association not only will further advance our resolve on skills integration in higher education for the bottom of the pyramid, but also help in reducing the huge skills gap between white and blue-collar workers in the country,” said CUTM Vice-Chancellor Prof. Supriya Pattanayak.
JNU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said the signing of MoU is the beginning of JNU going into new vistas.
“Centurion University is a very different type of private university which is more committed to community and society, and JNU is also committed to this, though we are a Central Government university. And because our values come together, we hope that we will be able to do joint programmes, wherein we not only help the marginalised as well as we bring in excellence with empathy, equality with equity, and inclusion with integrity”, Pandit stated.
The MoU-signing ceremony was also attended by Prof. Satish Chandra Garkoti (Rector-I, JNU), Dr Utpal Kumar Debnath (Controller of Examinations, JNU), Manoj Kumar Manuj (Dy Registrar, JNU), Abhinav Madan (Director, Skills, CUTM), Monalisha Ghosh (Associate Director, Partnerships, CUTM), and Abhishek Chaturvedi (Director, NCR Operations, Gram Tarang Employability Training Services—GTET).
GTET is a social enterprise and skills outreach arm of CUTM.
