Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday met the newly appointed vice-chancellor and the board members of the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University in the first board meeting held today.
CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University has been established through an Act of Delhi Legislative Assembly. I am glad to announce that the university has started its function today. The first board meeting of this university was held today. The 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. 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. I am happy that the newly appointed vice-chancellors and all the board members are stalwarts in their fields”.
Prof. Neharika Vohra has been appointed the Vice-chancellor of this university. She has work experience of 20 years and she was the chairperson of the Centre for Innovation and Incubation at IIM Ahmedabad. Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha, who started Indian School of Business and Ashoka University, Pramod Bhasin who started Genpact in 1997, he started his skill centre and is a board member of many big companies in the country, he was the chairman of NASSCOM and was awarded as the IT Man of the Year. Others are founder of Naukri.com, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Shrikant Sastri who has helped in launching various start-ups and ventures, Prof K. K. Aggarwal who has been the vice-chancellor of IP University, and Prof. G Srinivasan, professor of Management Studies at IIT Madras. We are glad that these highly-experienced people are a part of this university.”
Addressing a digital press conference, CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “We dreamed that every youth should be employed. The unemployment rate of our nation is very high, and our nation is the nation of the youth. There are two types of youth in our country. First are those who do not receive education, and second are those who are unemployed even after being educated. Our education system is such that does not prepare the students for an employable future.”
CM Arvind Kejriwal said that the companies and industries that will be employing students are like the customers of the university, and so each course should be designed must being close consultation with the companies. “The courses should be designed in a manner that the students get jobs based on the design and curriculum of the course,” added the CM.
CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “The university should address a qualitative gap that also exists in the skilling sector. This was seen when all the industries, businesses, shops, and markets were shut down during the Corona lockdown, and people lost their jobs. With the opening of the lockdown, I met people who did not have jobs, and I met people 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. New businesses and services can be started in many economic sectors, and if we impart business initiating skills in our students, they will be able to start their business as well as employ other students as well. Just like our governance models in Delhi, such as Mohalla Clinics and doorstep delivery of services that are being discussed all over the world, I am certain that the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University will be a global model and many such universities will come up in the country. I want to congratulate all the Board Members. This is a great opportunity for the youth of Delhi. It was our dream, the dream is not yet fulfilled, but we have taken a big step in moving towards realizing that dream. The first academic session is expected to start next year, and we hope that we witness more and more students getting jobs after passing out of the university.”
Dy CM Manish Sisodia said, “The Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship 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.