Skill development university, 6 Centres of Excellence to be set up in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: The Government of Maharashtra on Wednesday, February 17, approved a proposal to set up the state’s first Public Skill Development University and six Centres of Excellence (CoE), which will offer degree and post-graduate courses. The approval came as a bid to increase skilled manpower and employment opportunities in the state.

The government is set to introduce a bill on this decision in the budget session of the state legislature, which is scheduled to start from March 1. Nawab Malik, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of Maharashtra, said that currently, courses on skill development are largely limited to diploma courses. According to him, the proposed university will provide courses in line with the requirement of the day and the future.

Malik mentioned that there will be degree and post-graduate courses offered through the university, and additionaly, different colleges will be allowed to offer skill development courses. He added that these courses will be designed keeping in mind the requirement of the industries so that more and more people get trained and can get jobs. He informed that the state will also have six CoEs, which will be sub-centres of the university, and campus training and courses will be conducted at these sub-centres. The CoEs are to be set up in each of the six revenue divisions of the state.

According to Nawab, the government will provide annual funding of Rs 50 crore to the university for the first 10 years, following which it will become a self-sustainable university. He added that the government is still deliberating on locations where the university will be set up and has so far listed Thane, Pune, and Mumbai. He elaborated that the university will be preferably set near a city so that is easier for faculty and students to access all kinds of facilities.