On the lines of the Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs) in degree colleges, Andhra Pradesh is in the process of introducing 25 skill development centres (SDCs) in professional colleges in the state.
These SDCs will be centres of excellence for imparting 21st century skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaboration and life skills – one per district – which will be launched from this year. There will be latest desk-top computing facilities in each SDC with 30-seating capacity and latest midrange software.
“Employability of students passing out of engineering, MBA, MCA, pharmacy and other professional collages should be our main focus hereafter. It is not enough producing about 400,000 engineering and other professional every year without providing them quality education and employment opportunities,” chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, said while reviewing the new initiatives and programmes of the higher education department here recently.
Officials informed the chief minister that a six-month attachment with industry in the third year from the academic year 2010-11 was introduced, which would increase higher employability of the students and all courses were converted to sandwich courses.
“Collaboration with the industries department, APSRTC, APTransco, APGenco, BSNL, BHEL, Vizag Steel and various other industries are being tried out to make this scheme successful,” the officials said in a press release on Sunday.