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In a bid to bridge the gap in skilled manpower, the Gujarat government is on a varsity opening spree through its state PSUs and government departments.
Recently, the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), the statutory authority for development of non-major ports of Gujarat, gave its nod for a Maritime University. On the other hand, Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GSFC) had also last year announced setting up for its own university in Jaspur village near Vadodara.
And if GSFC and GMB are planning dedicated universities, the likes of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC), among others are planning engineering institutes.
"Presently, several institutes are offering standalone courses on pre-sea and post-sea training in Gujarat. However, the prevailing options of maritime education available in India today focuses more on the technical education of the marine industry. The need of the maritime sector is now to provide students with strong understanding of a global supply chain network. The Board of GMB, while approving the project in-principally, has given the mandate of preparing the detailed study to its subsidiary company GPIDCL," said a GMB spokesperson.
The proposed maritime university will enable & encourage maritime studies, training, research & extension work with emphasis on emerging capacities of studies like oceanography, maritime laws, maritime security, environmental studies and other related fields. The university would provide the youth the necessary platform to enhance their careers with the required education and training on maritime sector.
"The skill gap continues to grow in the state. While the industry has been proactive in joining hands with the state government, there is a need to bridge the same in specialised areas. The state government is therefore looking to set up universities and engineering institutes that could address the issue by producing skilled manpower in specialised sectors," said a senior state government official on condition of anonymity.
The state government is also in the process of setting up an altogether 'skill university' in association with TeamLease.
TeamLease Services Private, a people supply chain and HR Services Company is likely to set up the university in Vadodara in Gujarat and the university will be christened Teamlease Skills University. TeamLease and the Gujarat government, in January 2011, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a private university under the provisions of the Gujarat Private Universities Act, 2009.
The university will offer vocational based courses through a two-year associate degree for a fee of Rs 80,000. The varsity will begin with 300 students and scale the number up to 4,000.
Meanwhile, according to the senior state government official, while the engineering institute by GNFC will come up near Ahmedabad, the one by GIDC will come up near Bharuch.
