At the second meeting of the Association of Indian Skills Universities (AISU), a body created by the Skills Universities in India, met recently to chalk out a strategy to have its representatives included in the UGC committee and other government committees to ensure that they can guide the authorities accordingly and come up with efficient norms which would help in enabling robust skill universities to skill the unskilled. UGC has constituted a committee to formulate guidelines for skills universities in India. Brig (Dr) Surjit Pabla, President AISU and Vice Chancellor of Bhartiya Skill Development University (BSDU) stated that the UGC has constituted a committee to make guidelines for skills universities and since these norms are likely to be formulated by a committee which may not have any representatives of Skills Universities, it may not be appropriate for the skills universities.
The members also suggested that Skill University’s territorial jurisdiction limit needs to be waived. Skill Universities should be allowed to start-off campuses in the other regions to facilitate and integrate with the on-the-job training besides having live virtual classes. The AISU will soon form a committee to recommend the modalities on the virtual classes, which will be submitted to the UGC.
Members also recommended that Skill Universities should have the flexibility to enrol students from Class 9 onwards. Presently the UGC’s educational criterion for admission is 10+2 from a recognized board. The Skills University would also accept students from Open Schooling and RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning floated by the MSDE).
