Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship Univ to start first academic session in 2021

New Delhi: The Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University set up by the Delhi government started functioning on Monday as the varsity's board met for the first time with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia attending the meeting. The CM announced that the university's first academic session is expected to start next year.

Following the meeting, Kejriwal said that the sole purpose of the University will be to impart skills that ensure job security for all the students or they should be able to pursue business. The CM said that each course should be designed in consultation with the companies who will be the future employers of the students. "The courses should be designed in a manner that the students get jobs based on the design and curriculum of the course," he said.

Addressing a digital press conference the CM said, "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 it does not prepare the students for an employable future," he said.

The government has appointed Dr Neharika Vohra, the head of the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM-Ahmedabad, as the vice-chancellor of the varsity.

The board members include Pramath Raj Sinha, founding dean of the Indian School of Business and Founder of the Ashoka University; Genpact founder Pramod Bhasin; Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani; entrepreneur Shrikant Sastri and IP University founder Vice-Chancellor KK Aggarwal.

"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," CM Kejriwal said.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Education Minister said that University's focus will be on quality and quantity — providing high-quality courses — in the entire spectrum of skills, "from traditional skills to those of the future and ensuring that the intake of students is large enough to cater to the existing demand".

"The university should also address the qualitative gap that exists in the skilling sector. This was seen when all industries, businesses, shops, and markets were shut down during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, and people lost their jobs," the chief minister said.

CM Kejriwal said that with the easing of restrictions of the lockdown, he met people who did not have jobs, and those 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," he said.