The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is opening a new Central Institute of Tool Design (CITD) campus at Ongole for the next academic year. It will be the third sub-centre of the CITD in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The other two sub-centres are situated in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. Besides, decks have been cleared for upgrading the infrastructure at the CITD Vijayawada Sub-Centre at a cost of nearly Rs. 2 crore to help a larger number of ITI and engineering students in enhancing their skills. The new facilities at Vijayawada will be ready in about a month.
An action plan has been prepared for training 2,000 students from 2016-17 compared to 800 being served at present. Another development that is set to give a fillip to the CITDs is the possibility of transfer of their administration to the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in the near future.
The CITD Vijayawada Assistant Director S. Venkata Krishna told The Hindu that the certificates issued by the institution had global recognition as it was established by the Indian Government with the help of United Nations Development Program and International Labour Organization.
The CITD-Vijayawada was equipped with advanced machinery and licensed software with which quality training is imparted to students. Besides, consultancy services are rendered to public sector defence manufacturing units and some top-notch private companies in various sectors.
The CITD at Hyderabad has a sizable number of foreign students undergoing training every year. The Vijayawada sub-centre has not grown to that level due to obvious reasons. But, it attracts a large number of ITI and engineering students from Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and some other States.
In addition to regular courses, the CITD Vijayawada sub-centre located in Phase-III of Auto Nagar offers short-term vocational courses during the summer.
Students pursuing B.E / B.Tech or diploma courses with specialization in mechanical, production, electrical, electronics, instrumentation, automobile and civil engineering are eligible to apply for the summer courses.