The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) has signed an MoU with the JSS College of Arts, Commerce and Science to support its academic programmes in the area of food processing.
The MoU will strengthen the bachelors and masters in vocation courses offered by the JSS College in the area of food processing. According to the MoU, the CFTRI will organise customised courses in advanced areas of food research for supporting the courses at a subsidised fee.
In addition, scientists of the institute will get associated as members of the academic bodies, besides providing knowledge-based support to the academic programmes.
A release stated that the agreement was signed in the institute recently, in which the MoU documents were exchanged between Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CFTRI and Prof. M. Mahadevappa, Principal, JSS College of Arts, Commerce and Science.
Mr. Rajasekharan said that this effort would contribute towards generating quality manpower and skill sets required for the food processing sector.
The arrangement is in alignment with the national vision of the Union government towards which the Central Food Technological Research Institute has taken a number of initiatives under the Make in India, Skill India and Startup India programmes, the release added.
The CFTRI said a recent survey on skill demand in food processing industry had observed that the current skill levels of the available trained manpower are grossly inadequate to meet the growth and challenges of the country.
“Experts are of the opinion that this gap needs to be bridged by finding the right balance between applied research, capacity building, training and institutional networking. CSIR-CFTRI has been one of the institutions extensively involved in human resource development and skill upgradation in the area of post-harvest technology for more than six decades,” the release said.
