During the course of study, one must learn skills to become entrepreneurs as the service sector alone could not provide jobs to the 7.5 lakh students who pass out of colleges in the State every year, said S. Nagarajan, Director, Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute (EDII) of the State government here on Thursday.
Speaking at the inauguration of EDII Hub at Madurai Kamaraj University, the first non-engineering university in the State to have such a project, he said, “The purpose of the programme will not be fulfilled unless the students run their own enterprises during the course of the project. The students can explore possibilities, set up businesses on the college campus and get trained to understand the market,” said Mr. Nagarajan.
Professors and heads of more than 70 autonomous and affiliated institutions of the university participated in the event. Through this programme, colleges affiliated to MKU will have to form an entrepreneurship development cell (e-cell), upload their activities on a common portal and the best performing colleges will be rewarded. The programme also offers faculty development workshops and intense training classes for aspiring entrepreneurs.
“Many colleges have e-cells and incubators, but they are not utilised optimally,” said R.V. Shajeevana, Additional Director, EDII. “Tamil Nadu has 60 incubation centres, but most of them are not functional. They undertake awareness campaigns once a year, but there is no follow-up,” she said. Calling for optimal utilisation of the project, Ms. Shajeevana said the programme would enhance the brand name of the institution and help in better placements.
In addition to the programme, the college would also support the research scholars through funds sanctioned under Phase II of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme, said M. Krishnan, Vice-Chancellor. “The initiative will be successful if at least 50% of institutions affiliated to MKU operate their own e-cells,” he said. V. Vidya Chellam, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, MKU, was present.
