Commissioner of Collegiate and Technical Education B. Udaya Lakshmi on Thursday said that the A.P State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), in collaboration with its industrial partner Siemens, will set up six Centres of Excellence (CoE) in the next few months.
In addition to facilitating engineering colleges to host the CoE, the Higher Education Department was upgrading the curriculum in tune with the industry requirement and it was encouraging B.Tech students to take break for a year (called ‘gap year’) after the first year of their studies to pursue courses in entrepreneurship and other job-oriented courses for improving their skills.
Addressing a workshop jointly organised by the APSSDC and Siemens here on Thursday, Ms. Udaya Lakshmi said a Private Universities Bill was on the anvil and skill development was assigned to the institutions as a thrust area.
Private educational institutions could do a lot for improving the skills of youth and if the country were to achieve rapid growth, the potential of even average students has to be realised. “The country can ignore the demographic dividend at its own peril,” she observed. APSSDC MD and CEO Ghanta Subba Rao said education system alone could not meet the emerging skills requirement as the demand for highly skilled manpower was huge.
