New Delhi: In view of India’s and global gaps in skilling and to address these, Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU)—India’s premier institution and a central university, and the Centurion University of
Technology and Management (CUTM)—India’s first premier skills university and an Centre of
Excellence (COE) of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) based out of
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, have joined hands to enhance understanding and excellence to
promote exchange, cooperation in and delivering skills integration in higher education, academics,
research especially action research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
In a wide-ranging collaboration, JNU and CUTM have signed an MoU today for institutional
collaboration through sharing experiences, best practices, and knowledge with the key objective to
promote and strengthen academic and research cooperation to deliver relevant, appropriate and
market driven skills integrated higher education.
This collaboration is enormously significant and noteworthy in view of the National Education Policy
(NEP) 2020, wherein the NEP has laid a special emphasis on vocational education through
integration and mainstreaming of vocational education with general education. This partnership
will therefore help students and learners across the country in acquiring various skills as per the
requirements of the industries and needs of the society besides complying with the core objectives
of the NEP.
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) in India is already driving this
shift towards skilling individuals for future jobs, with initiatives such as the “Recognition of Prior
Learning” (RPL) and the “National Credit Framework” (NCrF)—the single meta framework and
recently announced National Higher Education Qualification Framework NHEQF) by the UGC.
The two universities have decided to undertake a mission-driven approach to:
§ Collaborate in designing and delivering higher education, academics, research, vocational
education and skill development as envisioned in the NEP 2020.
§ Explore specific areas of engagement between the School of Languages, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
School of Management and Entrepreneurship, School of Biotechnology, School of Physical
Sciences, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health and other Schools or Centres to
enhance and integrate skills in higher education.
§ Explore and work closely in community outreach programmes focusing on skills integration
for enhancing employability and entrepreneurship.
§ To explore the possibilities for joint certificate programmes in various industrial clusters as
per the need of the industries and in line with NCrF.
§ To explore the possibilities for a pilot centre at the earliest in Delhi closer to JNU to deliver
action learning and skills integrated certificate and advance courses.
§ To rope in industry partners to enhance the quality and outcome of teaching and learning.
Speaking on this rare occasion, Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, Vice Chancellor, JNU said:
“Let me compliment both my staff, the Centurion University and the group here… that we have signed an
MoU today, which is in itself one of the beginnings of JNU going into new vistas. Centurion University is
very different type of a private university which is more committed to community and society, and JNU is
also committed to this, though we are a Central Government university. And because our values come
together, we hope that we will be able to do joint programmes, wherein we not only help the marginalised
as well as we bring in excellence with empathy, equality with equity, and inclusion with integrity”.
Prof. Supriya Pattanayak, Vice Chancellor, CUTM, said:
“It is a matter of privilege and honour for all of us, and for our Centurion University to have collaborated
with JNU. Together, to implement the National Education Policy, 2020, we hope to explore and work on a
range of skills outreach work across India, integrate future of skills with future of education. This
association not only will further advance our resolve on skills integration in higher education for the
bottom of the pyramid, but also help in reducing the huge skills gap between white and blue-collar
workers in the country.”
The MoU signing ceremony was also attended by Prof. Satish Chandra Garkoti (Rector-I, JNU), Dr.
Utpal Kumar Debnath (Controller of Examinations, JNU), Mr. Manoj Kumar Manuj, (Dy. Registrar, JNU),
and Abhinav Madan (Director, Skills, CUTM), Monalisha Ghosh (Associate Director, Partnerships,
CUTM), and Abhishek Chaturvedi (Director, NCR Operations, Gram Tarang Employability Training
Services—GTET). GTET is a social enterprise and skills outreach arm of CUTM, jointly instituted by
National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) and CUTM, that has skilled over half a million
individuals.
Earlier, in April 2023, the university leaders had participated at the G20 summit on ‘Future of Skills’
at Bhubaneshwar and had deliberated upon closing the skills gaps for the industry for the bottom
of the pyramid
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