GUJARAT

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Preamble

A sound educational system is quintessential when the question of strengthening the social fabric of a region arises. It is a known fact that Gujarat is the house of many internationally reputed institutions, which provide the trained manpower to the industries. This includes both the general education and higher education in knowledge and technology disciplines. Today with the world shrinking its identity to a ‘global village’, the industrial sector is seeking a variety of skills. The Government of Gujarat firmly believes that quality has to be the buzzword for any industrial enterprise planning to strengthen its base in international market and therefore, would require the manpower of the same quality as is the international quality of its products. The basic approach is subsumed in the following caption - From ‘school’ to ‘skill’ to contribution to ‘society’. The ultimate result should be to enable an individual to give increased contribution to the society.

Apart from some prestigious educational institutions like IIM, NID, NIFT, EDI, Nirma Institute of Management, CEPT, DAIICT, the state is also the home of 26 engineering colleges, 61 polytechnics, 26 management study institutions, 25 colleges for computer applications, 219 Industrial Training Centres and other vocational training institutes.

R&D activities assuming paramount importance

In the coming years research and development activities would be of paramount importance and with the onset of World Trade Organization (WTO) regime, the new adage for industries would be “innovate or perish”. The industries thus would be encouraged to exploit the vast reservoir of experience and knowledge of universities to gain a cutting edge in terms of quality in the market getting increasingly characterized by commoditization. The industry on their part would assist the educational institutions in developing quality infrastructure and by sensitizing the universities with their manpower requirements.

Establishing synergy between educational institutions and the industries

The following initiatives would however, be taken up by Government to strengthen the linkages between Educational Institutions and Industries:

• Tailoring the courses in line with the requirements of the industry that would enable a person to make useful contribution to the society.
• Specialized courses would be introduced for specific sectors over a period of time. Prominent-ones under consideration are:
  • Port Development and Management
  • Urban Planning and Development
  • Marine Engineering
  • Water Management
  • Mining Management
  • Hospital Management
  • Education Management
  • Tourism-related courses
  • Disaster Management
  • Event Management
  • Bio-Pharma
  • Product design Management and other globally important areas.

Involving Industrial Houses

In recent times, privatisation has established itself as the harbinger in the ‘efficiency of operations’. The Government of Gujarat appreciates this fact and hence has initiated certain measures to facilitate private investment in education sector as Government alone cannot create the quality infrastructure and that the involvement of Industrial Houses is imperative.

To promote the concept of Educational Complexes

On the lines of Industrial Estates and going by the philosophy of efficient allocation of resources for the use by many, the Government has decided to encourage setting up of educational complexes all over the state. The complexes will have common facilities like Laboratories, Library, Engineering Workshops, Drawing Halls, Computer Laboratories, Video Conferencing facilities, Creativity centres, Exhibition halls, Auditoria, Mini Theatres, Hostels, Restaurants, Gymkhana, Residential quarters for staff, transportation facilities, so on and so forth. For the purpose, one location in each region of the State would be identified.

Capacity building and skill upgradation measures for enhancement of productivity

As mentioned earlier, there are 219 ITIs and other vocational institutes with a total intake capacity of 56,000 seats. In addition, there are four advanced vocational training centres for upgradation of skills for workers employed in industrial units as per the requirements of the industries. One high-tech training centre for IT, Autocad, instrumentation and electronics skill sets as a resource centre is also functioning.

Currently, most of the ITIs in Gujarat however, are running courses in the traditional trades which were required by industries in the decades of 60s and 70s. Since then, Gujarat had successfully diversified its industrial base and a need is now felt to do away with certain redundant courses and introduce courses in new trades as per the requirements of the present industries. Again, these ITIs impart training in single trade which restricts the job prospects. It is therefore considered to introduce training in multi-skilling courses such as Mechatronics, Diamond Cutting and Polishing, Gemology, Operator in Advanced Precision Machine Tools, etc. which were recently introduced by DGET. The industry however, should come forward to help the Government identifying such new courses based on their requirements and also associate them both technically and financially in running these courses.

The Government policy also provides to set up ITIs exclusively for industrial clusters on demand. The Government also seeks partnership with industry in the management of ITIs through Institute Management Committees to be chaired by the Presidents of the local industries associations.

These are a few initiatives and objectives. In order to realize them to their fullest potential, committees would be formed at the regional level which would comprise the Vice Chancellors of the universities and prominent industrialists from that particular region as also a representative each from Directorate of Technical Education and Directorate of Training & Employment. The committee would specifically address the following issues :

• To assess the manpower requirements of industries at various levels including the lower level and middle level for technical and managerial staff.
• Design the training schedules depending on the requirements of the manpower at various levels.
• The educational institutions at the regional level will motivated in the task of solving technical and managerial problems of the industries. It will also provide Research & Development assistance to the industries.
• The industries will arrange for on the job training of students and a stipend commensurate with the job requirements will be paid. Suitable training modules will be devised by the Committees for the purpose.

At the state level, a Committee under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister for Education comprising Secretary (Education), Secretary (Industries) and Vice Chancellors of the Universities will overlook the functioning of the committees at the regional level and would intervene whenever required.

Overall, it is felt that this initiative in strengthening the bonds of linkages between universities and industries would usher the state in a new era to ultimately culminate an important role into creation of a more prosperous and vibrant generation for future.