The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU). The partnership aims to link vocational education and training with higher education, making India’s youth employable by creating avenues for them to access better work opportunities.
Under the partnership, 32 NSTIs, more than 3,000 Government ITIs, 500 PMKKs and nearly 300 JSS will be associated with IGNOU as Registration Centres, Examination Centres and Work Centres for hands on training. Through the collaboration, students will now get an opportunity to join the three-year degree programme of IGNOU. There shall be a Project Steering Committee with representatives from both MSDE and IGNOU to monitor and review the progress of the programme. The MoU is initially for a period of 10 years subject to renewal on mutual agreement. The MoU was signed by Dr. B.K. Ray, Director (CBC), MSDE and Dr. V.B. Negi, Registrar, IGNOU. Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU stated that IGNOU will develop standards for quality assurance, develop counselling and trainer training programmes to facilitate students’ enrolments, train the staff of the identified centres to handle the enrolments and counselling, and mentor the management of NSTIs, ITIs, PMKKs and JSSs.
