HYDERABAD: Like conventional universities, soon the country will have skill universities to impart training in vocational programmes like plumbing and electric work among others. The Skill Universities Bill would be brought before Parliament in the ensuing monsoon session to facilitate the same.

Making this announcement at a press conference here Sunday, Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy assured that both Telangana and AP would be granted one such university each. However, he said he was still unsure of the number of such universities that would come up.

In line with the Skill India concept of the NDA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the National Skill Mission in Delhi on July 15 and would roll out a national skill development policy, he added. “The said policy will delineate the broad contours of our skill development programme. The proposed draft bill on skill universities is being prepared and would come before Parliament in this monsoon session,” Rudy said.

Under the proposed skill development policy, he said by 2017, institutions have to comply with the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework (NSQF). Otherwise, the institutions would be denied Union government grant starting from 2019.

“More importantly, the certificate courses would come up in vocational training programmes and would be useful for government jobs as well,” he said.

He said the skill development activity which had been dealt with by 24 different ministries of the Union government thus far, was brought under one ministry.

“In aligning with national skill activity, all 12,000 ITIs would be brought under the ambit of skill development ministry,” he explained.

Source : Express News Service