AICTE collaborates with Amazon, IIT, IIM to empower women, disabled students, faculty

NEW DELHI: All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) chairman TG Sitharam has signed agreements with three organisations to empower women, support students with disabilities, and for faculty training.

The AICTE today signed agreements with Youth4Jobs Foundation, Amazon Development Centre (India) Private Limited (Amazon) and an Umbrella agreement with National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL); Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) MADRAS; Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bangalore; National Institute of Technical Teachers Training; Research; (NITTTR), Chennai, at AICTE HQ, New Delhi.

At the agreement signing event, TG Sitharam said: “Amazon India is leveraging its industry expertise and technical prowess to support women empowerment in the country. This initiative not only imparts essential skills, such as coding, but also opens doors to invaluable opportunities for industry exposure and soft skill development to young women. It truly embodies the spirit of progress in AICTE’s pursuit of a more inclusive and dynamic tech landscape."

The council also recently launched a AICTE placement portal for tribal and rural students. With more than 2,000 companies enlisted, the portal serves over 6 lakh villages and tribal regions.

Amazon WoW initiative

Amazon Women of the World (Amazon WoW) initiative is aimed to empower and equip women students enrolled in engineering colleges across India. This will provide an opportunity to women students to connect with the Amazon community, engage in immersive skill development sessions, and access a wealth of resources.

Since its inception, Amazon WoW has garnered over 298,000 subscribers on its platform. Over 900 women have secured internships or full-time opportunities at Amazon so far.

“The collaboration aims to foster optimizing resource utilization, upskilling and promoting tech careers among women in STEM. It will not only facilitate employment for women but also empower them to play a pivotal role in propelling India towards becoming a truly digital economy,” the official statement read.

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Youth4Jobs

Youth4Jobs and AICTE will be providing training and placement support to students with disabilities. The collaboration will focus on creating disability awareness among the educators, educational institutions, employers and community. It will also provide free of cost job-linked training to students with benchmark disabilities and placement support.

NPTEL at IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) at IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore and National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR-Chennai) will provide faculty development programmes for teachers in AICTE-approved technical Institutions through NPTEL Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

The institutes will majorly focus on training the technical teachers in polytechnic and engineering institutes through pedagogy and in emerging areas. NPTEL has been offering courses for certification in the online mode as part of SWAYAM since 2017.