Delhi Skill & Entrepreneurship University focuses on skills: VC

NEW DELHI: As the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University readies to virtually open its doors to students, its vice-chancellor Neharika Vohra said the aim of the university is not just to impart lessons on a subject but also to make the students highly skilled. The university, established by the Delhi government in 2020, has the facility of virtual labs so that students do not miss out on practicals amid the pandemic.

Experts from IITs and IIITs are members of the university's curriculum advisory groups and are providing their inputs on designing courses, Vohra told PTI in an interview. "We worked with the industry to first find out what are the job roles for which they don't find talent. For instance, if a BA or B.Com graduate joins a bank, they are sent for training for one-and-a-half years. But we have a course that will help students attain the level of a BA and all the knowledge around the financial industry like insurance," she said. Elaborating on the curriculum design, she said there is a curriculum advisory group which has known academics from the field and faculty members from the varsity. The varsity faculty members have spent more than 1,000 hours on designing the curriculum while the academic experts have spared nearly 1,800 hours, which means a total of 3,000 hours have been given to make the curriculum "up to date" and "industry ready". All of these are aimed at ensuring that the students get a good degree, she said. In addition to courses, the students will be taught employability skills such as English language, etiquette, critical thinking, etc. "Every committee has four to five months to do it. We have started from February and by the time the classes commence, we will be ready with the curriculum," she said.

The VC said that the seats will be filled once the results of Classes 10 and 12 are declared. "Currently, students are visiting us to know about the varsity and some of them are also filling registration forms. We are seeing 30,000 visitors on our website daily. At least 5,000 registration forms have been filled while 16,000 students have started the registration process but not completed it," she added. "My vision for the varsity is that this is a place where people will come and they will get deeply skilled in the field they choose. They will do well in that field. They will learn to do well enough to excel in their job or entrepreneurship. The idea is to not only learn a subject but to learn skills as well. Our lessons will be 60 per cent practice and 40 per cent theory," she added.

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