Education ministry signs 106 agreements to foster innovation, knowledge exchange in multiple domains

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Education on Sunday signed 106 MoUs with various esteemed organisations and institutions to foster innovation, research and knowledge exchange in multiple domains, ushering in a new era of collaboration in education and industry-academia linkages. The memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed on the culmination day of the Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam to mark the third anniversary of the launch of the new National Education Policy (NEP).

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) signed 15 MoUs with different institutes and sector-skill providers to give a specific focus on skill development and education. "These partnership will also promote skill assessment and capacity building," a senior MoE official said.

The MoUs were signed in association with the Atal Innovation Mission, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Apparel Made-Ups and Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council, Automotive Sector Skill Council, Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council, Central Square Foundation (CSC), Educational Initiatives Private Limited, Oxford University Press India, Logistics Sector Skill Council, Furniture and Fittings Sector Skill Council, Life Sciences Sector Skill Council, Textiles Sector Skill Council and Healthcare Sector Skill Council.

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Agreements between educational boards, institutes

For the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), three MoUs were signed with the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) to promote Indian sign language to share expertise and resources for standardisation and development of quality learning resources in Indian sign language, with the Common Service Centres, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to leverage CSC e-governance services to facilitate the admission of Out of School Children (OoSC) in the NIOS, increase enrolment and provide e-services, and with the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University for academic advancements.

An MoU between Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and IBM was also signed in order to accelerate the activities conducted for an effective implementation of the Vigyan Jyoti programme in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) signed 20 MoUs under the aegis of the eVidya initiative with the departments of school education of several states for the development of quality content and through PM eVIDYA DTH TV channels in different languages and for various stakeholders.

In the realm of higher education, six MoUs were signed to promote the Indian Knowledge System (IKS). Fourteen MoUs under the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) were also signed in partnership with SkillDzire Technologies Private Limited, MathWorks India Private Limited, TimesPro, Google India, Gate India Electronics Private Limited, Future Minds, The Open Group, Consortium for Technical Education (CTE), MahaLearning Tab India, Durjeya Solutions Private Limited, Flaunch Innovation Private Limited, Electronics Sector Skill Council, NIELIT and Instrumentation Automation Surveillance and Communication Sector Skill Council.

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MoUs were also signed between the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Tirupati and the IIFCET for offering an advanced certification and training course on "Digital Manufacturing and Automation for Foundry Industry" for training and enriching the knowledge of diploma holders and graduate engineers employed in the industry, IIT-Tirupati and Siemens for establishing a centre of excellence on "Smart Manufacturing and Electric Vehicle Technologies", IIT-Jodhpur and the Central University of Rajasthan, IIT-Ropar and five central universities of north India for academic collaboration and sharing of resources, VNIT-Nagpur and TCS for path-breaking research in the areas of automotive electronics, power electronics and other related interdisciplinary subjects.

The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Raipur has signed an MoU with the Bhilai Steel Plant, the largest steel plant in the country, giving an opportunity in entrepreneurship skill to budding students by exposing them to industrial training and joint degree programmes.

The PM-USHA initiative also resulted in 15 MoUs with various states. The University Grants Commission (UGC) signed five MoUs -- between the University of Mumbai and the University of Illinois (US), the University of Mumbai and the Saint Louis University (US), the Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya and the L N Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan, the University of Lucknow and the Lincoln University College in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and between the University of Lucknow and the Universidade Federal do Ceara, Brazil.