Khanapara, Feb 23: The Rubber, Chemical & Petrochemical Skill Development Council, New Delhi, (RCPSDC) under National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) here on Wednesday to start Bachelor in Vocational Course (B.Voc) on rubber production and some other courses in order to help improve the quality of the employable skills of the students of USTM.
The MoU signing ceremony was attended by USTM Vice Chancellor Prof G. D. Sharma, Regional Head of Rubber, Chemical & Petrochemical Skill Development Council, New Delhi, Prasenjit Dey, Siladitya Sarkar representing RCPSDC New Delhi, and Registrar of USTM Anju Hazarika, apart from other officials.
After signing the MoU, Prof. G. D. Sharma said that USTM would be taking preliminary steps for the implementation of relevant programmes which would aim to enhance the employability of students of USTM by equipping them with Industry/ Business relevant skills. “We will appoint and empower a committee to vet the courses and suggest suitable changes and arrange our infrastructure to carry out training batches, mobilize the trainees and assist for promotional support so as to publicize the initiative for skill development and to facilitate mobilization of trainees,” he informed.
Prasenjit Dey said that the MoU is basically aimed at imparting extracurricular skill development training. “There are 6000 rubber industries which desire to recruit more skilled people in rubber technology but now there are only 4 or 5 universities that are imparting such skill courses. USTM can take the lead role in the NE states in imparting this skill in the region and help our students to get placements in the rubber industries,” he said.
Siladitya Sarkar added that the “signing of the agreement is basically to enhance the skill development in the space of rubber and rubber production and enhancing knowledge and skill of people engaged in rubber plantation and different activities involved in it.”
Various short, medium and long term courses would be undertaken to meet this objective.
As per the MoU, RCPSDC will assist USTM in aligning the curriculum with indentified Rubber Sector qualification packs and national occupational standards for B.Voc and other Course Curriculum related to Rubber. It will facilitate training and help in provisioning of Master Trainers from the industry and develop industry linkage to enable the students to have practical training and skill development on the job.
