Punjab to set up skill centres in partnership with foreign cos

Punjab has tied up with Canada and UK-based companies to set up skill centres in the state, Technical Education and Employment Generation Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Friday.

He was addressing 'Mera Hunar Meri Shan' session during the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit here.

The minister said international players were joining hands with the state government to set up skill centres to provide training to youth as per the needs of industry.

The foreign players would be training facilitators and Punjab government would provide infrastructure, he said.

The project would be launched in 2020 and the state government had already signed an agreement in this regard with Canadian states and the UK, he added.

"There is a big shortage of skilled manpower across the globe and Punjab has the potential to meet this shortage by providing quality, demand-driven skilled manpower to the global industry as per their needs," Channi said.

The state government has taken the lead in the sector by revising the syllabus of vocational and polytechnic courses as per the present and futuristic technological requirements of the industry, he added.

The minister invited industrial houses to set up skill centres and centres of excellence within their industrial units in the state to provide skill training.

An expression of interest was also exchanged between the Punjab Skill Development Mission and Shoolini University, Himachal Pardesh to establish an international research university in Punjab.

The proposed university would have partnerships with leading global universities and offer world-class education and research in areas of food technology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical sciences, and other related areas, a state government release said.

Shoolini University has proposed to launch its programs by 2021.

The government also signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a Centre of Excellence in 'Microelectronics - Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC) Design' on the premises of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in Mohali.