The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector will soon have its own university, which will run all professional courses on the lines of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

The MSME Ministry has recently proposed this idea and wants to establish an institute with the help of Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD). The Ministry has already identified a 31 acre land in Hyderabad for setting up the university.

The idea is to establish a centre of learning that can generate employment opportunities for students in the MSME sector. While the exact nature of courses that will be offered is still being finalised, sources in HRD ministry said they will be industry-based courses. Courses like Mechatronics, 3D printing, reverse engineering, simulation and more such courses will be developed for the institute.

As per the guidelines finalised for the institution, it will work on market-need based research, consultancy and commercial purposes and the revenue generated from the institution will be used for further development purposes of the institute. Similar institutes have been functional abroad in countries like China, Germany and Sweden.

The Ministry of MSME has suggested three models in which the institute can be run– as a Central University or as an Institute of National Importance under an Act of Parliament, established as a “deemed-to-be” university under section 3 of the UGC Act and establishment of the proposed institute as a standalone institute in the domain of management education under the aegis of a registered society or as a registered trust.

The Ministry also proposes taking seeking AICTE recognition as a standalone management institute for enabling it to award Postgraduate Diploma in Enterprise Management.

The final module of the institute, which is likely to come up within two years is yet to be finalised.

Government plans to develop this institute as a hub of generating employment. Through this institution, the government plans to train youth in the MSME sector. The ministry is providing training to Class 10 and 12 passouts currently as well and offer them employment at the end of the course. This university, however will be a an attempt to give their courses value equivalent to an IIT degree.

Source: DNA