AICTE signs three MoUs to foster quality and inclusive education

New Delhi, 16 November, 2023 : The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) signed three MoUs today with Youth4Jobs Foundation, Amazon Development Centre (India) Private Limited (Amazon) and an Umbrella MoU with National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL); Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) MADRAS; Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bangalore; National Institute of Technical Teachers Training; Research; (NITTTR), Chennai, at AICTE HQ, New Delhi. 

The MoUs are signed in the august presence of Chairman AICTE Prof. T.G. Sitharam and Member Secretary Prof. Rajive Kumar. AICTE signed the MoUs to further strengthen its ongoing commitment for holistic, quality, inclusive and accessible technical education in India. 

Prof. T G Sitharam, Chairman of AICTE expressed his happiness on signing the MoUs with three organizations. He said, Amazon India is leveraging its industry expertise and technical prowess to support women empowerment in the country. Amazon WoW will be an invaluable program for women in engineering colleges across India. This initiative not only imparts essential skills, such as coding, but also opens doors to invaluable opportunities for industry exposure and soft skill development to young women. It truly embodies the spirit of progress in AICTE’s pursuit of a more inclusive and dynamic tech landscape.”

AICTE Chairman further informed that AICTE has taken various reformative initiatives like Internship portal, placement portal for rural and tribal engineering students and courses for working professionals, to ensure that students are integrated with skill development. 

*MoU Signing with Amazon India:*

AICTE signed a MoU with Amazon India under Amazon WoW’s (Women of the World) initiative. This innovative program is designed to empower and equip women students enrolled in engineering colleges across India with essential skills to thrive in the technology industry. The collaboration agreement was signed by AICTE Chairman and Suman Yadav, Director – Student Programs, Amazon.

The Amazon WoW initiative will provide a dynamic platform for women students to seamlessly connect with the Amazon community, engage in immersive skill development sessions, and access a wealth of resources. Through this strategic collaboration with AICTE, Amazon is committed to enable women students with the essential tools and knowledge necessary to navigate and succeed in the ever-evolving landscape of technology. This industry-government collaboration seeks to help women engage with industry leaders, technologists, and like-minded peers, all while honing essential career focused skills. Since its inception, Amazon WoW has garnered over 298,000 subscribers on its platform. Over 900 women have secured internships or full-time opportunities at Amazon, a testament to the program’s effectiveness. 

Underscored by the mutual objectives of Amazon India and AICTE, this collaboration aims to foster optimizing resource utilization, upskilling and promoting tech careers among women in STEM. It will not only facilitate employment for women but also empower them to play a pivotal role in propelling India towards becoming a truly digital economy.

*MoU Signing with Youth4Jobs*

Youth4Jobs and AICTE signed an MoU to provide marked linked training and placement support to students who are with disabilities. The collaboration will focus on creating disability awareness among the educators, educational institutions, employers and community. Advocate and support disability inclusion in higher education and employment. Provide free of cost job-linked training to students who are with benchmark disabilities and free of cost placement support to all the trainees. 

Youth4Jobs Foundation is South Asia’s largest organization dedicated to equipping youth with disabilities with cutting-edge 21st-century skills, seamlessly connecting them to employment opportunities. Youth4Jobs’ revolutionary AI-triggered accessible job platform is specifically designed for Persons with Disabilities.

“We eagerly anticipate the AICTE partnership as we collectively strive to shape a more inclusive and diverse workforce for India, “ said founder of Youth4Jobs, Meera Shenoy while signing the MoU. 

*MoU signing with NPTEL*

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) at IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore and National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR-Chennai) signed an Umbrella MoU with AICTE to execute Faculty Development Programs for teachers in AICTE’s approved Technical Institutions through NPTEL Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) advance courses to enable upskilling of faculty on a large scale even when they are geographically distributed and with least disruption to their regular work. The collaboration will majorly focus on training the technical teachers in polytechnic and engineering institutes through pedagogy and in emerging areas. Skill development, industrial training and hands on experience to technical teachers will also be provided to ensure that faculties have enough exposure of the relevant field. NPTEL has been offering courses for certification in the online mode as part of SWAYAM since 2017.  

Member Secretary, AICTE , Prof. Rajive Kumar highlighted the importance of educating women and disabled students. He said, “AICTE is very serious on the issue of inclusivity and diversity. We have different schemes for divyang and women students who are in technical education”. He further urged the three organizations to ensure that divyang and women students must be integrated in mainstream education through these MoUs.

Suman Yadav, Director, Amazon Development Centre (Student Programs), Meera Shenoy, Founder of Youth4Jobs foundation, Dr. Usha Natesan, Director, NITTTR, Chennai, Prof. Prathap Haridoss, Dean- Academic Courses, IIT Madras and Col. SD Aravendan, Chief Administrative Officer, IIM Bangalore were present at the MoU signing ceremony at AICTE HQ, New Delhi.