|
Ties up with City & Guild, London, more such tie-ups
expected
SASMIRA to focus on education and vocational training
Reena Mital - Mumbai
With the textiles ministry having stopped project funding for the textile research
associations (TRAs), the TRAs, are now looking at other avenues to tide over
the financial crisis that they are finding themselves in.
The Synthetic and Art Silk Mills Research Association (SASMIRA) is now focussing
on education and is planning to start a number of vocational courses. The TRA
is looking at the option of tying up with foreign universities for the same.
And has already associated with City & Guild, London for certain vocational
courses.
Speaking to Express Textile, Mr M K Bardhan, director, SASMIRA, said, “Education
is one of the areas that we plan to focus on in the years to come. Over the
last two years we have introduced a number of courses at SASMIRA, and 2-3 more
such courses will be in place by the next academic year. The focus will be on
courses related to technical textiles, IT in textiles, textile retailing, merchandising,
fashion technology, etc.”
The tie-up with City & Guild, London, is for its courses on retailing, merchandising,
etc. “We will select our own faculty from the industry and from SASMIRA,
the syllabus will be City & Guild’s. On successful completion of the
course, the students will get certificates from the London institute,”
said Mr Bardhan. These courses will begin from the next academic year. “City
& Guild is a very old institute, and has a presence in almost 150 countries.
The vocational courses it offers finds acceptability the world over,” informed
Mr Bardhan. “Retailing is growing at a rapid pace in the country, but there
is a shortage of trained manpower here. Vocational courses such as these will
be relevant,” he said.
Besides this, the TRA is also looking at tie-ups with certain American institutes
for training in textile related areas such as IT in textiles, technical textiles.
“The idea for such ventures has been generally accepted by SASMIRA, the
council now has to agree on the same, and work out the various parameters,”
said Mr Bardhan.
For the City & Guild courses, the TRA has already advertised the same. “But
the response has not been too good yet. A more personal approach will be needed.
We are also approaching big retailers such as Shoppers Stop, Crossroads, R-Mall,
etc, for getting sponsorship for students. The response to this has been lukewarm.
But we have only just begun this exercise, and expect better results,”
he said.
SASMIRA has also submitted certain project proposals to the Department of Science
and Technology (DST) for funding. “These proposals relate mainly to instrumentation,
and by the month-end we will know if the DST approves the projects,” stated
Mr Bardhan.
|
E-Mail
Print
