CHENNAI: To meet the demand of skilled manpower in fisheries and aquaculture related industries, Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa Fisheries University (TNJFU) has started new diploma and bachelor degree in vocational courses from this academic year.
According to varsity officials, the newly introduced courses include two diploma courses and a B.Voc course. The B.Voc course in Industrial Fish Processing Technology will be offered by Paraprofessional Institute of Fisheries Technology, Royapuram. The diploma courses in deep sea fishing technology and in industrial aquaculture technology will be offered by Paraprofessional Institute (Fisheries) at Mandapam and Institute of Paraprofessional Aquaculture Technology at Muttukadu respectively. Officials said they have received a good number of applications. Counselling will be conducted next month.
The university has fixed no age limit for applying for the diploma courses to encourage people to take up these programmes and build up their career in the field. Diploma courses will be of one year duration while B.Voc will be for three years.
University Vice Chancellor S Felix said “In the last few years, the industry related to fisheries and aquaculture have grown by leaps and bounds and there is a huge demand for skilled manpower for the sector. To cater to the needs, the university has been introducing new courses”. He said that the university had recently organised a conference on Asia Pacific Aquaculture and during the meet they realised the needs of the industry and accordingly they have chalked our new courses.
Officials said different stakeholders like fishermen, aspiring entrepreneurs and students from other fields seeking employment opportunities will be immensely benefited by the programmes. They said there was a lot of job opportunities in the sector. The courses will give an insight into the sector. After completing the courses, students can get jobs in private companies, fish and shrimp farms and even can start their own business.