NEW DELHI: Delhi will become the first state in the country to have a technical university exclusively for women in order to focus on their participation in nation building. Briefing reporters on the decision taken by the state Cabinet, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit underscored the need to have a women’s technical varsity as more and more women engineers would play a crucial role in nation-building in the future.
“In order to focus on the participation of women engineers in nation building and to meet the growing needs of industry for relevant technology and product innovation, it is necessary to establish institutions exclusively for women,” she noted.
The draft of the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University Bill - 2012, will be introduced in the Assembly in the forthcoming session, Dikshit added.
The Chief Minister stated that the IG Institute of Technology, which is currently affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indra Prastha (GGSIP) University, will be upgraded and renamed as Indira Gandhi Women’s Technological University. “The IGIT has attained a level of maturity and contributed to the growth of quality technical education and research among women in the last 12 years,” she added. According to Dikshit, the new university will be a significant landmark in Delhi’s history and would further contribute to the creation of its rich academic and research environment as well as imparting world-class technical education to girls.
True to the Congress tradition, the proposed varsity is to be named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and apparently with an eye on the upcoming Delhi civic polls in April.
The move would further open up the field of tech education to girl students.
Moreover, this would provide the opportunity for accelerated growth of women in technical education, technology incubation and product innovation; vital for women’s empowerment and the growth of industries in the national capital region (NCR) and the country at large.