BENGALURU: To equip students with employable skills, the state government on Tuesday announced a new course -- apprenticeship embedded degree programme (AEDP) -- in select 45 government first grade colleges across the state from the academic year 2024-25. This year, 1,373 students have registered, of which 884 are girls. The programme has been framed in line with the University Grants Commission.
During the launch of the programme, Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar said the department wants to offer skilled manpower to the industry and help students in rural areas and women.
An MoU was signed with representatives from degree colleges at the Karnataka State Higher Education Council in Bengaluru, in collaboration with CRISP (Centre for Research in Schemes and Policies) and Sector Skill Councils, who will facilitate the course.
The programme will be implemented under the Logistics, BFSI and Retail Sector Skill Councils in the form of three-year degree courses in Banking and Finance (BFSI), e-Commerce, Logistics and Retail, in select colleges by utilising the already existing infrastructure and faculty members.
“As a new course, students will pursue studies in their colleges during the first four semesters. They will undergo apprenticeship training during the 5th and 6th semesters in industries and organisations as decided by the respective Sector Skill Councils,” said Sudhakar. He added that in the next three years, the government has set a goal of enrolling 14,000 students in AEDP.
VLVSS Subba Rao, Senior Advisor, CRISP, and former bureaucrat, said a monthly stipend of Rs 18,000-20,000 will be awarded to students. “This cost will be borne by different companies. The added benefit here is that those students who perform well, can be absorbed by companies,” he said.