Universities must focus on innovation, start-ups and jobs: Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said universities should go beyond producing graduates and create an ecosystem that can turn students innovative ideas into businesses and startupsHe said universities should help create future industries innovations and unicorns through strong incubation centres and support for entrepreneurshipFadnavis was speaking at the inauguration of the new administrative building of the Nashik subcentre of Savitribai Phule Pune University SPPU at Shivnai in Dindori talukaThe Chief Minister said several leading global companies and innovations had their origins in universitiesHe said SPPU had already started work in the field but there was a need to further strengthen innovation research and entrepreneurship in view of global technological changesFadnavis assured that the Maharashtra government would provide the necessary support to help universities develop major industries and unicornsEducation must create jobready talentFadnavis said education employment and the services sector could no longer be viewed separately in a changing economyHe stressed that creating jobready human resources was more important than simply increasing the number of graduatesHe said efforts were being made through the National Education Policy to make education more employmentoriented and equip students with skills required for emerging jobsAI and data science to shape future jobsThe Chief Minister said artificial intelligence and data science were bringing major changes to the employment landscapeHe called for skillbased education that would help students adapt to changing technologyFadnavis suggested that the Nashik subcentre focus on modern subjects such as data science artificial intelligence healthcare and clinical data managementNashik has major growth potentialHighlighting Nashiks economic potential Fadnavis said the district had opportunities in agriculture particularly grape production and exports food processing engineering services aeronautics pharmaceuticals life sciences and automobilesHe said investments worth around Rs 30000 crore had been made in various manufacturing and industrial sectors in Nashik over the past two yearsFadnavis said Mumbai Pune and Nashik had traditionally formed an important development triangle in MaharashtraHe added that Nashiks industrial growth had slowed for some time but was now gaining momentumThe Chief Minister said Nashik could emerge as one of Maharashtras important growth engines after Mumbai and Pune over the next five yearsSubcentre to support skilled workforceFadnavis said the Nashik subcentre would help create quality and employmentoriented human resources in the regionHe also called for the use of technology research and innovation through the centre in preparation for the upcoming Kumbh Mela in NashikHigher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil said efforts would be made for the overall development of the universitys Nashik subcentreFood Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the centre would benefit people across the regionNashik subcentre covers 196 collegesThe SPPU Nashik subcentre has jurisdiction over Nashik district as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli and SilvassaThe government approved construction of the centre on January 22 2021 Around 62 acres of land was received for the project at Shivnai in Dindori of which 40 acres is currently under the subcentres possessionThe new building has a builtup area of around 33000 square feet and the project including furniture computers and other facilities cost around Rs 18 croreThe subcentre covers 196 affiliated colleges and recognised institutions with around 2600 teachers and more than 25 lakh studentsIt currently offers courses including MBA BBA Temple Management and Executive MBAPlans for new courses and research centresThe subcentre provides facilities including a free elibrary computer and language laboratories an auditorium a student facilitation centre and an employment and training centreIt also assists students with transfer and migration certificates and technical issues related to examinationsThe university plans to introduce postgraduate courses in technology and law establish research centres in various subjects and start more employmentoriented courses through the Nashik subcentre