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Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

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National

Entrepreneurial training at varsity

Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: With the West Bengal Government initiating moves for greater industrialisation in the State, academic institutions here seem to have taken the cue in right earnest.

Keeping in mind the Government's moves to attract investment, the Centre for Quality Management System (CQMS), Jadavpur University, has started a nine-month training module this year which will act as an avenue of employment generation and impart to students the basics of setting up business establishments.

Sadhan K. Ghosh, Co-ordinator, CQMS, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, claims that such a programme dedicated solely to entrepreneurship development is the first of its kind in the country. "The IITs and IIMs have also introduced these courses, but usually as a part of a larger programme, where students are imparted training in a particular skill," he says.

"The chosen business area, which can range from manufacturing goods to services, is vetted and approved by us," says Prof. Ghosh. Some of the business areas, which have attracted students, include manufacturing engineering goods, food processing, fisheries and setting up educational institutions.

Bank loans

As of now, CQMS is negotiating with various banks to ensure that the young entrepreneurs are able to secure loans on lenient terms.

"We want to develop the programme as a model of entrepreneurship development that can be emulated in other parts of the country," concludes Prof. Ghosh.

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