BHUBANESWAR: Higher education department is planning to introduce short-term certificate courses for development of skills of undergraduate and post graduate students of the state.
It is scheduled to start these courses in different degree colleges with the help of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), official sources said.

The officials of IGNOU have already made a presentation regarding the plan before the higher education secretary Bishnupada Sethi on Tuesday. The government is pleased to start the programme, said an IGNOU officer.

S K Panigrahi, assistant regional director of Bhubaneswar regional centre of IGNOU, said they want to introduce the short term certificate courses as add-on skills for students while they continue their study in colleges.

“We will pay the teachers for teaching our designed course material. Students will get course materials from us while taking admission. The teaching will not hamper the normal routine of the college. We will arrange the classes on Sundays to avoid clashes of regular courses with certificate programmes,” he added.

According to the plan, IGNOU will provide these six-month duration skill development courses in all degree colleges with a fee ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 4,000. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students can enroll their names for the courses without paying any admission fee, said Panigrahi.

He said University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines allow a student to enroll for a short-term certificate course on skill development. The student can cater to need of the job market after completion of his/her degree, he added.

“IGNOU has already started these courses in Rajasthan. We want to start it in Odisha for the benefit of the students. Our university offers 69 certificate courses.

Courses like NGO management, beauty and wellness, rural management, organic farming, dairy farming, bee keeping, IT and other skill training will help the students to get a job easily or start an enterprise,” he added.