PUNE: In a bid to encourage and equip students for the successful start-up culture, COEP Tech University has forged an alliance with the renowned Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. A MoU to this effect was signed between these two educational institutions of national repute. A formal announcement about the same was made by Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman of the Board of Governance, COEP Tech University during a Press Conference held at COEP today in the presence of Dr. Ajit Ranade, Vice Chancellor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Prof Sudhir Agashe, Vice Chancellor and Dr. D. N. Sonawane, Registrar, COEP Tech University, Dr Ravindra Utgikar, R P Gupta, Mohit Kumar Shrivastava, Prof. M R Nandgoankar and Prof. M J Rathod were also present.
Commenting on this tie-up Dr. Pramod Chaudhari said, “We are taking this step forward keeping in mind a holistic development approach while shaping the students as responsible citizens and individuals. This first-of-its-kind tie-up in the country will help them to learn economics from one of the best institutes in the country.“
Disclosing the details of this tie-up Prof. Sudhir Agashe said, “While the implementation of the new National Education Policy is underway across the country, many good educational institutions are being awarded the status of the university or are being given autonomy. This provides them the flexibility required for updation and improvement in the education offered. The approach is going to be more multidisciplinary. So, we realized that joining hands with like-minded top educational institutions can pave the way to the promising future of students.“
“Tie-up with the Gokhale Institute is the first concrete step towards nurturing engineering students to take up entrepreneurship. Economics forms the base of most of the things in one’s life particularly in business. Thus, lessons in economics will enable them to change the way they look at engineering. Here, we propose to offer a course of 3 credits each semester for 6 semesters. Starting from the first semester of the second year of engineering to the chosen students who have a flair for entrepreneurship. Lessons in economics will be taught by the expert faculty members of Gokhale Institute, who will come to the campus of COEP. The evaluation process would also be done by them“, Prof Agashe added.
The pilot of this project shall commence in January 2024 and the course will be formally introduced as an option from the academic year 2024-25. Most importantly, there will be no additional fee for this course in economics for the students of engineering at COEP. Under this tie-up, the Gokhale Institute will lend its expertise and resources to the students of COEP. Similarly, COEP Tech University will also offer its knowledge and skilled faculty for the students of Gokhale Institute to conduct short courses in the engineering field like data sciences, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and so on.
Dr Ajit Ranade said, “Today, as a large number of engineers are turning to start-ups and entrepreneurship, imparting education in economics to them is essential. This was required but somehow it has not been thought of till now. To realize the ‘Make In India’ dream of our Prime minister it is necessary to educate budding engineers about economics, finance, various economic surveys, and their importance in business. The same applies to students of economics, they need to learn some important aspects of technology. Such an approach will play the catalyst in creating the required ecosystem. Today, the oldest engineering and economics institutes are coming together for this path-breaking initiative.“
