World Youth Skills Day is being observed today, July 15. This is done to zoom in on skilling and its urgent need in today's demanding world.

On this important day, Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, has an important message for the students.

"How do you provide an opportunity for the students to get a taste of this world while they are studying in colleges or universities?" he asked in a video message put out by the official Twitter handle of UGC, @ugc_india. This video message was posted at 10.05 am today.  

The chairman goes on to answer the question by saying, "These kinds of skills can be provided to the students through the internship programmes. UGC has come up with new guidelines to expand the scope of the internships so that students can go not only to the industries but to small MSMEs, they can go to various kinds of organisations such as courts, panchayats offices or post offices just to see how things work there and how things can be improved in the real world." 

The chairman also laid emphasis on the fact that UGC has also come up with industry-university guidelines which will provide greater opportunities for students to acquire skills. 

"On this day, on World Youth Skills Day, UGC affirms its commitment to provide better skilling opportunities to the students," the chairman said towards the end, as he signed off.