Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Odisha, participated in a three-nation tour with Vice-President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, to Gabon and Senegal, as part of the CII delegation representing Higher Educational institutions of India. The Vice-President was accompanied by a high-level delegation including Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar and three Members of Parliament, Sushil Kumar Modi (Rajya Sabha), Vijay Pal Singh Tomar (Rajya Sabha) and P Ravindhranath (Lok Sabha), senior officials of Government of India, media and business persons.
CUTM, being the first skill university in India, had two objectives in mind for this visit.
The first was to add skilled manpower to Gabon and Senegal by offering skill development/capacity building courses which will help in obtaining gainful employment and also contribute to the growth of these two countries' economies.
Secondly, to set up the first maritime education and engineering school in Gabon with the help of GSEZ, MoE (Gabon Special Economic Zone. Ministry of Education), MoHE (Ministry of Higher Education) and MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development). As Gabon is one of the Member States of the International Maritime Organisations (IMO) since 1976, the maritime school will help Gabon to meet its maritime security and manpower requirements.
This visit as a part of the CII delegation team was a proud moment for CUTM. Monalisha Ghosh, Associate Director, International Relationships and Government Partnerships, participated on behalf of CUTM. During the visit, Ghosh participated in the two major events of business hosted jointly by CII and the Chamber of Commerce of Gabon and Senegal and met several potential partners in promoting education, particularly in skilling. She also explored various opportunities that will help in strengthening bilateral cooperation between India and these two countries. During the visit, the CII delegation, including CUTM visited GSEZ, where CUTM explored opportunities to help them in setting up a training centre in wood engineering.
This is one of the first universities that visited Africa, in general, Gabon and Senegal, in particular, and seized the opportunity in furthering CUTM’s international outreach.
CUTM strongly believes that this tour will further strengthen the Indo-African relationships by creating better opportunities in higher education through the integration of skills.
