Siemens Centre of Excellence trains 15,531 students

Anantapur: In the context of unearthing of alleged skill development scam by the AP-CID relating to establishment of Siemens Centre of Excellence and the Skill development training institutes in colleges and ITIs during the TDP rule leading to the arrest of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, several students expressed surprise at the political scam and allegations of financial irregularities as scores of students benefitted from the training.

The students, who do not want to be caught on the wrongside refused to be drawn into controversies or say anything that antagonises the present political dispensation.

“As students, we know only the good part of it. We do not know if it was a technical scam or a financial scam but a lot of good came out of the Siemens project” adds the students, who spoke on anonymity on telephone to The Hans India. They however added that they do not know the intricacies of the project.

The AP government spent Rs 200 crore for setting up 14 laboratories under Siemens Centre of Excellence in the state and the one at the JNTUA campus was established in coordination with the AP Skill Development Corporation.

Dr B Durga Prasad was the chief coordinator of the centre in the campus. The skill development comes to the fore at a time when only 10,000 students were employable out of 2.50 lakh engineering graduates, who pass out of engineering colleges every year in the state.

The Siemens Centre of Excellence had stepped into bridge the gap between the Institution and the Industry. The Centre established in the JNTUA support is making a difference in the lives of engineering students not only in the campus but also in its 500 odd affiliated engineering colleges in Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur districts.

Vice-Chancellor Ranga Janardhana, Registrar Sasidhar and Rector Vijaya Kumar together extended institutional support to the 100-year-old Siemens Company which worked with the AP Skill Development Corporation of the state government.

“Industries today are looking at skill developing institutions, who can manufacture skilled industry-ready engineers and technocrats who can straight away deliver goods,”stated Yasmin Mirza, centre in-charge during an interaction with The Hans India.

She reveals that the centre had trained as many as 15,531 students from all the 5 districts and most of them were absorbed by corporate firms at campus interviews.

The centre was established on September 3, 2017 and in a span of 4 years could extend skill upgradation training to 15,000 odd prospective engineers.

JNTUA Vice-Chancellor Ranga Janardhana told The Hans India that the centre in the campus also trained the Kia Motors engineers in Robotics etc before the commercial launch of the Kia Cars. Kia Motors also have utilised the body paint and body repair laboratories of Siemens Centre of Excellence to train their employees at a basic level.

Most of the students have been placed in esteemed organisations, those who have been trained under Siemens Centre of Excellence especially in KIA motors.