Centurion University, a pioneer in ‘skill-integrated higher education’, is encouraging thousands of students to be industry ready. With its multiple programmes in various industries, this education model is resulting in employability and igniting entrepreneurship.
Prof. Mukti Kanta Mishra, President and Prof. DN Rao, Vice President, Centurion University took over a failing college in Odisha’s Paralakhemundi and realised that a unique approach to education was needed to make students industry ready.
An institution, which has now been recognised by multiple governments, including central and state, International organisations like UNESCO and the World Bank, has over 30 in-house industry units and labs to provide real-time working experience to students in various fields like engineering, agriculture, management, paramedical and among others.
Prof. Mukti believes that a different education system is required which is appropriate, relevant and should be delivered where it is needed the most.
“Most of our campuses are rural centric and caters to school drop out to the PhD student. The university was created to give a platform for anyone and everyone who would like to use the university ecosystem to develop the capacity and competency to earn the livelihood of the decency and dignity,” he told Entrepreneur India.
Apart from this, the university was recently engaged in supplying precision components for rockets to ISRO. The components made by the university were used in the Chandrayaan-3 Mission. This collaboration not only generated revenue but also gave chance to students to experience the real life challenges.
“We had gone through the bidding process for ISRO and HAL. We competed and got it with our own efforts. We are very proud of that,” Pro. Mukti said.
The university’s education model revolves around approach that not only fosters problem-solving skills but also addresses sustainability and climate change concerns.
Speaking on sustainable approach in the university, he said that before Fani, a cyclone that hit the state in 2019, the university was running on renewable energy and now they have again started to deploy solar panels to reach their earlier self.
“I'm actually in touch with one of the Italian engineer who has worked on two things, including wind power and waste water conversion into power,” he added.
“I want to make Centurion another Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge; but for that, I need money. I want to set up a hospital. I want to scale up and modernize all the labs. I want to start chips’ production, so that you have students who are ready for industry 5.0,” he said.
The university emphasises the principles of reduce, recycle, and reuse in its operations and encourages students to adopt a similar mindset. “Our students are also engaged in pottery for which we have collaborated with Mitticool. We produce various products for the company with zero wastage as whatever waste from this unit come, we use it to make other useful products like chalks. We also have unit for making handmade papers using waste paper from the university,” said Sukanta P, Director, Admissions & Marketing, Centurion University.
The University has over six campuses in the state which are imparting skill-based knowledge to students who can even start their own small business.
