State universities to produce employment ready students through AEDP

MUMBAI: After the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued guidelines for the Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programme (AEDP) in March this year, the state government recently issued a government resolution (GR) for implementing the same in the upcoming academic year of 2025-26.

This development comes a week after the state government approved the AEDP, which will soon be implemented in non-agricultural universities.

As per the GR, which was released on Friday, each university must enrol a minimum of 300 students in AEDP. It reads, “AEDP will involve a close coordination between university authorities, representatives of industries, skill development departments, business houses, sector skill councils, board of apprentice training, national apprentice training scheme, and other establishments, to curate courses aligned with industry needs so that students are ready for jobs once graduated.”

The GR states that each university must identify its expertise with relevant industry partners where the students can pursue their apprenticeships while also studying. While working closely with sector-specific industries, the universities will also be creating tailored courses, which will account for 20-22 credits per semester. This also entails other components such as major and minor subjects, skill development courses, and on-the-job training. The vertical of open electives or general electives must include multidisciplinary courses.

An officer from the higher and technical education department, said, “AEDP aims to provide employment-ready students for the industry. This will combine classroom instruction with hands-on training in industries.”