Airbus and Indian Railways Gati Shakti Vishawavidyalaya sign MoU, expect to create 15,000 jobs

Indian Railways' Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) Vadodara and commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday, aimed at fortifying the Indian aviation sector. This strategic collaboration is anticipated to generate substantial employment opportunities for students, aligning closely with the industry's specific requirements.

According to the Ministry of Railways, Airbus' Indian operations alone are poised to engage approximately 15,000 students through this groundbreaking initiative. The signing ceremony took place at Rail Bhawan, with Rémi Maillard, President and Managing Director of Airbus India and South Asia, and Prof. Manoj Choudhary, Vice-Chancellor of GSV, officially sealing the partnership.

Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) Vadodara was established under an Act of Parliament in 2022.

This collaborative MoU comes on the heels of Airbus and Tata's recent announcement to establish a cutting-edge C295 aircraft facility in Vadodara, Gujarat. This joint endeavor underscores their shared commitment to driving innovation, design, manufacturing, and development within the aerospace sector.

Rémi Maillard emphasised Airbus' dedication to fostering the aerospace ecosystem in India and their responsibility to invest in human capital development. He said, "The partnership with Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya will develop a strong pipeline of skilled workforce in the country that will be future ready to serve its fast-growing aerospace sector.” said Maillard.

Meanwhile the Railways Minister highlighted GSV's commitment to intensive industry-academia partnerships, emphasizing that all courses would be collaboratively designed with industry input. He stressed the importance of producing industry-ready graduates sought after by the transportation and logistics sectors, applauding the MoU with Airbus as a significant step towards achieving this objective.

This industry-academic partnership will work in facilitating the co-development and co-delivery of sector-relevant skilling courses and programs for both regular students and working professionals. It will also include joint research initiatives, industry exposure for faculty, internships, placements, and scholarship programs, stated the release.