Indian Railways’ Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) Vadodara and Airbus have entered into a collaboration to significantly strengthen the Indian aviation sector. Following up on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in September 2023, a definitive agreement was inked at Rail Bhawan, New Delhi recently. The agreement includes a full scholarship program for 40 GSV students for the entire program duration, setting up the Centre of Excellence at GSV, as well as the Airbus Aviation Chair Professor position at GSV. Further, GSV and Airbus will partner for executive training for working professionals in the aviation sector, said a release.
“Today Airbus in India has about 3,500 full time employees, most of them engineers and digital professionals. We support an additional 15,000 jobs in our supply chain in India. Our sourcing from India stands at more than $1 billion a year, which we look to double in the coming years. We are building not one but two Final Assembly Lines: One for the C295 military aircraft in the home of GSV, i.e. Vadodara and the other for the H125 helicopter, for which we are scouting for a site. The C295 programme will support 25,000 direct and indirect jobs in India. We are developing the Airbus India Training Centre in Gurgaon along with Air India to train about 5,000 pilots over the next 10 years,” said Rémi Maillard, President and Managing Director, Airbus in India and South Asia.
Prof. Manoj Choudhary, Vice Chancellor – GSV, highlighted: “This pioneering partnership with Airbus shall significantly advance GSV’s vision to be an industry-driven and innovation-led university and also defines a template for industry-academia collaboration in India. We are thankful to Airbus for their very substantial contribution for regular education as well as executive education programs at GSV, which will enable the growth of aviation sector in India through creation of superior human resources, skilling and cutting-edge research.”
Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) Vadodara was established through an Act of Parliament in 2022, for creating best in class manpower and talent for the entire transportation and logistics sectors. This Central University is sponsored by the Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India and has Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and IT as its first Chancellor.
Focusing exclusively on the transport and logistics sectors, GSV is a “first of its kind” university aiming to fulfil the mandate of the National Developmental Plans (PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan 2021 and National Logistics Policy 2022) across railways, shipping, ports, highways, roads, waterways, aviation etc., the release added.