By Staff Correspondent
Airbus has announced two new academic partnerships in India. The first, at Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) in Vadodara, will train experts in transport and logistics, while the second, at the same institution, will be a chair professor for aerospace studies.
In addition to helping the institution build its comprehensive aerospace curriculum—which includes both traditional academic courses and executive programs—Airbus will award annual scholarships to hundreds of deserving engineering students from low-income backgrounds. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, Airbus is collaborating with GSV to create a robust network of trained aviation experts in India.
Present at the announcement of the Airbus-GSV partnership were senior officials from the Indian government, as well as Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Shri Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Ravneet Singh Bittu, and other ministers and officials from the Indian government.
Industry and academics have come together in a historic alliance to help train the next generation of aviation experts, who will drive growth in India’s transportation sector. According to Rémi Maillard, President and Managing Director of Airbus in India and South Asia, this will be an exceptional example of the ‘Skill India’ project, which is run by the Indian government.
“This groundbreaking partnership with Airbus shall considerably advance GSV’s vision to be an industry-driven and innovation-led university and it also defines a template for industry-academia collaboration in India,” announced Prof. Manoj Choudhary, Vice Chancellor of GSV. We are grateful to Airbus for their significant support of GSV’s regular and executive education courses, which will help the aviation industry in India thrive by producing highly skilled workers and funding innovative studies.
The Airbus-GSV Centre of Excellence will support organic research, innovation, and extensive capacity-building activities for the transport and logistics sectors; its goal is to transform the transport and logistics industry in India and beyond. Airbus will cover the costs of the center’s essential equipment and the construction of its infrastructure. Airbus will also use technological solutions to provide GSV students with training and research programmes that will make them more marketable to potential employers.
Additionally, 40 deserving but financially disadvantaged students will receive full tuition scholarships from Airbus to study aviation engineering and related subjects. In an effort to promote gender parity in the field, 33% of these scholarships will go to female students. Airbus and GSV will also select a distinguished professor to serve as the Centre of Excellence’s Guest Chair and to back the growth of aerospace degree courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, in addition to executive certificate programmes for aviation workers in areas like safety management, flight data analysis, and air cargo management. Together with GSV, Airbus will work to facilitate partnerships with prominent international organizations and trade groups. The cooperation between GSV and Airbus is carrying out the terms of the 2023 memorandum of understanding.
An Act of Parliament in 2022 created GSV with the goal of making it a trailblazer in transport and logistics education in India. Through its interdisciplinary curriculum, executive education, and research, it is well-positioned to produce a new generation of transportation industry leaders in the fields of technology, management, and policy. GSV adapts its programme based on what the industry requires.
