Job-related finishing schools to come up in AP

Tirupati, July 8: To provide job-oriented courses to university students, ''finishing schools'' will be set up at four universities in Andhra Pradesh in the next two months, Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) Chairman K C Reddy has said.

After launching 19 employment-oriented bridge courses in Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) here, he said yesterday the expenditure for creating infrastructure in the schools would be borne by the state government. It would come up at Osmania University, Andhra University, Nagarjuna University and SVU shortly for the benefit of students.

The course duration in the schools would be four to six months as against bridge course, where one-month duration course was conducted. In-depth job-related theory and practical training were provided to the students through industrial representatives, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, SVU Vice-Chancellor S Jayarama Reddy claimed that SVU had first introduced the unique and innovative programme of bridge courses to students in the state from the academic year 2006-07.

Later, Mr Reddy released a book an ''New Initiatives-March Towards Academic Excellence of the SVU'.

UNI