CUPB organised Industry-Academia Meet 2023 to bring gap between academia and industry

Bathinda, January 28, 2023: In a bid to boost collaboration between industry and academia, the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB), under the patronage of Vice-Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, organised the second edition of Industry Academia Meet this week at its campus. The programme was attended by Officials of Bathinda Chamber of Commerce and Industries, leading Industrialists and representatives of Small & Medium Enterprises of Bathinda.

During this event, CUPB scientists and industry representatives discussed the opportunities to collaborate to find innovative solutions to various problems faced by industry and work together to develop skilled manpower who will contribute towards nation-building.

At the outset, Dr. Vinod Pathania, Coordinator, Training and Placement Cell, welcomed the industrial representatives. Following this, Shri. Preet Mohinder Singh, GM, DIC Bathinda introduced the participants. He applauded the unique initiative of university administration to create synergy between industry and academia, bridge the skill gap and provide cost-effective research-based solutions to SMEs.

Chairing this meeting, Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, the Vice-Chancellor, highlighted that the aim of this meeting is to create a consortium to help industries in this region by preparing skilled workforce by understanding their requirements, developing innovative solutions to reduce their production costs and providing consultancy to develop innovative products. He encouraged the Industrialists to use the testing facilities available at the university's Central Instrumentation Laboratory and various science labs for product testing and product improvement etc, at concessional rates.

Prof. Raj Kumar, in-charge of CIL, presented details about the list of facilities available at CIL and research labs such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (NMR-600 MHz); Powder X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD); DNA Sequencer; Flow Cytometer; Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM); Inductively coupled Plasma Mass spectrometer (ICP-MS); Gas Chromatography and others. He said that these state-of-the-art facilities would prove to be beneficial for industries for conducting quality testing and research.

During this interactive session, industry representatives from various sectors like pharma products, edible oil manufacturing, casting and fabrication units, etc. addressed their queries in a clear and lucid manner. They appreciated the efforts of the university authorities to develop a full-fledged testing facility, which would be helpful for the industrial growth of this region. They also showed keen interest in the utilization the expertise of the highly skilled faculty members of the university in different domains of Science and Technology.

Towards the end, V-C Prof. Tiwari directed the officials to develop a process to understand the requirements of different industry sectors and made an appeal to all to work in collaboration for the development of the nation.

The event was attended by different officials of the Bathinda Chamber of Commerce and Industries including Ramman Vats- Chairman, Ram Prakash Jindal- President, Gian Prakash- Treasurer, Pawan Aggarwal- General Secretary, Avinash Khosla- Spokesperson and Advisor were present in the meeting.

On behalf of the university, Prof. V.K. Garg, Dean Students’ Welfare; Prof. Anjana Munshi, Director, Research & Development Cell; Prof. Monisha Dhiman, Director, IQAC; faculty; and officers participated in this programme.