As many as 500 job fairs and campus recruitment drives will be organised simultaneously across Maharashtra on September 29 as part of the state-wide ‘Rojgar Mahakumbh Maharashtra’ initiative, jointly organised by the Skill, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development Department and the Higher and Technical Education Department.
The initiative aims to connect young people with employers by bringing educational institutions and industry onto a common platform. Around 6,000 colleges and 84 universities under the Higher and Technical Education Department will participate by organising job fairs, campus recruitment drives, industry-institution interactions and career counselling sessions.
Thousands of final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students are expected to get an opportunity to interact directly with prospective employers and explore employment opportunities.
Higher and Technical Education minister Chandrakant Patil has been involved in planning the initiative.
“It is not enough to merely provide a student with a degree; it is also our responsibility to make the student employment-ready and connect them with opportunities,” Patil said.
More than 1,000 principals of government, aided and unaided colleges participated in online preparatory meetings chaired by Patil. He interacted with the principals and issued directions for implementing the initiative. Skill Development minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha also provided guidance during a special online meeting.
The Higher and Technical Education Department has appointed Prof Vilas Patil, registrar of Dr Homi Bhabha State University; Prof Vishal Banewar of the Government Institute of Science, Mumbai; and Prof Ratan Hajare of Elphinstone College as nodal and coordinating officers. Higher Education director Shailendra Devlankar and divisional officials are overseeing the preparations.
Various industries, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and reputed establishments, are expected to participate. The department has appealed to young people and employers to participate in the drive and make use of the employment opportunities on offer.
