saurabh vats

India first aviation university may start its academic session in July 2017     India’s first aviation university may start its academic session from July next year and hire overseas professionals, said government officials aware of the development. The setting up of the Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU), aimed to promote aviation studies, flying training, teaching and research, may help address the chronic shortage of talented professionals in the sector. The Indian aviation sector is estimated to have a human resource requirement of over 330,000 personnel by 2025. “The university is currently being built within the 239-acre premises of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), located at Fursatganj in Raebareli district, Uttar Pradesh. About 26.35 acres of land has been identified for the purpose and first-phase development has started,” said a senior aviation ministry official requesting anonymity. The move to establish a national aviation university is in line with the New Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, announced by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in June this year. However, the institution, scheduled to commence training of aspiring pilots, aircraft engineers and cabin crew by July this year, could not start operations on time. “State-run developer Airports Authority of India (AAI) is currently constructing the facility, which is expected to be completed by March 2017,” the official added. Key study areas to be focused upon by RGNAU, a central autonomous university under the ministry of civil aviation, include aviation management, regulation and policy, aviation science and engineering, aviation law, safety and security. According to an AAI official, who also did not want to be identified, the new aviation university will largely utilise IGRUA’s infrastructure and aircraft for training purpose. The demand for aviation professionals is expected to increase with the NCAP easing restrictions on newer domestic carriers to start overseas operations. The government relaxed the so-called 5/20 rule, which required an airline to have a five-year experience and 20 aircraft in its fleet in order to obtain a licence to operate international flights. The university may also hire overseas professionals and academicians, especially from technologically advanced countries such as the US and Canada. Another aviation ministry official, requesting anonymity, said that a vice-chancellor has already been selected and more hiring for full-time positions will start very soon. “The plan is to ensure that the first academic session would start from June-July next year. We also want to hire a number of overseas professionals, but that decision has not been finalised yet because of the costs involved,” the official pointed out. “At the same time, the aviation sector is growing fast—India is among the five fastest-growing global aviation markets—and training in sync with international norms will be an added advantage for the students,” the official said. The Union Cabinet, headed by the then-prime minister Manmohan Singh, gave its approval to the project in July 2013 and sanctioned Rs.202 crore for the first phase (2013-2019) of university development. In 2006, M.K. Kaw Committee had recommended setting up of a national aviation university in India. The 12th Five-year Plan (2012-17) document also made a similar recommendation to augment qualified and trained manpower for the aviation sector. Queries emailed to the ministry of civil aviation and AAI on 30 August remained unanswered. Experts, however, are of the opinion that training by overseas professionals on the home turf could be wishful thinking on the part of the authorities. According to former AAI chairman V.P. Agarwal, no foreigner would prefer taking up an assignment at the upcoming aviation university, which is a remote town and over 600km away from the national capital Delhi. “Besides, bringing in someone from outside India will lead to a huge disparity in salary, which I don’t think would materialise,” said Agarwal. According to the International Air Transport Association, India’s air passenger traffic growth rate is over six times more than that of the US, which at 4.1% is the second-fastest growing market in the world.