Jaffna varsity keen on pact with Indian universities

The University of Jaffna is keen on building links with the Indian universities to strengthen the educational and cultural relationship between India and Sri Lanka, according to its Vice-Chancellor Vasanthi Arasaratnam. She told presspersons here on Tuesday on the sidelines of conference on “Women entrepreneurship ecosystem-present and future” organised by the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi that the University of Jaffna had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Madras. The linkages would bolster the relationship between two countries. Recollecting the financial help rendered by the Indian government on educational sector, Ms. Arasaratnam said it had granted Rs. 600 million for two universities for creating infrastructure for engineering and agricultural engineering. The University of Jaffna had begun the construction of buildings as part of the plan. Earlier, in her special address, she said lifestyle, family set up, duties, and responsibilities of women of India and Sri Lanka had been the same. Women should come forward to take up entrepreneurial assignments. Self confidence was the key to success. M.M.M. Najim, Vice-Chancellor of South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, said there was a need to motivate and encourage women to start business ventures. A large number of women, who had lost their husbands in the civil war, had been looking for career opportunities. A section of them had gone for employment in foreign countries. They could be trained on business opportunities. G. Kannabiran, Professor of Management, NIT-T, said the project on business and management capacity development of rural women entrepreneurs, funded by The Asia Foundation, had come as a boost to bring a number of rural women of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka under the fold of entrepreneurs. They had been given training on various aspects of entrepreneurship, including raising funds, creating access to markets, augmenting managerial skills, and so on. Rani Muralidharan, president, Women Entrepreneurs Association of Tamil Nadu (WEAT), spoke. (The Hindu)