MHRD: “Allow Student Entrepreneurs to Sit for Exams Even with Low Attendance”

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has recently launched a new innovation and startup policy, i.e. “National Innovation and Startup Policy 2019 for Students and Faculty”. Under the policy, student entrepreneurs should be allowed to sit for the examinations, even if their attendance is lower than the minimum attendance required, with consent from the institute. These instructions were given by the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) to all technical institutions and engineering colleges. The council has also directed the colleges to explore the provisions of on-campus accommodation for these student entrepreneurs and allow semester breaks for them to work on their startup ideas.

This decision has been taken by the technical education regulators of the Ministry of Human Resource Development in order to encourage more students for taking up research and innovation. Doing so will help them turn into entrepreneurs and eventually build a career that will ultimately make them job givers rather than job seekers. The Innovation and Startup Policy 2019 by the MHRD also directs the institutes to allow the student entrepreneurs to take semester or year-breaks to focus on their startups. Furthermore, student entrepreneurs may also earn academic credits for their efforts to establishing a business.

For the purpose of granting academic credits to the student entrepreneurs, the policy has also directed the institutes in India to establish a review committee. The committee will be responsible for reviewing the performance and growth of the startups. Depending on the development of the start-up, the committee may grant the students the appropriate credits for the semester or year.

The innovation and startup policy had been developed after a 15-member committee, which had been constituted by the MHRD, had recommended the idea. The policy covers various aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation. Among the facets that had been covered, Intellectual Property ownership, Revenue-Sharing mechanisms, Norms for Technology transfer as well as commercialisation were focused upon. In November of 2016, the AICTE had launched a startup policy document for seeking feedback from various stakeholders. Developing a policy that covers IPR and entrepreneurship is one of the Firsts for the MHRD, sources state.

The policy states, "Hierarchical barriers should be minimised and individual autonomy and ownership of initiatives should be promoted.”, thus further facilitating the decision-making process and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship among the students.

The Policy also directs institutes to allocate 1% of its budget for activities relating to the startups. The policy also directs the institutes to reach out to various corporate and private sectors for gathering funds under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

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In the words of the Chairman of UGC, DP Singh, guidelines mentioned in the National Innovation and Startup Policy 2019 will enable the Universities and Institutes to tackle different issues in startups and handling the Intellectual Property Rights and other innovation-related obstructions. A senior official of the AICTE spoke about this matter and made these revelations known to the public via press. He said that the institutes should link their startups and companies with an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is wider and they should provide support to students who show potential in their pre-startup phase. Connecting student entrepreneurs with real life entrepreneurs will further help those students in understanding real challenges which they might face while going through the innovation funnel and will also increase the probability of success.

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With the launch of the policy for Innovation and startups, students and student entrepreneurs will be able to not only develop their startup ideas into a full-fledged business venture, but it will also allow them to pursue their academic aspirations on the sidelines. Especially with the new guidelines, the student entrepreneurs may also receive guidance and ideas from their faculties to help them grow their business ventures.