GU Vice-Chancellor Writes A Letter To Chief Minister Of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel

On September 16, 2015, Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor, Dr. MN Patel, wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel, informing her about Gujarat University’s efforts for startups & entrepreneurs, and highlighting the crucial role that the universities and the government together need to play in Gujarat’s startup ecosystem. The letter, that was personally delivered by the Vice-Chancellor, is reproduced in full below:

To,
Smt Anandiben Patel,
Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Subject: Fulfilling Prime Minister’s “Start Up India, Stand Up India” mission in Gujarat and the crucial role of universities for the same

Respected Madam,

It gives me pleasure to share with you that over the last few months, Gujarat University has taken significant steps to support and nurture student startups & entrepreneurs.

In the month of July, we established the Gujarat University Startups & Entrepreneurs Council (GUSEC), a university body that will develop and implement policies, frameworks and initiatives to support startups & entrepreneurs through interventions at several levels across the systems established at Gujarat University.

A few weeks ago, I convened a roundtable meeting of Vice-Chancellors of all public and private universities of the state of Gujarat at my university’s campus. The meeting was chaired by Hon. Minister of Education, Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, and a unique partnership between the state government and universities was discussed. A possibility of facilitating the support to encourage and create over 1,000 startups in Gujarat across its universities was also discussed in elaborate.

I’m glad to inform you that on the recommendations of the Hon. Minister, as a way-forward for the meeting, it was decided that a coordination team with representatives of universities and senior government officials will be formed to implement a common student startup policy for the state of Gujarat that will be applicable to all universities of Gujarat.

At Gujarat University, we have also taken a note of, and heartily appreciate the “Startup Assistance Scheme” proposed by the Finance Ministry of Gujarat under the leadership of Shri Saurabhbhai Patel. The same was discussed widely during the Vice-Chancellors’ roundtable and the coordination team will also find a way to integrate the said scheme as a part of the overall policy for its better implementation.

Today, India has the most number of youths for any country in the world, and every month, the country is in need of more than 10 lakh jobs. I am confident that supporting student startups & entrepreneurs is not only a way to create more jobs, but successful businesses in form of startups will only help our state’s economy to prosper, and more importantly, all the young students working with the startups will benefit by developing new skills.

I believe that as servants of the public, we have a responsibility to support and nurture student entrepreneurs and their startups, and the roundtable meeting that we organised reaffirmed that the only way that was possible was for the state government and the universities and other institutes of higher learning to work together.

Having already taken strides in the said matter, I request you to appoint Gujarat University as one of the empowered bodies to contribute to and implement the Prime Minister’s “Start Up India, Stand Up India” mission in our state of Gujarat.

Thanking you,

Dr. MN Patel
Vice-Chancellor,
Gujarat University

***

View the scanned copy of the letter by clicking here if the following embed does not work.

https://gusec.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CM-letter.pdf