Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA
Future textile education should involve practical training and research in addition to classroom teaching. Mr. Prakash Awade, former textile minister of the State of Maharashtra, India emphasized the importance of comprehensive education in engineering that should have research experience and internships as part of the regular curriculum, while speaking recently at a function in Ichalkaranji as part of training workshop on Technical Textiles to faculty and students at the DKTE Textile and Engineering Institute.
Tutorials on nonwovens and technical textiles were delivered by this scribe at the DKTE institute. At this event, Professor P. V. Kadole, director of the DKTE institute, emphasized the importance of linkages with industry and international institutes. DKTE institute has about 1200 students in textile curriculum leading to diploma and degree certificates.
Ichalkaranji, situated in a fertile agricultural belt in Maharashtra is a prominent power loom sector with over 1,20,000 power looms in operation in the region. In addition, the region has the largest concentration of shuttle less looms with about 14,000 high speed shuttle less looms. Most recently, support from the Government of India has resulted in the establishment of a Center of Excellence in Nonwovens, which is serving as an incubation center for emerging nonwoven sector in India.
