As a part of the Government’s initiative to inculcate entrepreneurial capabilities among students, the Food Technology Department of the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) Awantipora today opened a Pizza-cum-bakery outlet at the campus.Inaugurated by Minister for Education, Mr Naeem Akhtar, “Pizzeria” will run on no-profit-no-loss basis.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister lauded the efforts of the students and teachers of IUST for pioneering the novel initiative which could be replicated by other educational institutions to promote entrepreneurial skills among youth. “Kashmir is known for its exclusive range of bakeries and the introduction of new line of cakes, cookies and Pizzas can be genesis to a new industry which has a huge market,” he said and added that similar endeavors should be undertaken by other educational institutions in specialized fields and government will always provide a helping hand in this new endeavor.
The Minister was informed that the bakery products of the Food Technology Department of IUST are already popular among the locals and there is a huge demand both from within and outside the campus for the same. He urged the university to follow the principle of high quality and reasonable pricing for the benefit of the students and the locals. He advised the students to be innovative in their approach towards their careers after leaving the university. He said the state is full of business opportunities and the students need to benefit from various schemes launched by the government for budding entrepreneurs.The Minister also visited the Design Innovation Centre of IUST, where he was informed about the various national level research projects being undertaken. The Centre is a joint initiative of the IUST, University of Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia. He also interacted with students at the centre.He was accompanied by Vice Chancellor IUST Prof Abdul Rashid Trag and other officials and academicians of various departments.