Arrangements on the ground are understood to be hectic for the eventual take off of National Aviation University (NAU) shortly.

According to reliable sources, land belonging to civil aviation ministry has been identified, and a major foreign consultancy, which has been entrusted with the work of detailed project report, is expected to submit the report within the next two months.

In its year end review, civil aviation ministry has informed that that the proposal to upgrade Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) located at Fursatganj district of Raebareli in UP, to a national aviation university is being considered.

The foundation stone for the Akademi was laid by the then prime minister, Capt Rajiv Gandhi on November 7, 1985. It is an autonomous body under the control of the ministry of civil aviation and is headed by a director who is assisted by departmental heads of operations, services, finance and human relations.

The main objective of the Akademi is to improve the flying training standards in the civil aviation industry and to impart line oriented flying training of international standards, as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) norms. Candidates intake at the institute is planned in such a way that it could be able to pass out over 100 candidates in a year.
IGRUA has entered into a management contract with Canadian Aviation Electronics, Canada to improve its standard to world class.

The refresher courses are conducted regularly for flying instructors /pilot instructor in-charge of flying clubs. As and when re q u i re d , IGRUA also provides pilot training to candidates of Indian Airlines, Border Security Force (BSF), Coast Guard candidates, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
Unveiling the proposal for the country’s first aviation university, then union civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said in October last year that the university would address the issue of dearth of skilled human resource in Indian aviation sector which is expected to see a passenger traffic of 30 crore by 2020.

Stated to be one of the prestigious universities in the world and best in Asia, the university is expected to attract foreign students, especially from countries in the Middle East. The government plans to invest more than Rs 1000 crore for the project, which would have collaboration with some of the top foreign universities in the sector.

After the establishment of Indian Maritime University (IMU) in Chennai, the coming up of NAU could be considered as another major development in the country’s logistics and infrastructure sector since 60 odd years after independence. Maritime industry professionals, however, are believed to be not happy with the progress made by IMU in the nearly three years of its existence and therefore feel that the government should not fashion NAU around IMU.
“The lack of vision which was evident at the time of the establishment of the university seems to percolate into its current functioning,” said a source familiar with the university and its working, on condition of anonymity.

“First it went about admitting students for the courses proposed, then it went to search for faculty, most of it is visiting capacity currently, and its search for infrastructure is still continuing”, said a source at the university.

“If you ask me, the problem with IMU as it stands today is that the emphasis is not on academic aspects but on management, typical of any government organization,” said the official from Mumbai.

The varsity has a vice-chancellor, but he carries out the work over and above his regular functioning for the last 3-4 months. From whatever one understand from the sources at Delhi about the preparation for the aviation university, it seems to be on the right path for the take off.