Short-term course of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, will be launched in Andhra University with the help of the State Government, according to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

He was speaking here on Friday evening after the inauguration of the regional news unit of All India Radio at the AIR here. He said the FTII, under the Ministry of I&B, was offering post-graduate courses in TV production.

With over 1000 TV channels in the country, trained manpower technical personnel was a critical requirement. As a new initiative to meet the requirement, he asked the institute introduce a new course called Skilling India in Film and Television (SKIFT).

Discussions were held in the presence of Union Information Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu by HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Andhra University Vice-Chancellor G. Nageswara Rao, Lok Sabha member K. Haribabu, the FTII representatives and the District Collector Pravin Kumar on Friday.