Indien: Zusammenarbeit mit EU stärkt National Skill Development Mission

The Delegation of the European Union (EU) and National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship organised a conference to discuss the results, impact and the way forward of the EU-India Skill Development Project.

Skill development is one of India's priorities. Started in 2012 and funded by the European Union, the project has successfully assisted the NSDA, selected State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs) and Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) in implementing policies and developing frameworks to increase the employability and capacity for entrepreneurship of those trained under the National Skill Development Mission.

Key policy tools, such as the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF), and the Labour Market Information System (LMIS), have been made operational with project assistance. For NSQF, the project helped to turn the concept into a practical tool for defining and registering qualifications. In addition, a strong focus on quality of skilling was proposed in the form of the National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF). The project also supported institutional and individual capacity building to efficiently implement the policy agenda through workshops, training and expertise development sessions.

The EU India Skill development conference was inaugurated by Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge), Government of India in the presence of Mr. Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the EU to India; Shri Rohit Nandan, Secretary MSDE, Chairman NSDA and NSDC; Shri Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Cooperation (NSDC) and Dr. Sunita Chhibba, Director General, NSDA.

Both the Minister Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy and the Secretary MSDE, Shri Rohit Nandan highlighted that the India EU skills development project has already helped NSDA design the National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) which brings the quality assurance in all the areas of skill development eco-system and echoed the sentiments that there is a need for NSDA to play the role of a regulator in skill ecosystem for further implementing the quality assurance mechanism in the country.

Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy also mentioned that the collaboration between India and the EU in the area of skills ecosystem has been successful and hoped to work further with the EU in this area.

Talking about the success of the EU India Skill development project Ambassador Tomasz Kozlowski said, "The project worked with 7 states, 6 sectors; trained 199 trainers and 85 assessment professionals, and organised workshops for over 400 participants from different partner organisations. It has been successful in helping to implement the various policies and to design a framework for quality assurance of training and assessment, contributing to the employability of the skilled workforce. We believe this will certainly strengthen the National Skill Development Mission."

Shri Rohit Nandan further said, "Our association with the EU has been very fruitful and it has been a unique experience for India to benchmark in the international standards. (Association with the EU) paved the way for the formulation of the NSQF & LMIS; creating capacity not only at the Government but also at the state level; and building sensitization of quality assurance system. We look forward to further scaling this up."

The Skill Development Agenda in India and the India EU Skill development Project

A National Policy on Skill Development formulated in 2009 and re-launched in 2015 has the objective of providing skills to 500 million people by 2022. In June 2013 the Government of India (GOI) created the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) to direct its cohesive implementation under a unified structure.

It is estimated that 75 per cent of the new job opportunities to be created in India will be skill-based. The language has shifted from 'training' to 'employability'.

Government schemes are adding a 70 per cent placement clause in their partnerships with training providers. EU India Skill development project was developed to contribute to the quality and relevance of training courses and thereby the number of certified skilled workers in various sectors of employment.

In cooperation with NSDA the project also assisted skills development in six sectors of economy (capital goods, logistics, beauty & wellness, plumbing, construction and healthcare) and in seven States (Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh).

The team consisted of 20 experts from not only the EU but also other countries – which has provided India with insights gathered from a wide range of experience and know-how.

The project was managed by a Steering Committee chaired by the NSDA. The technical assistance was provided by a consortium led by Cambridge Education/Mott MacDonald.