India, Australia to strengthen ties in vocational education, training

New Delhi: India and Australia have come together to deepen collaboration on the skill development front with the NSDC signing a pact with Australia's Department of Industry and committing to strengthen bilateral relationship in technical vocational education and training (TVET) space.

An MoU between the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Australia's Department of Industry was signed in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott, a statement said. The two countries aim to run a pilot around transnational standards, which will enhance the mobility of workforce across border. Success of the collaboration will improve workforce mobility across borders, it added.

Under this MoU, the two countries will focus on the exchanging information and policy ideas on issues of mutual interest including TVET in both countries. The partnership includes the development of competency standards, assessment and certification, particularly skills assessments for migration and/or occupational purposes.

The engagement also focuses on industry participation in TVET policy development, training delivery, assessment and certification, and formal work-based training such as apprenticeships, the statement said. By November 2014, the two countries aim to run a pilot around the same in the four sectors i.e. Automotive, Healthcare, IT and Telecom.

The Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and Industry Skill Councils (ISCs) will work together to set a process to benchmark Indian and Australian Standards respectively, in order to create transnational standards for both the countries.

Australian High Commissioner to India Patrick Suckling and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSDC Dilip Chenoy were also present at the occasion. Suckling said, "We are delighted to see the kind of focus Indian government has on Skill Development...Our partnership will be focused on undertaking an innovative approach for addressing skills shortage, and will have credible long term solutions for young people entering the workforce".

"NSDC appreciates the collaboration between Australia and India on Skills initiatives and is confident that this partnership will be beneficial to both the countries in strengthening our skills ecosystem," Shenoy said. Earlier, a delegation comprising representatives from NSDC and its training partners and SSCs had visited Australia. The three visiting SSCs (Automotive, Healthcare and IT) signed MoUs with their Australian counterparts to create transnational standards in respective sectors at Canberra, while the MOU for the Telecom sector has been signed now during the visit Australian Prime Minister.