The Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) is a premier institute of Social Work in India. It was established in 1936 and was recognized as a Deemed University by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India in the year 1964. In December 2011, Tata Institute of Social Sciences set up the School of Vocational Education (SVE) to provide immediate and definite interventions to improve the lives of the disadvantaged and marginalized youth, especially who are excluded by the formal school education system, through appropriate vocational training programmes. The training program would be inclusive in nature and structured in a way to facilitate vertical movement of the organized and unorganized labor and facilitate the participation of women, children, the PWD and other vulnerable groups.
AISECT is working as a National Vertical Anchor of TISS-SVE in IT & ITES sector.
Vertical anchor is a partner organization that holds experience & expertise related to a specific industry vertical. The role of the Vertical Anchor is to conduct a skill gap analysis and geography mapping across the country (or geographies assigned to it). The Vertical Anchor shall also identify potential Hub partners, facilitate their registration and hand hold them in execution of the entire training implementation process. Vertical Anchor is also responsible for creating content for the courses to be conducted and to get content approved by the COE.
All the diploma, degree & certificates will be awarded by TISS (in the capacity of a Deemed University). Policy changes permitting, advanced degree programmes also will be offered with potential cross-transfers to the academic streams to pursue degree and diploma courses.
AISECT, the national leader in vocational education and skill development space, is now offering a 3-year Bachelors in Vocation (B.Voc) degree program under TISS SVE umbrella. Built on a combination of Practical, Theoretical and Generic course curriculum, this course is specifically designed to engage students in on-the-job training at real shop-floor of the IT & ITeS industry alongside classroom theoretical training. The basic eligibility criteria for pursuing B.Voc degree program is a successful completion of the Senior Secondary level of education from any recognized educational board in India. Alternately any 10th pass plus 2 years ITI or Polytechnic diploma pass candidates can also take admission in B.Voc in software development program.
Given that India is world’s fastest growing big economy, it will require a large aptly trained workforce to feed this progress. At such a time, skill development and vocational education have become more relevant than ever. This course is specially meant for students looking to enhance their employability & employment prospects. It helps such students in learning, earning and growing professionally.
Need
The industries these days expect new employees to possess some practical skills in reference to their job profile. Our existing higher education curriculum lacks an appropriate practical approach to education. Therefore, this course has been introduced by the University Grants Commission to cater to this need of businesses as well as youths.
The course helps in ensuring that students have adequate skills, are work ready and have higher employability, making them a part of the global skilled workforce. Its curriculum offers a distinct amalgamation of vocational & business management ideas. Field visits, internships, guest lectures from industry experts and experimental as well as experiential learning are some of the regular parts of its curriculum. Moreover, the course mandates all the students to undergo industrial training or projects for a minimum of 4 to 8 weeks in every semester apart from the regular course curriculum.
Specifications
This three-year program is divided into 6 semesters; with 2 semesters per year. The unique proposition about the B. Voc. comes from the fact that it provides flexibility to the students by means of pre-defined entry and multiple exit points – students can leave at the end of first year with a Diploma, at the end of second year with an Advanced Diploma or at the end of three years with a Degree, with corresponding National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) grades of Level 5 for Diploma, Level 6 for Advance Diploma and Level 7 for Degree.
All the trainers at AISECT are well-prepared to deliver and have been selected post a rigorous screening process; their appointment is completed only if the Centre of Excellence (COE) members are unequivocally satisfied by their performance in interviews.
Also, the curriculum of B. Voc course is crafted in lines with National Occupational Standards (NOSs) of specific job roles across the industries. This enables the students to meet the learning outcomes specified in the NOSs. Moreover, through this ‘Earn while you Learn’ approach model, the trainees can earn a modest stipend during their on-the-job duration of the course.
Response from students
Even though the pilot B. Voc. batch has been instituted in this year itself, AISECT is already receiving a phenomenal response from students all over the country. Being a nation-wide NSQF project partner for training school students till level 4, AISECT is garnering a lot of interest from students who are eager to pursue Level 5, 6 and 7 in vocational education. Most of these students are actively enrolling in AISECT’s B. Voc. in Software Development course, offered under ITES Vertical by AISECT.
This reinstates our belief that vocational education will have a uniform acceptance in a few years time and will considerably help in solving our youth’s employability woes.
Author: Sudeep Sharma, Academic Coordinator, IT & Management, Content Group, AISECT, Bhopal
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