India International Skill Development Summit & Exhibition 2016

Section 2: The international perspective

Speakers: Ursula Renold, ETH, Zurich; Gilles Lodolo, Director, Training & Employment, UIMM, France; Chetan Rajdev,Bosch; Jitendu Roy, Bfz, Hof, Germany; Sameer Joshi, CEO, KTI Mumbai

Ursula Renold spoke about the need for research to help VET prepare the young people to enter labour market and the need for permeability. She described in detail how the Swiss Education system is totally permeable and allows entry into vocational and then university and lifelong learning. In the context of an emerging market economy like India she said, “India has multiple agencies dealing with skill development and India may need unique model for each state or region with proper emphasis on workplace learning, capacity building and knowledge transfer that addresses the entire curriculum value chain.” The new age skills for industry 4.0 demand greater involvement from all stakeholders like the government, industry, training partners and academia.

According to Gilles Lodolo, the critical success factor (CSF) for skilling system is that the private and public sector companies and the education system should constantly talk to each other.

He mentioned about the French system where professional competencies/skills are under the control of the companies and knowledge is under the academic institutions.
Skills have to be shippable and industry 4.0 requires skills in robotics, new age technologies to creating an impact on the manufacturing side.

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Chetan Rajdev re-emphasised India’s potential to be the human resource hub for industry 4.0. There is a need for skills in Automation, Surveillance, Manufacturing and it is tough to get people and we need students from ITIs, engineers and diploma holders. Bosch’s technical vocational school has adapted the German dual model and engineer are routed through skill training.

Bosch’s high-tech IT and manufacturing is geared for the 4th industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) with forays into Augmented Reality, Internet of Things, mobile apps and touch interface
Going high-tech doesn’t mean that we lose jobs, in fact, it creates a need for different skills; even a semi skilled worker can assemble the product by watching the video on manufacturing
Automation needs people in industry 4.0 through smart ways of working – power tools, machines (can be tracked) and gives data and real time report

Overcoming the hurdle: An example from Bosch
When Bosch wanted to bring vocational components into the Engineering curriculum through AICTE, they faced a lot of resistance. Even after offering to create the course content, the laboratory and train the faculty there was no willingness among the universities to accept new things. Finally, they managed to convince Visvesvaraya Technological University and thus the first Bosch automation center came up in Mysuru with emphasis on training in Industry 4.0 technologies.

Jitendu Roy spoke about how BFZ program is decided by the German enterprises and how they have internationalised vocational training. He shared many insights on how in Germany, industry forms the base for skilling. Other key facts about BFZ:

BFZ has been into improving ITI training and has set up ATIs in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Their 3-year training program prepares students in becoming master trainers by connecting them with master trainers from German industry, mostly in welding and mechatronics.
BFZ is exploring how the MSME clusters would absorb the trainers and scope to implement German dual system in modified form.

Narendra Parmar’s talk was about how they’ve moved to Indian market with equipment training, how they can impact the manufacturing industry.

Frank Moll’s presentation was accompanied by a demonstration of the welding simulator and how it imparts modern virtual welding education. By coming close to the real, the simulator provides basic knowledge about welding, without wasting time and resources. It also analyses performance and results and helps the trainee to repeat to perfection.

Thomas Fuhrmann spoke about the need for long-term cooperation with the industry in India. He also briefed the audience on the training programs from NIFE, that has 85 training centers with courses in lift technology, fire safety and so on. He invited the Indian delegates to exchange ideas for further collaboration.

Cost benefit analysis, research and publication

Speakers: Ursula Renold, Head of the Research Centre for comparative education system at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich; Clemens Weiland, Senior Project Manager, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany; Dr Neelam Nagar of Neelams Sprachschule, Switzerland, on behalf of Rudolph Strahm author of Swiss Vocational Education and Training Switzerland’s Source of Richness

Ursula Renold highlighted the significance of research as a powerful instrument to establish a dialogue between various stakeholders in Vocational Education and Training (VET). She laid stress on the role of publications as a communication tool for conveying the importance of vocational education for the people, the society and the economy. At the same time, research on cost-benefit analysis should be prioritised while establishing better linkage with labour market.

While reiterating the need for permeability, she also suggested that India should constantly adapt the curriculum to suit the technological changes. For this purpose the Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) should involve the employers at the state level, since the labour market is different in each state. This would be a major step in overcoming the flaws in the formal education system that decides on the binaries of “pass” and “fail” by exposing the students to workplace learning and application of knowledge and skills.

Dr Neelam Nagar explained the interdependence of education system and economic performance and how permeability opens up new avenues for acquiring qualifications. Attributing the generation of wealth in Switzerland to the dual system of VET, she recounted the advantages how VEPT countries have the strongest exports among the German speaking nations. She emphasised on the need for engineers and researchers but also people with practical skills to implement. Other highlights of her presentation:

There is evident that countries that lack systematic VET have the highest poverty levels and highest number of unskilled people.
In Switzerland, 80% of students start with the VET and only 20% go directly to the colleges and all forms of education open enormous career paths.
Skilling is not just for plumbers, electricians and painters, in the Swiss VEPT, the secretarial jobs, mechanical engineering and others are also included in this category.

Clemens Weiland shared their learning that it is easier to change or reform the legal framework than change the mindset of companies. There’s a growing interest, globally, in German dual system since many countries want to reform their vocational education system. He laid special emphasis on the fact that vocational education should not be seen as a charity event, even though it has a social angle. We need to consider the economic aspects in terms of cost and benefit, ROI through surveys and studies.

One of the highlights of the event was the MoU between EIFE and Kohinoor Technical Institute (KTI) to impart skill based training to youth in India. Both the signatories, Sameer Joshi KTI CEO & Director and Count Christopher de Breza, Founding Chairman, EIFE, were enthusiastic about the partnership said they would plan for joint events, jobs fairs, seminars and research besides collaboration for industry-specific training for domestic and international markets.

Mark Keese Head of Employment Analysis and Policy Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Paris

Mark Keese, in his video message, spoke about what it would take for India to become the human resource supplier to the OECD countries. This could become a topic of research for OECD and need further exploration on points like:

Which sectors, what are the steps need to be taken for deploying the human resources
Large workforce entering the labour market in India and how they can be appropriately skilled to meet international job requirements
How digital, global and local changes are leading to rapid transformation in OECD countries adding to skills shortage and mismatch which ranges at 60% globally.
In countries like India, Brazil and Mexico, 60% of the employers were not able to fill the vacancies in 2015 due to various skill gaps.
Need for survey for feeding the results into education, employment and migration policy by addressing issues at national, regional and sectoral level

Post Paris Agreement session

Speakers: Gyan Sharma, Project Head, Suryamitra, TÜV Rheinland India; Dr Praveen Saxena, CEO, Sector Skill Council for Green Jobs; Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Frank Moll, GSI SLV, Germany

The speakers touched upon various aspects of skills and jobs in the Renewable Energy Sector along with the addressing cultural issues. There is a need for policy research in Green jobs and renewable energy sector to create awareness about the kind of skills required across value chain. We need to create more awareness in educational institutions by handholding them and telling the students that the “economy of tomorrow is different from the economy of their parents.” TUV Rhineland centers in colleges are preparing the engineering and diploma students for jobs in the Renewable Energy Sector.

This sector is expected to create 1 million jobs by 2020 with tremendous scope for employing semi-skilled workers. However, this is not limited to technicians and mechanics who set up solar panels but also roles in research and business development.
Following Post-Paris Agreement, this new sector has huge potential to grow in terms of ancillary and appliances, in addition to manufacturing industry and investors need to be taken into confidence while making policy changes.
Linking skill development with this sector Rajendra Shende said that this is also an good chance to un-learn harmful knowledge and explore fresh avenues.

Raphael Grasset spoke about the ‘Train the Trainer’ programs through technology-enabled delivery platform like MOOCs. He insisted on formal learning and certification of trainers to overcome various professional concerns. This would call for empowering the trainers in pedagogic aspects such as the rationale of facilitating learning, provide options to personalize and conform to NSQF and requirements from sector skill councils.