India signs 13 MoUs with Canada to scale-up its skill development initiatives

As a part of the contingent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three day visit to Canada and with the objective of providing job-related training for India’s rapidly growing youth population through international collaborations, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) signed 13 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with twelve (12) Canadian educational institutions, including nine (9) colleges.

The objectives of these MoUs are for starting Academies of Excellence for training trainers and assessors, and to create Transnational Standards with Canadian Sector Skill Councils.

Each Canadian college will be paired with an Indian partner that’s focused on a specific sector, such as aviation, healthcare or agriculture. The Indian partners will pay the colleges for their services, which could include curriculum development, education for Indian trainers and assistance with accreditation systems. The colleges will work through centres of excellence overseas that have been established by India’s National Skill Development Corporation.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State (I/C) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship recently launched the Human Resource and Skill Requirement reports across 24 sectors in India which will serve as the baseline for all skill development initiatives being planned across the country. According to the findings of the research reports, the incremental human resource requirement across these 24 sectors is nearly 109.73 million whereby the top 10 sectors account for about 80 per cent of requirements. 

Speaking on the MoU signing, Rudy said, “India is a human resource rich country which needs to empower its youth with training and techniques to build a more powerful workforce. It is only when our youth are trained and skilled as per international best practices and standards that we can become the ‘Skill Capital’ of the world. The transfer of knowledge between India and Canada will enhance our capabilities and help us become ready for jobs across both the countries and still maintain quality standards for industries. We are honoured to be partnering Canada on the skills agenda.”

Shri Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation, said, “This is another important milestone in our efforts to reap India’s demographic dividend. These MoUs are a part of the ongoing collaborations that we’ve been having with various developed and developing countries across the world such as Australia, Germany, Iran, U.S.A., UK, etc. adopting best practices from each. This will help us prepare a workforce that will be industry ready not only for India, but for the world.”