India, Australia sign 6 pacts on skill development initiatives

Strengthening partnership on skill development initiatives, India and Australian institutes today signed six agreements here, with HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju saying the cooperation will transform the lives of millions of young people.
The agreements were signed coinciding with the visit of a delegation from Australia's skills sector to explore how they can partner to meet India's burgeoning demand for skills development.
India envisages to train up to 500 million people by 2022, and projects to add 12 to 15 million workers to its labour force every year over the coming decades.
"It is for all of you to sit together, work together to be able to develop entrepreneurial and sustainable models that result in a great opportunity for training providers in both the countries," Raju said at the function where the agreements were signed.

He said the Australia India Education Council (AIEC), set up earlier, provides a good framework to do this across all levels in the education and skill training system.
"What could really be exciting is we could have 5 to 6 Australian training providers invest in India either in collaboration with Indian partners or directly to contribute to skill development efforts in India," he suggested.

"We support this partnership and I hope it will continue to expand in scope, scale and speed, and build cooperation that will transform the lives of millions of young people," Raju said.
The more than 100-member Australian delegation to India includes representation from Australia's government owned Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions, private skills training providers, industry peak bodies, Industry Skills Councils, and Commonwealth and State/Territory governments.

"Skills development is a central pillar of our strategic partnership with India," Australia's Acting High Commissioner to India Bernard Philip said.
CEO of National Skill Development Corporation Dilip Chenoy expressed confidence that India's engagement under the Australia India Education Council is contributing to novel skills partnerships that will help it leverage its favourable demographics for achieving faster and more inclusive growth.