NSDC, USIBC ink pact for education and skills development

Aiming to strengthen the India-US cooperation in the area of technical, vocational education and skills training, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) today signed an agreement with US India Business Council here.
Under the MoU, the two countries will establish a platform to enable corporate entities from the US to set up and/or support skill development centres in India. These centres are expected to scale up to a capacity of skilling around 10,000 persons per year.
The centres may focus on the specified sectors including, but not limited to, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Tourism, Hospitality, Automotive, Electronics, Heavy Equipment Manufacturing, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods and Aviation.

"Through our individual experiences, the two countries will be able to exchange international best practices on standards in technical vocational training which will benefit the youth at large as India looks create 100 million jobs over the next 10 years," USIBC President (Acting) Diane Farrell said.
Under the pact, India and the US will recognize the building of a skilled and productive global workforce in India, which is of international quality and regional interest; share a common interest in developing transnational standards to strengthen skills mobility and facilitate greater access to skilled labour across the region.
Both parties will also support broader cooperation and mutual assistance in technical vocational education and skill training in their respective countries.

"This is an action that has come as an outcome of a very broad dialogue at the highest level between the Indian Prime Minister and the US President".

"We hope that this MoU becomes meaningful, fruitful, and really enhances and deepens the cooperation between the respective businesses of our skilling efforts," Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Sunil Arora said.
"I would like to congratulate NSDC for leading this effort, as this is yet another step to harness the potential of our demographic dividend, which is a mammoth task in itself," added.
The MoU was signed by NSDC's MD & CEO Dilip Chenoy and Farrell. The USIBC is a US business advocacy organisation representing America's top companies investing in India.

"In line with our Prime Minister's vision of a Skilled India, this is another step to give a major boost to India's skilling ecosystem and create transnational standards, for which we are honored to partner with USIBC," Chenoy said.