ITIs on corporate radar

INITIATIVE: India Inc is establishing industry-academia partnerships with regional ITIs to cater to the increasing demand for skilled manpower.

Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are on India Inc's radar. At the grassroots level, this has improved the situation for both the industry and the institutes, thanks to an Institute Management Committee (IMC) established at each institute.

IMCs, formed with the idea of improving public-private-partnership to ensure greater and active involvement of industry in all aspects of training, have provided an interface between the industry and the institutes.

As many as 70 out of the total 500 ITIs in the country have been approached by leading private sector enterprises for skilled manpower supply under this programme.

For instance, ITI Aundh, Pune, has now gone in for a strong linkage with the automobile majors like Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Force Motors, Kinetic Engineering, Kirloskar and L&T John Deere. There are other such 20 companies with which the institute has tied-up with.

These companies have not only helped designing course curriculum for the institute but also provide them with regular technology inputs to keep pace with the changing market conditions.

The institute also receives assistance from the industry in the form of equipment, faculty and placements. And there are other benefits too.

Says B R Shimple, principal, ITI Aundh, "The employability rate at the institute has increased by 50 per cent and the remuneration at the regular level has gone up by 30 per cent. Besides, there has been a tremendous change in the attitude of the faculty and students."

But how does a company benefit from such linkages? The linkage is for industry as a whole and not for company-specific interest, says an IMC member.

For instance, Tata Motors has been lending the expertise of its professionals to these ITIs in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and other areas. Classes are held by the company executives to train the ITIians in hard as well as soft skills including conducting of technical seminars.

Says B G Ogale, Senior training manager, Tata Motors, "Few of our professionals are on the board of IMC at the institutes and are constantly involved in the institute issues and get the students exposed to the industrial atmosphere. We look at this from training the students for industry and not for our company alone."

In fact, there are companies which are seeking help from the ITIs to train apprentices. A case in point is that of ITI Thane which has tied-up with Raymond Limited and Cadbury. The institute provides courses in refrigeration, fitting, tyre repair, air-conditioning and plumbing to students at the Raymond Rehabilitation Centre.

The institute is also training Cadbury staff in multi skills. The institute says there are several such companies with whom a tie-up is in the pipeline. Like, the institute would provide an aviation company with manpower for ground staff and cabin crew, start a GPRS call centre for a transport service and train students in spoken English.

"Our focus is to bring industry culture to our institute and through such tie-ups we notice changes happening at our institute. The companies not only provide us with basic infrastructure but with mentors also which are of great help to the faculty and students," says K D Shinde, principal, ITI Thane.

The institute is also in talks with banks to provide financial assistance to students who come from a poor background and cannot afford the training fee.

At ITI Nagpur, IMC has established links with Mahindra and Mahindra for a course in diesel mechanics trade. The committee is in talks with Hero Honda Motors also. There are talks on with the local dealers of Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors and Hyundai Motors. There are other institutes which have also pitched in to help the manufacturing sector.

For instance, the Indo-German Tool Room, Aurangabad, a project of the Indian and German government, regularly sends its faculty members to industry and other training institutes for up gradation of skills.

Apart from setting up a full-fledged training centre that caters to the need of tool and die industry, the institute offers short-term courses and holds specialised training programmes for foreign students.