Centers of Excellence in Advance Skilling
Indian youths will be trained and skilled in the aerospace and aviation industries under a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed at the AeroIndia 2019 on 22 Feb 2019.
The National Skill Development Corporation of India’s (NSDC) Aerospace & Aviation Sector Skill Council in collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic and a Singapore based private sector firm are signing the MoU to establish skill development centers.
These ‘Centers of Excellence in Advance Skilling’ will provide training and certification drawing from Singapore curriculum and standards in sectors such as Aerospace & Aviation, Emerging technologies, Automotive and logistics.
“These are all priority sectors under Skill India and Make in India programs, which require large workforce with advanced technical skills,” the India’s High Commissioner, Jawed Ashraf, said.
He added that these sectors also provide more productive and remunerative employment opportunities.
The academies, under this initiative, will be set up in Bengaluru and other places in India. They will act as regional hubs for the training of Indian youth for domestic and overseas jobs in these sectors.
Jawed Ashraf noted Singapore’s leading position in aviation services including Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) services as well as skill development across various sectors, said Jawed Ashraf.
This is one of the many collaborations emerging between India and Singapore in the crucial skill development sector following the signing of two MoUs between NSDC and Singapore Polytechnic to establish state-of-the-art Trainer and Assessor Academies across India and between NSDC and Enterprise Singapore (a government agency that leads private sector outreach abroad) to support investment by Singapore skills training providers in India.
These two MoUs were signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Singapore on 31 May 2018 among other tie-ups.
NSDC and National University of Singapore had also signed a MoU to skill India’s workforce in emerging technologies such as Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and develop courses & certification during the Prime Minister’s same Singapore visit.
“Skills development is one of the new areas that have gain prominence in the bilateral engagement with many countries, but especially with Singapore, not only at central but also at state level,” the High Commissioner said.
There are several institutional engagements including plans for setting up the first Indian Institute of Skills in Mumbai in collaboration with Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education Services (ITEES); training program for state government officials in public administration and governance; urban planning, logistics and infrastructure development in collaboration with many Singapore based institutions, including Institute of Technical Education, Singapore Cooperation Enterprise and Civil Service College.
Singapore has also opened three internationally acclaimed Skill Centers in India (Delhi, Udaipur and Guwahati) and more coming up, he said.
The earliest one, World Class Skill Centre (WCSC), in New Delhi has seen hundreds of students clearing the courses in the areas of Hospitality and Retail Sectors with 100% employment rate. There are plans to move WCSC to a new site and further expand it, he said.
The Centre of Excellence for Tourism Management at Udaipur set up in collaboration with ITEES was inaugurated by Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong in October 2016.
Likewise, Singapore Foreign Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan launched a Skill Centre for whole of the North East at Guwahati in November 2017.
State Governments of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Odisha are also working with ITEES and Polytechnics in Singapore to develop skill centres. Odisha has conducted training of 100 officials from ITI in Singapore last year.
“The close ties between India and Singapore have a history rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links, reinforced by convergent strategic interests” reiterated Jawed Ashraf.
The relationship, elevated to a Strategic Partnership in November 2015, has gained new momentum and direction in last three years.
“The initiatives in Skill development taken during Prime Minister Modi’s visit in 2018 are now showing results,” said the High Commissioner. fiinews.com
