The rise of skill universities

Over February-March alone, as many as three state governments – Assam, Maharashtra and Delhi –announced they would create skill universities with a focus on “skilling” youth and improving their employment prospects. At present, around a dozen skill universities, at different stages of development and functioning, are coming up in different parts of the country. Unlike the conventional university, this new set of institutions focuses on the specific skills relevant to an industry domain. A regular university tends to focus more on theoretical aspects and the practices are mostly intended to validate the theory.

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This Story also Contains

1. Sectors Seeking Workforce
2. Addressing unemployment
3. Fee Structure of Skill Courses

Industry leaders in India have also been expressing their concern about the quality of graduates emerging from educational institutions with some surveys highlighting that over 60 percent of Indian graduates are unemployable.

About a year after the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, the Centre had initiated the process of establishing National Skills Universities and had drafted a Bill. However, the plan was shelved in 2018 and the Centre let the states to set these up based on their requirement. Since then, skill universities have come up in Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat.

In India, vocational education was considered inferior to mainstream education. This was also because vertical mobility was restricted for those who opted for it. In 2013, the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) was approved. It provided guidelines for identifying levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude and organising qualifications accordingly. The identification of levels, corresponding qualification packs (QP) and National Occupational Standards (NOS) pertaining to different job roles also allowed for vertical progress in formal
skill education.

“This initiative (NSQF) enabled the universities to offer degree-level education in skill training. University Grants Commission (UGC) also recognised the Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc) degrees with multiple exit options and laid down guidelines for them. It initiated the process for skills universities to come into existence,” said Achintya Choudhury, president, Bhartiya Skill Development University (BSDU), a private university, in Jaipur.

“Essentially one can learn these skills in an affordable, sustainable, and scalable way while compared to the traditional setting. Another important difference is the “learn and earn” opportunity available to students at skill universities,” said Neeti Sharma, senior vice president, TeamLease Services, who also looks after the TeamLease Skills University (TLSU) in Gujarat. “Apprenticeship programmes introduce students to real-working environments and at the same time offer them a stipend that makes their education journey sustainable.”

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Sectors Seeking Workforce

Though every sector requires a skilled workforce, some have seen a surge in demand over the past few years. These include e-commerce, logistics, IT/ITeS, healthcare, pharma, energy and manufacturing. In addition, demand for skilled workforce will increase for temporary workers across all sectors.

Raj Nehru, Vice-Chancellor of the Shri Vishwakarma Skill University (SVSU), Haryana said: “Technology is going to bring disruption in almost all sectors however with the focus of the government on Atmanirbhar Bharat, the following sectors will have more demand for skilled manpower-manufacturing, construction, electronics, healthcare, logistics, agriculture, IT services, retail services.”

SVSU is offering courses in the fields of automotive manufacturing, mechatronics, robotics and automation, banking and finance, and retail through its four faculties. The departments are Skill Faculty of engineering and Technology, skill faculty of Management Studies and research, Skill Faculty of applied science and Humanities and skill faculty of Agriculture.

TeamLease offers courses like BBA, B.Com, B.Sc in hospitality and tourism management, BSc. in Mechatronics.

Choudhury said that in addition to various market-related courses, India being an agriculture-based economy, the demand for skill enhancement in the agricultural sector will be a priority. His university is offering B.Voc and M.Voc courses in areas like automotive, construction, electrical, Information Technology (IT), Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Addressing unemployment

The most important factor for the establishment of skill universities is to solve the problem of unemployment. The skill universities are not just designing their courses as per changes in the market, they are also exploring tie-ups with local industries and those outside their regions to get their students internships and placements.

SVSU has partnered with around 87 organizations and every programme has an industry partner. Nehru said: “The university has designed, developed and deployed Industry Integrated Dual Education Model (IIDEM) that facilitates “earn-while-learn” and provides students with the opportunity to enhance their qualification with the flexibility of entry and exit into
a programme.”

The university, through its affiliation model, will have colleges affiliated locally in each district, that will focus on local demand-linked courses
andprogrammes.

TeamLease has also introduced the concept of an integrated learning and apprenticeship program, TLSU, through its National Employability Through Apprenticeship Program (NETAP). The NETAP is a public-private partnership of TLSU, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM) of the education ministry. NETAP helps unemployed youth build skills by working and earning in the industry while they pursue their degree the university. “TLSU has partnerships with over 600 industries for apprenticeships and employment of our students,” Sharma said.

Similarly, BSDU has signed more than 80 agreements with partner organizations to facilitate training and placements for the students. The BSDU president said that the university has a concept of “one student – one machine” and students spend every alternate semester on internships.

Fee Structure of Skill Courses

To encourage students to take vocational courses, most of the universities have kept the fee structure of these courses at par with regular degree courses offered by universities. The average fee per semester for a course at SVSU, a government university, is Rs 5,000. While BSDU has a slightly higher fee structure. Choudhury said: “The university offers a differential fee structure with the annual fees for the B.Vocprogrammes varying from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh, depending on the cost involved in imparting the training. For M.Vocprogrammes, the annual fee is Rs 1 lakh across all disciplines. Rs 50,000 is the annual fee for PhD programs.” The university’s research programme covers more conventional disciplines such as English, political science and chemistry.

TLSU also offers scholarships to students in their final year of higher secondary education, in science, commerce or arts stream, and they are based on the Class 12 board exam results.

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National and International Collaborations

To provide exposure to students, these universities have also collaborated with other educational institutions in India and abroad. TLSU has exchange programmes with universities in the United Kingdom under the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) and Erasmus+ scheme under which teachers from Ireland have visited the university. Sharma said: “As a part of the project, the teams from India and UK have explored best practices in curriculum and teaching methodologies and factored in inputs derived from both Indian and
UK industries.”

SVSU has collaborated with the UK’s department of international development through NOCN for International Vocational Education Standard Mapping, Saylor Academy of United States of America, Harvard Business School (Online) and is in process of entering an agreement with KAMK University of Applied Sciences Finland and Écolehôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), a hospitality management school
in Switzerland.

BSDU has tie-ups with different sector skill councils affiliated to the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). “This relationship has helped the university to continuously update itself with the process of skilling,” explained Choudhury. “It has also helped us to reach out to different industries. Many members of faculty are on the boards of these sector
skill councils.”

Raj Nehru,

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Vice-Chancellor, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University

Technology is going to bring disruption in almost all sectors however with the focus of the government on Atmanirbhar Bharat, the following sectors will have more demand for skilled manpower-manufacturing, construction, electronics, healthcare, logistics, agriculture, IT services, retail services

Achintya Choudhury

President, Bhartiya Skill Development University

This initiative ([NSQF] enabled the universities to offer degree-level education in skill training. University Grants Commission (UGC) also recognised the Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc) degrees with multiple exit options and laid down guidelines for them. It initiated the process for skills universities to come into existence

Neeti Sharma,

Senior Vice

President, TeamLease Services

TLSU has exchange programmes with universities in the United Kingdom under the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) and Erasmus+ scheme under which teachers from Ireland have visited the university

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