Building knowledge workers through skill colleges piloting 100 community colleges in 12th plan

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BUILDING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS THROUGH SKILL COLLEGES:

PILOTING 100 COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN 12th PLAN

Approach Paper for achieving this through “Skill Colleges”

ü Industry lead program that caters to job readiness

ü Modeled after global best practices

ü Adapted for India’s unique needs

ü Integrated into existing systems

ü Supported by strong partner networks

www.wadhwani-‐foundation.org

January 2012

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary: .............................................................................................................................. 3

1. Intervention at post-‐Secondary Education level – A Case for Action ................................................ 4

2. NVEQF based Skill Colleges in higher education ............................................................................ 6

3. Implementation Model ................................................................................................................ 10

3.1 Challenges for implementing NVEQF in Higher Education ..................................................... 11

3.2 Anchors for Deployment ........................................................................................................ 12

3.3 Approach for Rolling Out ........................................................................................................ 12

3.4 Plan and Supporting Elements ............................................................................................... 15

4 Driving Success by nurturing implementations in Pilot and beyond: ............................................ 18

4.1 National Skill Knowledge Network (NSKN) ............................................................................. 19

5. Benefits and Next Steps: .................................................................................................................. 21

Appendix A. Sample Courses in Various Industries: ............................................................................ 23

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Executive Summary:

India needs to create tens of millions of highly skilled knowledge workers to sustain its economic growth, meet global demand and fulfil its human potential. To meet the skill demands of a growing Indian economy and increasing youth population, GoI has launched various Initiatives around Skill development and MHRD has also established the NVEQF to facilitate and formalize Skill development.

This paper focuses on implementation of the NVEQF at Levels 5 through 7 through Skills Colleges modelled after the Community College. This will build world-‐class capacity for three million higher education seats tightly linked with market-‐linked vocational education.

Working closely with Industry, Central & State Governments as well as Educational Institutes, the Initiative aims to offer a faster, cheaper and better alternative to the regular college track and thus open the doors to the 4.5 million youth left behind after completing Class 12 each year.

Rolling out NVEQF in Higher Education, especially at the Level 5 and 6, will meet critical needs:

• Right-‐skilling the currently under-‐equipped Knowledge Workers for global jobs of the future • Overcome barriers of affordability, accessibility and employability to push more working-‐age

youth to pursue higher education and improve GER of the nation

A “Skills Colleges” model, similar to Community Colleges, that offers shorter term courses like 1-‐year Diplomas or 2-‐year Associate’s Degrees is proposed. This could best drive national standards while meeting the needs of the local industry and populations. They could be set up:

• Within Current Systems. The existing College or VET Provider’s physical infrastructure could be used, but with separate course offerings, distinct curriculum, teachers, assessments, etc.

• As new dedicated “Skills Colleges”. These could be built on the NVEQF principles from the beginning and would be focused on meeting Knowledge Worker skills

In the 12th 5-‐year Plan for India, 100 Community Colleges are planned to prove the value of the model in addressing the skill gaps. To implement this correctly, a “4-‐S” (Select Pilot, Scope up to various industries gradually, Standardize curriculum, assessments, etc. to start with and Support for success) approach is suggested. Piloting will gain quick traction with forward thinking and aligned early adopters, consolidate learnings into replicable models through the support structure to enable further scale-‐up and adoption and then become a self-‐sustaining vibrant ecosystem across the various geographies and industries in the long run. It is suggested that a PPP with the government and partners like Wadhwani Foundation called National Skill Knowledge Network (NSKN) can play a vital role in supporting and ensuring success of this program.

It is envisioned that this entity can be setup in mission mode with increasing portion of the funding for such capacity building activities being borne by the beneficiaries (industry, colleges, etc.) over time.

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The National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework is a pathbreaking step in integrating vocational training and formal education in India. Proper implementation of NVEQF in higher education will help build work-‐ready students for the knowledge economy jobs of the future. Assuming the context of NVEQF is known to readers; this paper focuses on its actualization.

1. Intervention at post-‐Secondary Education level – A Case for Action India’s growing economy and demographic dividend (leading to 25% of the global working age population by 2025) provides India great prospects of becoming the human capital to the world.i However, this opportunity can only be harnessed if our youth is trained and skilled to be productive in the global economy. It is estimated that top Industry sectors will need around 250 million additional employees by 2022.ii The PM has called for skilling (or re-‐skilling) 500 million people in this time frame. Where will these jobs be? Across the board as depicted in Fig. 1. and many organizations, including NSDC are addressing the lower categories of jobs. However, a concerted effort in skilling knowledge workers at scale is sorely missing and in a knowledge economy , jobs will be increasingly migrating to a hitherto under-‐equipped category of “knowledge workers” as shown in Fig. 1:

Fig.1 Knowledge Workers are under-‐served by current Education and Training

India’s growth ensures a push towards a knowledge economy involving millions of skilled people across all sectors.. Even traditional blue collared jobs (like Automotive) are gaining a knowledge work status with advances in technology. Creating a pool of such knowledge professionals is going to be crucial in growing industries and attracting FDI. Hence, rightly, the 12th plan targets to increase higher education from current 12.4% to 21% (see Fig.2 below).

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Comparisons of higher education beyond 12th standard (See Fig. 2 below) indicate that this is a dire need as India lags behind other countries. About 64% students stop after 12th class because of affordability, accessibility and employability. Lack of options is also said to increase dropouts in earlier classes. While obtaining a college degree is a matter of prestige for most Indians, the sad reality is that it doesn’t significantly improve employability of students. Degree colleges have also grown from 7,350 in 1990 to 18,500 in 2007, but only around 40% graduates are employableiii and Degree colleges do not focus on Intermediate skills. It is said, the current Indian college education just delays unemployment by three to four years!

Fig.2 High Dropout after 12th Class Low GER % for Higher Ed.iv .

To summarize, the reasons to pursue a “community college” like model include:

1. Demand for Knowledge Worker Skills by Industry/Employers

Economic growth of India is fuelled by growth in domestic as well as global demand. Technological advances causes need for higher skilled workers across sectors in the domestic market. Our young population’s demographic dividend demand attracts global jobs but needs a higher level of educated workforce for multinationals. Community Colleges aim to impart quality and quantity of such industry relevant post-‐secondary education which can cater to this demand

2. Lack of Employable Skills from Educational Institutes

Current tertiary education doesn’t produce employable graduates for various reasons including lack of industry drivers or orientation. Community Colleges focuses on meeting the needs of local industry and community through practical, industry driven education

3. Poor Higher Education Gross Enrollment Ratio

Only a minority pursue higher education after secondary studies due to reasons of employability, accessibility and affordability. Community Colleges addresses these issues through short-‐term courses aimed at meeting immediate and future needs of the students (and local industries), thus encouraging students to start higher education and put them on a pathway to future growth – educational and professional.

In absence of pertinent employable skills training, companies often resort to in-‐service training whose rigour and quality varies widely. A few progressive companies have even outsourced their internal trainings to independent educational and training institutions. However, all these are ad-‐

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hoc, company and job specific training which doesn’t necessarily enhance skills for growing in a career or even in the company.

The analysis of relative merits and issues of the options are summarized in the table below:

Fig. 3a Analysis of Current Skill Development Options

It is clear that an innovative model is needed to transform higher education to address the above mentioned shortcomings. We need a new paradigm that rectifies the dropout and employability problems, thereby creating knowledge workers who are also trained hands on sectoral skills. The logical prescription for such a program that addresses the current limitations is summarized below:

Fig 3b. Program Prescription to Overcome Current Limitations

2. NVEQF based Skill Colleges in higher education The NVEQF framework provides the ideal pathway for fulfilling the academic gaps and bridging the Industry – Academia disconnect. The layered certifications allow easy mobility and upskilling for career progression.

Levers Formal Vocational Corporate Training

Curriculum Outdated, Not Industry Oriented Trade Focus

Customised for Specific Company

Teachers Low Industry Exposure

Govt. or Industry Trainers Industry Trainers

Pedagogy Theory Practical Practical Industry Connect Low Low High Social Acceptability High Low High Up skilling/ Reskilling Longer Duration Low Limited Cost High Low High Duration Long Short Short

Student Profile Over qualified -‐ Under Skilled Skilled Skilled

Accessibility Limited Good Limited

Levers Current Need Curriculum Contemporary, Industry Relevant Teachers Trained & Certified by Industry/ Bodies Pedagogy Theory + Practical Industry Connect High Social Acceptability High Up skilling/ Reskilling Easy Mobility for Incremental Employability Cost Low Duration Moderate Student Profile Right Skilled Accessibility Widespread

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This was recognized as early as 1986 in the National Policy on Education which stated, inter-‐alia, that “The introduction of systematic, well-‐planned and rigorously implemented programme of vocational education is crucial in the proposed educational re-‐organization… Vocational education will be a distinct stream intended to prepare students for identified vocations spanning several areas of activity.” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal reiterated this when he emphasized that the NVEQF will help in making the vocational course more acceptable to the people who now give importance to other plain paper degreesv. As prescribed, the various levers of the skill based education can be explained under the context of NVEQF framework. This seeks to make the system Employable and Relevant having industry drivers in all aspects -‐ definition of curriculum, teachers, student exposure, etc.; allows Flexibility in Time and Cost through offering educaiton in modular building blocks; improves Access by integrating with mainstream education and using technology; and offers Future Growth through vertical mobiity. Curriculum Curriculum is imperative to integrating the skills into education. The program will ground students in general educational knowledge and functional skills so as to give student broad grounding on fundamentals. This will prevent pigeonholing him or her into a very specific industry and will enable future lateral mobility across industries depending upon changing economic situation in demand and opportunities. Hence the curriculum will have general skills courses as it’s foundation, professional and functional courses as the pillars and industry specific courses will round off the course as shown in Fig. 4 below

Fig.4. Curriculum – Broad Foundation & Functional base; Industry finishing

Teachers The teachers for vocational courses will ideally have prior industry experience or at the very least should have industry exposure and contact. Industry should be involved in their selection and training on an ongoing basis to keep them current on the latest industry trends. Pedagogy Workshop based lecture demo, industry exposure, group study to increase collaborative and peer learning is recommended. Each teacher to act as a mentor; being a facilitator than just an instructor will prevent rote learning and increase participation from the students. Multi-‐mode training methods, consisting of class-‐room, satellite (using hub-‐and-‐spoke model), e-‐Learning and on-‐the-‐job training, will offer access and effectiveness even in remote areas. Industry Connect Select Industry partners will meet often with faculty and deans to review admission criteria, curriculum, faculty training, exams and the like. Visiting Faculty/Trainers, exposure to local industry through visits and assignments, industry based internships, etc. will further reinforce development

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of work relevant education. The continuous industry connect will keep the entire ecosystem warm to the economic developments affecting job requirements. Social Acceptability By mainstreaming the programs through existing higher education Institutes and by creating pathway to merge into mainstream education, the candidates will also pick up a formal education qualification. This would be deeply impact the social quotient of the vocational programs. Up skilling/ Reskilling (Mobility) NVEQF offers a continuous credit based systems with intermediate certificate, diploma or associate’s degree awards. Prior learning is also transferable to higher levels leading up to a degree programs or Skill Competence certificates (NCC – National Certificate of Competence). This gives options for upward/vertical mobility in both education and career rather than being a dead-‐end option. Cost Shorter term courses (1 year Diploma (NVEQF Level 5), 2 year Advanced Diploma or Associate’s Degree (NVEQF Level 6) or modules thereof) would make it affordable and attractive to more students. Students can pick up entry level skills or upskill to get into supervisory role. The “earn-‐and-‐learn” model would take care of subsistence aspects during training. Duration (Flexibility) The courses will be modular and short-‐term allowing multiple entry and exits at 3 or 6 months (certificates), 12 months (diplomas), etc. NVEQF Level 6 could correspond to “Associate’s Degree” as per the general global practice and existing framework in IGNOU. Each module enabling competence to a certain job capability and carrying over logically into the next module. Recongition of prior learning and carryover of credits earned from prior coursework will be integral to overcome the issues of affordability and accessibility and open the programs up to students who hitherto dropped out. Student Profile The courses would be very focussed on developing sector specific skills and therefore the candidates will be right skilled and job ready. Rather than one size fits all, the job requirements would determine the compentence and educational level and intermediate student qualifciations. Accessibility By accrediting existing higher education Institutes and other registered VET providers, using their infrastructure in the evenings, accessibility and availability of the programs will help widespread reach. Vocational component and recognition of prior learning would also open it up to otherwise academically challenged population. Technology enablement through ICT, eLearning, etc. would further enhance reach. So Skill Colleges can be defined in Indian context as institutions of which meets the needs of Industry and Students by providing job-‐oriented short-‐cycle Higher Education with pathways to further education. They offer short-‐term certificates, Diplomas and Associate’s degree. Key characteristics of this model are: 1. Higher Education.

These clearly are in the domain of tertiary education catering to post-‐secondary students. NOTE: Those who haven’t passed 12th could have to get their HSLC certificate through open schooling or bridge courses with possible help from CCs (E.g. in US, CCs help prior dropout students

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get their GEDs in this way). However, that is just a path to the end; the mainstay is higher education. The transfer of credits or hours of study towards degree programs also ensures that this builds bridges between school and colleges, encouraging more students to pursue higher education degrees.

2. Employment Oriented

Unlike pure arts/science or even commerce/engineering, the objective is to meet the aspirations of the students – which is to find a good job after the course. It also meets the needs of the local industries – which often are sponsors and associates of the CC. The combination of Knowledge & Skills for meeting certain skilled job roles that the industry need is the mainstay of the program. The duration of the course depends upon the training needs for the particular job. Adjunct teachers from the industry may be used; as may industry facilities be leveraged for practicals.

3. Accessible/Cheaper

By offering a combination of shorter duration and/or part-‐time courses (allowing earlier start to earning or earning-‐while-‐learning), lower fees (through government funding/ subsidies), paid internships, etc., they address many reasons students do not pursue higher education and degree programs.

4. Modular/ NVEQF Compliant

The courses will be modular and in accordance with NVEQF. These will cater to Level 5, 6 and 7 correposnding to year 1, 2 and 3 of degree colleges.

There are key differences between current educational insitutes and Community Colleges. They are represented in Fig. 5 below:

Skill Colleges Degree Colleges Polytechnics ITIs MES Job Orientation High Low Med High High Industry Sectors Cross-‐Functional Cross-‐Functional Engineering Mfg. Mfg, Service Type of Jobs Knowledge Workers White-‐Collared Engineering Blue Collared Blue Collared Industry Involvement High Low Med Med Med Education Focus Higher Education Higher Education Intermediate Lower-‐Inter Lower-‐Inter Duration Flexible: 6m-‐2y 3-‐4 years 3 years 1-‐2 years Few months Tranferability High High Med Low Low

Fig. 1 What’s the difference? Comparison of Various Existing Programs

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Industries (and job types within them) who could be good consumer for such candidates may include IT/ITES (Low level Testing Analysts, BPO Associates), Retail (Senior Customer Service Associates), Hospitality (Operations Managers in Front Office, Housekeeping and Food & Beverage, Travel Agents), Automotive (Service Associates), Banking, Financial Services and Insurance/BFSI (Sales, Desk Associates), etc. A more comprehensive list of courses is enclosed in Appendix A.

3. Implementation Model The NVEQF Levels 5 and 6 (and modules thereof) can be implemented within “Skills College” programs offered within Higher Educational setup with equivalance and transferability to regular streams as reflected in Fig. 5 below:

Fig.5 Higher Education Industry Job oriented NVEQF Programs via Skill Colleges

Skills Colleges offering Associate Degrees would integrate such programs within Current System (existing Institutions, but Distinct). They also could be standalone Associate Degree Colleges. Skills Colleges will either be part of or affiliated with existing colleges/universities to assure transferability of NVEQF and cross-‐fertilization between skills training & academia. However, the programs would be specifically designated and run as distinct programs within the general offerings.

Fig. 6 Programs offered within existing institutions but with distinct identity and execution

They could also be offered by Registered Education and Training providers (RETPs) in a similar manner with appropriate safeguards and academic accreditation offered by relevant bodies in the region/domain as prescribed by NVEQF. This entity could evolve into a new, dedicated Associate

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Degree (upto Level 6) granting institution which is aligned with these principles right from the inception stage and hence builds the appropriate DNA within its systems and personnel. Infrastructure needed for practical labs or industrial training can be inhouse or arranged from external institutes (ITIs, Industries, etc.) as shown in Fig. 6.

There is evidence from the experience of other countries that such skill or community colleges will improve accessibility, increase inclusiveness, lower costs and create upward mobility.

3.1 Challenges for implementing NVEQF in Higher Education

The collegiate system imposes certain additional conditions on implementing NVEQF as in Fig. 7:

Fig. 7. School vs. Higher Education NVEQF Requirements

NVEQF rollout has initially been targeted at school education, which is probably simpler because of monolithic streams or syllabi, central/state control for both public and private schools and limited pre-‐requisites as it begins here. The Higher Education collegiate and University System is more fragmented with multiple programs/specializations offered under several autnomous universities and complex regulatory systems as indicated in Fig.8 below. Colleges are fewer with uneven geographical spread and much more discretionary from a student enrollment standpoint. Since they start at NVEQF Level 5, students will need to meet the pre-‐requisites of Level 1-‐4.

Fig.8 Fragmented and Distributed Higher Education System Needs Focused Implementation

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To effectively introduce this new system in such a diverse, distributed and well established network, the strategy and implementation needs to be well thought out and focused to ensure fidelity to the original concept of NVEQF, its design and desired results.

3.2 Anchors for Deployment

In order to actualize the vision of NVEQF a measured and well thought out implementation approach is necessary. At the highest level, there can be a two pronged approach:

1. Within Current System. Such programs – certificate, diplomas and leading upto a 2-‐year associate’s degree – can be implemented within existing Higher Education Universities/ Colleges physical infrastructure, but with distinct identity and separation in terms of soft infrastructure (content, teachers, industry linkages, assessments, etc.). Classes and Labs could be used after-‐hours to increase capacity. This has been described above in section 2.

2. As new Dedicated “Skills Colleges” granting Associate Degrees. This could be tied to new vocational universities that would be setup and would be focused on meeting Knowledge Economy skills needs from the beginning. Hence they could be designed and evolved with a NVEQF system in mind – much like the Community Colleges in the US, Professional Colleges in the UK or Vocational Colleges in Germany or Switzerland, etc.

The advantage of implementing within the existing Colleges under University system is that the transferability of the 1 year or 2 year program to higher education/degree courses will be easier under the same system. At the same time, keeping it separate frees it from the constraints – so that it can be developed as a truly employment driven system with high industry involvement.

3.3 Approach for Rolling Out

In the 12th 5-‐year plan, a proposal to implement 100 community colleges on a pilot basis has been mooted. This is expected to evaluate the suitability of this model to address the needs for higher skilled knowledge workers and adapt it to suit India’s needs. A 7-‐member committee of state ministers have been setup under whose direction detailed concepts and plans are being put together. Based upon this initial pilot, a 3 phase rollout plan is suggested which would comprise of Piloting the 100 community colleges housed within exiting Colleges and infrastructure (80 colleges, 20 polytechnics), Expand and Saturate as shown in Fig.9 below:

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Fig.9 National Implementation Approach – Pilot, Expand, Saturate

An holistic 4S approach comprising of Select, Scope, Standardize and Support is proposed for rolling out this program. This is illustrated in Fig.10.

Fig.10 NVEQF Higher Education Implementation Success Approach – 4-‐S Model

Each of these components is elaborated below:

1. SELECT: 1-‐2 states to be selected for the pilot who show willing leadership and hunger to adopt NVEQF in higher education and who also have the economic/demographic conditions conducive to such mezannine level jobs should be selected. 1-‐2 universities should be designated as “Innovative” universities which can be a prestigious tag so that universities are incented to participate in introducing NVEQF. Better Colleges, ideally autonomous (to adapt their own curriculum), within the selected universities, located close to the relevant and possible partner industry/ companies should be selected. Some accredited private colleges or VET providers may also be selected.

Selecting Initial Pilots

I. SELECT INITIAL STATES. These need to be selected based upon various categories including: a. Motivation of the state government If the Education Minster/Chief Minister is enthusiastic about it, the necessary top level push will come. Existance of similar initiatives, political and adminstrative support, etc. will help

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b. Favourable Socio-‐economic conditions in the state Existance of high demand industry struggling for skilled workforce, Need for knowledge workforce, supply of surplus students (many post-‐12th students), Economic need for population, joblessness, etc.

c. Infrastructure & Insitutions in the state Existance of progressive universities and strong school systems.

II. WITHIN THESE STATES, SELECT STRONG INDUSTRY SECTORS AND COMPANIES Sector Selection a. High Growth sectors b. Skill Gap/ Need for higher skilled knowledge workers c. Need for large numbers of workers d. Strong roots in the state

Company Selection e. Take within top 5 leaders within the sector and state f. Ideally with multiple locations in the state and/or large supplier base g. Progressive, open to hiring h. Located close to major universities (who are candidates) or geographies /districts which have good schools/collleges, good student hinterland

III. POSSIBLY IN PARALLEL WITH (2) SELECT STRONG UNIVERSITIES/COLLEGES

Select strong universities/ colleges a. Progressive Vice Chancellor and management – willing to embrace new models b. Strong, innovative track record (should be over x years old?) c. Existing Industry Linkages if possible – in the above sectors/companies d. On-‐campus Placement cells that are active e. Wide array of (industry-‐relevant) courses offered like B Com, BA, BBA/MBA, etc. f. Located close to Industrial centers/ connected hub

D. POSSIBLY IN PARALLEL WITH OR AS INPUT TO (2) AND (3) SELECT STRONG DISTRICTS

Select good districts a. Strong District Educaitonal and general adminstration b. Good center for people / Students and industry as well as colleges c. Accessible by road/rail/air with good infrastructure

2. SCOPE. Within these colleges, focus on specific industries and jobs that are defined by Sector Skill Council’s defined NOS (National Occupational Standards). Select the jobs that map to the local industry

3. STANDARDIZE. Each of the institutions needs to take the given NVEQF framework and NOS requirements and instantiate into delivery. The NVEQF framework being a modular multi-‐tier architecture, efficient execution and consistency in quality of delivery will require huge efforts in standardisation, e.g. in Curriculum and Assessments, as well as enabling teachers.

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As these programs will have to be developed in close coordination with local industries, a fine balance of customisation/localisation and standardisation will be the key.

4. SUPPORT. For the pilot, the initial insitutions offering this will have to be jump started with curriculum and courseware, teacher training, etc. Common efforts that are needed shouldn’t be duplicated. Global and domestic best practices should be adapted into common offerings and an enabling technology platform should be provided to allow standardization and multi-‐media, interactive props, etc.

Both Standardization and support need an institutional support infrastructure not just to ensure right effective initial pilots, but also enable quick, robust ramp-‐up of subsequent programs.

3.4 Plan and Supporting Elements

A suggested plan for the rollout of the program based upon leading with 100 pilots is based upon the typical bell curve adoption of new concepts of innovators, early adopters, early and late majority and laggards. A rough cut plan is depicted in Figure 11 below:

Fig. 11 Proposed Timeline for Implementing Community Colleges in Pilot and Mainstreaming it

The 100 community colleges can be established within the first 2 years followed by a mid-‐term evaluation and consolidation period in the 3rd year. If successful, from the fourth year onwards, this model can start to be scaled up to larger numbers as shown above.

Organization

The Organization to implement this program needs to be both driven and supported by a central team to provide the overall framework, guidelines and, perhaps, initial funding. The states will have a self-‐contained implementation unit which will oversee all activities and drive the state colleges. Each University/College in turn will have to drive their own programs at the course offering and

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industry interaction level. At each level, governance will be provided by cross-‐functional committees which will comprise of industry as well as academics/government. This is depicted in Fig. 12 below.

Fig. 12. Proposed Organization for Implementation Rollout

The roles and composition of each of the units in the above organogram can be further elaborated as in the following table:

Level Implementation Team Governing Council Others Centre • Defines the concept,

selects the states and (with them) pilots, program guidelines and support with capacity building

• MHRD, Nonrofit, Few Comm. Colleges Consultants, etc.

• Provides overall guidance and validation for national direction

• MHRD, Central Univs Academics, Industry Associations, NSDC, etc.

• Group of State Ministers – for initial Direction and overview

• Advisory Team – select Academics, Industry and Consultants

• Capacity Building – via Nonprofits, etc.

State • Implementation Cell in State Dept of Higher Ed.

• Govt, Select Academic assigns, Nonprofits

• Guides State Activities • Govt, Academics, State Industry Assoc., Nonprofits

• State level capacity building

District • District Education Officer, DICs, etc.

• N/A •

College • Sets up Infrastructure, staff, material, etc. and readies for offering courseware

• 1 Industry, Consultant and College officials – Professors, Adminsistration, etc.

• Academic Board – consisting of University, College and Industry

• Drives admission criteria, curriculum, assessments, faculty trainer, exams

•

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Funding

Funding will be needed for 3 main reasons: 1. Provide Catalyst/ Impetus for States to launch the program (via a CSS/ Scheme of co-‐funding

from centre and state) and do the initial investment. 2. Get engagement and involvement from key implementing players – Colleges and Industries

– as well as possible implementing agencies to invest in launching this program 3. Make this program affordable for deserving end students.

The areas which will need funding / investment are:

1. Infrastructure needs for running labs, etc. 2. Courseware content development and assessment 3. Teachers – hiring and training 4. Industry involvement – for internships, etc. 5. Adminstrative overhead – implementation teams, etc. 6. Cost of Monitoring and Evaluation 7. Cost of implementing agencies if any (?)

Funding can be provided by various sources:

1. Central Scheme for partial funding – on a per program basis for each of the 100 colleges (can be 50 – 75% for initial work) – for soft infrastructure provision (content, additional infrastructure (incremental), program management (partial), initial Capacity Building, etc.)

2. State share of funding and physical infrastructure provision (funding for ongoing capacity, running and operational costs, teachers)

3. Consortium of Foundation who are interested in Employment driven Higher Education like Wadhwani Foundation, Dell Foundation, etc.

4. Other Stakeholders a. Colleges (from allocated UGC and other funding) b. Industries (for stipend, in kind with sharing of infrastructure, internships, etc.) c. Students (in terms of tuition, etc.)

Principles of funding:

1. Each entity provides funding for the areas that cater to their objectives 2. Partial funding – not complete – for each entity to have skin in the game and be vested in

making this program successful a. Centre – to catalyze this effort. Initial, creation of new material (soft infrastructure)

and subsidies for hard infrastructure) b. State – Physical Infrastructure, state capacity development (teachers, etc.) c. Industry – to develop skilled resources, get community outreach d. Student – get a job

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4 Driving Success by nurturing implementations in Pilot and beyond: All the above four components of implmentation need an institutional support infrastructure that will be essential for the initial pilots and which will also support implementations beyond that to ramp-‐up quickly and effectively. In the cycle of NVEQF implementations (Fig. 11), delivery lies squarely with the delivery institutions. However to get started, what to teach (curriculum and courseware), who can teach (Faculty Development) and how to teach (enabling technology for content and reach – eLearning, Satellite, etc.) are areas they need help. Not just for the initial period where much of this is being defined, but also in the future where new insitutions or new industries come on or older material needs update.

Fig.11 Implementing NVEQF & NOS: into Content, Teachers, Delivery and Assessment

Given the plethora of different colleges/universities and other Education and Training Providers, if each of them interpret the requirements individually and develop/ deliver such courses, this would result in widely varying quality and consistency of interpretation, not to mention duplicate efforts. The larger reputed institutions may be able to invest more in creating better course content and improve delivery capacity (teacher training, systems, etc.) whereas the smaller, less-‐resourced colleges efforts may be more ad-‐hoc. However, in both cases, the shift from an academically oriented, classroom lecture type pedagogy to a industry jobs driven, experiential, hands-‐on, work oriented teaching methodology will need deliberate paradigm shifts and efforts. Also, investing for a “franchisee” like depth and reusability across many institutions in the curriculum – rather than a one-‐time teaching preparation will need external support.

Such a support infrastructure will reduce duplication of efforts, ensures more consistent quality and jump start colleges on NVEQF

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4.1 National Skill Knowledge Network (NSKN)

To support such a implementation resource and knowledge network, Wadhwani Foundation is committed to seeding and anchoring a National Skill Knowledge Network (NSKN) as a PPP with the Government and possibly other Foundations. This network can provide Implementation support services to jump-‐start Institutes with curriculum, faculty training and best-‐practices shown in Fig.12:

Fig. 12 National Skill Knowledge Network (NSKN) – Nurturing NVEQF Implementations

National Skill Knowledge Network (NSKN) will aim to catalyze the correct adoption of NVEQF models in India. Some characteristics of this entity could include:

1. Public Private Partnership in Mission Mode. Wadhwani Foundation, the Government of India (MHRD or appropriate entity), and possibly other Nonprofits, etc. can join together

2. Goal. Is to democratize quality Implementation across all categories of providers for scalability and equity. This will help make NVEQF in Higher Education successful.

3. Governance and Framework. The board of governors will be a mix of all stakeholders – Government, Industry, Nonprofits and Academia as shown below in Fig.13.

Fig. 13. Governance of NSKN: Akin to the NSDC structure

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Government – Secretary Higher Education MHRD, Labour & Employment, Finance, etc. Industry – Chairman NSDC, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, Select Sectoral Associations/Firms Academia – AICTE Chairman, UGC, NAAC, Select VCs from concerned States Nonprofit – Wadhwani Foundation, others who could be involved.

The implementation team can be two-‐tiered at the central and state level as shown in Fig.14 below. Under the State project team, sub-‐teams for working with individual universities and colleges will exist:

Fig.14 Central and State Coordination Teams

The college structure would include the standard framework with local industry involvment and would include Governing Board, Academic Committee, Examination Committee, External Quality Assurance. Local Industry leaders and relevant state Industry sectoral associations would be an integral part of these comittees for the relevant universities/colleges. The Apex bodies like AICTE would be logical members of the Central Coordination Steering team and also could possibly vet and approve the academic curriculum with Industry SSCs vetting the vocational part.

4. National Scale. but with Regional Pilots to start with as described above.

5. Shared Common Services. These would be developed for the initial implemenations – adapting best in class offerings. These would include:

a. Curriculum/Courseware.These would include Industry (SSCs/NOSes) Classroom Instructional Material, Learners Guide, Faculty Guide and Faculty Development material/courses. These would be codeveloped along with member Institutes

b. Teacher Training. Teachers would be trained in soft skills, language skills, Domain skills and Pedagogy.

c. Enabling Technology Platform. This would allow Content Management System to access and develop content, eLearning and Satellite methods, etc.

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d. Assessment Guidelines. Assessment guidelines can be developed jointly to meet the needs.

6. Co-‐Funding, in mission mode and for limited time, decreasing over time. The funding ratios could be as shown in Fig. 15 below. Wadhwani+ indicates that the funding may come from other foundations or organizations in addition to Wadhwani Foundation. The intent is that over time, the Network should be self-‐sustaining (funded by beneficiaries – Industry, Institutes (association), students):

Fig.15 Co-‐funding Model – with Government and other Entities; Decreasing over time.

7. Funding. The total beneficiaries touched and the total funding needed is approximately as shown below in Fig. 16. This needs to be reworked for higher education/updated costs :

Fig. 16. Program Beneficiaries and Costs of Capacity Building Services development

The existing Schemes should be utilized to seek co-‐funding. E.g. the Model College scheme (targeting 374 backward districts) with significant fund outlays in 11th plan has been underutilzed and is being transferred to the 12th plan. Similarly the NVEQF program can be instantiated selectively in some of the 14 Innovative Universities in the 11th plan.

5. Benefits and Next Steps: This program if implemented right can get 3 million additional students into employable higher education via such programs1. This innovation in employability driven short cycle higher education 1 Currently approximately 4.5 million out of 7 million students passing 12th class each year do not pursue higher education. Assuming population growth and decreased school dropouts due to RTE and other government initiatives, even if we target less than 2/3rd of this ration, we can create additional uptake of 3 million students into such programs

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under NVEQF will benefit all stakeholders – Students, Industry, Educational Institutions and Government as shown in Fig. 17 below:

Fig. 17 Positive impact of this new paradigm in Higher Education

Wadhwani Foundation is committed to devote substantial effort and resources to this cause in a PPP mode with the Central and State governments. It has already invested over $30 million (USD) in the last decade in higher education and job-‐creation initiatives. WF has significant investment in curriculum development, faculty development, technology platforms as well as international networks across all levels as shown in Fig. 18:

Fig. 18 Cross Spectrum Engagement of Wadhwani Foundation in Industry Driven Education

At a school level in NVEQF, it is playing the Program Management role for rolling out the project in Haryana and it is also engaging with West Bengal in a similar capacity. It is entering an MOU with PSSCIVE, a division of NCERT which caters to vocational education at school level. It is running industry driven pilots in the BPO industry and launching a Faculty Development Insitute in partnership with Jindal Education Initiatives and Montgomery College USA. It has entered a partnership with Virginia Community College System to leverage the expertise of its collective 23 community colleges in the state in governance and technical know-‐how. It can play a role as an enabler, catalyzing pilots, start and scale-‐up of the Skill Colleges by providing common and shareable Professional Services (creating best-‐practice soft infrastructure like curriculum development, faculty training and technology platform) and coordinating PPP efforts by interfacing between industry, government, and academic fronts to drive progress forward.

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Appendix A. Sample Courses in Various Industries: A variety of job roles could be satisfied by industry relevant focused short cycle higher education courses along the lines of a Diploma or Associate degrees. E.g. CBSE plans to offer around 250 competency based modules (some across industry sectors) to support vocational courses. These could include:

Industry Sector Job Role Course Type Course Content

IT/IteS QA/ Unit Test Analyst

Associate’s Degree Computer Basics QA Systems & Process Basic Programming Tech. Documentation

Programmer Analyst Associate’s Degree Computer Basics Basic Programming Language (Java/C++) Systems Architecture

Voice ERO Associate’s Degree IT Basics English Communication Soft Skills

Chat ERO Diploma IT Basics Written Communication Soft Skills

Retail Sr. Customer Service Associate

Diploma Sales & Marketing Merchandizing Supply Chain Mgmt

Merchandizer/ Buyer Associate‘s Degree Marketing information Accounting in retail Merchandise planning Sales promotion Inventory mgmt

BFSI – Banking and Financial Services and Insurance

Field Sales Diploma Sales & Marketing Accounting Financial Instruments IT Basics English Communication Soft Skills

Desk Service Associate’s Degree Accounting Systems IT Basics

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Industry Sector Job Role Course Type Course Content

Associates English Communication

Hospitality Front Desk Operations Manager

Associate’s Degree English Communication Soft Skills Grooming Hotel Operations

Housekeeping Operations Manager

Associate’s Degree English Communication Soft Skills Hotel Operations

Food & Beverage Manager

Associate’s Degree Culinary Science Soft Skills English Communication Kitchen Management

Automotive Service Technician Associate’s Degree Oral Communication Soft Skills Automotive Knowledge

i TeamLease, 2009. ii IMaCS, 2008. iii CII-Aspire Report, 2008. iv PRS Legislative Research, 2010. v The Hindu, Oct 8th 2011

Building knowledge workers through skill colleges piloting 100 community colleges in 12th plan

Documents

community colleges

skills colleges model

skill development

skill gaps

higher education seats

new dedicated skills

building knowledge workers

various industries