As a part of the 'Employability agenda' the MHRD in India is taking steps through the University Grants Commission (UGC) to increase employability and skills training amongst students.

To support this agenda, the UGC has sanctioned funds to 102 community colleges, 127 vocational degree programmes and a new body CIHEC (Council for Industry-Higher Education Collaboration) has also been set up to enhance employability . The role of CIHEC will identify initiatives to promote research, mobilise resources, develop market-ready manpower and enhance employability. The Council will collaborate with placement cells of Central Universities for identification of the emerging areas as per requirement of neighbouring industries to make students employment ready. The CIHEC will also help train counsellors at all placement cells for better counselling and placements. As a part of various delegations that visited India in the last week, Dame Asha Khemka, chair of Association of Colleges India (AOC) has supported the skills agenda emphasising the need for UK and India to work together on skill development initiatives and specially focus on vocational training.

Dame Asha Khemkha is the principal and Chief Executive of the West Nottinghamshire College group and was awarded the ‘Woman of the Year’ by British PM David Cameron this year.

To support the vocational programmes, a financial outlay of 329 crore has been planned by UGC in order to help students enrolling into these programmes at the 127 Community Colleges sanctioned by UGC.

We shall be following up on the developments made by the CIHEC and UGC on skills and employability. The employability agenda is equally important for the British Council and we are taking small steps to address this from the perspective of UK graduates coming back to India.

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