Request for proposal: 'Future Skills in India' - Research

Skill development has assumed great importance in India on account of the large number of un-skilled youth population who require employable skills so as to propel the rapidly growing economy. In order to accomplish this, the Government has not only promoted skill development policies and programmes, but is now also looking to promote research studies in this sector which will eventually feed-into the policy, practices and implementation processes.

Researches in the skills space and labour market trends have been sporadic in India and there are only a limited number of research agencies which undertake extensive research in this sector. Keeping this in mind, the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (NPSDE) 2015 (http://msde.gov.in/National-Policy-2015.html) highlighted the importance of research in skills, and also mentions the setting of the National Skills Research Division (NSRD) housed in the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India. NSRD is expected to function as an independent think tank to provide policy inputs to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), NSDA, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and related bodies in the skills domain.

In order to give momentum to skill-research collaborations, specifically between UK and India, the British Council and NSDA have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), under which the British Council will fund a research agency in the UK to enter into a research partnership with NSRD in accordance with the agreed terms of reference.

Objectives of the multi-party research project:

• To promote knowledge exchange and research collaborations between the UK and India in the skills space
• To strengthen capacity of research organisations in both countries so as to be able to work in collaborative research environments in the Skills Sector.

The collaborative research study between UK and India would primarily be for undertaking secondary research on topics related to labour market projections, skills & employability and vocational education.

The research on Future Skills in India will be directly undertaken by the UK research agency (which is being selected through this RFP). Selected agency is required to work closely with Indian researchers from the National Skills Research Division or Indian research agency (researchers will be identified and selected by NSRD)

Please scan through all the attachments linked to this research for more details and for the relevant application forms. The attachements are available for download on the British Council website

Who can apply?

Core competencies for UK research agency

Required:

• Based in the United Kingdom
• Excellent understanding of the theoretical framework of the labour market
• Very good understanding of research methodologies and statistical skills
• Essential to have done significant number of labour market research and labour market projections in the UK
• Experience of having done labour market research and analysis for the government sector
• At least 3 years of proven experience in conducting research studies in the labour market sector

Preferred:

• Experience of having worked with International partners especially on labour market dynamics in developing countries

Please scan through all the attachments linked to this research for more details and for the relevant application forms. The attachements are available for download on the British Council website.

Application Deadline:

The deadline for all applications is 16 December at 17:00 (IST). All applications must be submitted online using the attached Annex 3 and Annex 4.

Please scan through all the attachments linked to this research for more details. The attachements are available for download on the British Council website.

Timelines:

Deadline for clarification questions (Clarification Deadline)  : 9 December, 5pm Indian Standard Time (IST)

British Council to respond to clarification questions  : 12 December 2016

Deadline for submission of RFP responses by potential suppliers (Response Deadline)  : 16 December 2016; 5pm Indian Standard Time (IST)

Final Decision : 23 December 2016

Contract concluded with winning supplier : 6 January 2017

Contract start date : 9 January 2017

Kindly download all documents, terms of contract etc. from the British Council website: www.britishcouncil.org/education/skills-employability/what-we-do/international-skills-partnerships/request-proposal-future-skills-india-research