Overview

A country’s ability and potential for growth is determined by the size of its youth population. Youth today need to be harnessed, motivated, skilled and streamlined to bring rapid progress for a country.

India has the relative advantage at present over other countries in terms of distribution of youth population even when compared to large, fast growing Asian economies such as China and Indonesia, the two major countries other than India which determine the demographic features of Asia.

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship: Policy

Recognizing the imperative need for skill development, National Skill Development Policy was formulated in 2009. Given the vast paradigm shift in the skilling and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country and the experience gained through implementation of various skill development programmes, a need was felt to revisit the existing policy to align the policy framework with the emerging trends in the national and international milieu. Accordingly, Government framed the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015. The primary objective of this policy was to meet the challenge of skilling at scale with speed, standard (quality) and sustainability.

Upskills International Skill Centre (UISC)

Upskills Learning Council is keen to bridge the global shortage of labor force in the coming years by reaping the demographic dividend of young Indian labor force. To meet this objective, Upskills Learning Council under the “Upskills World” Mission has set up Upskills International Skill Centre (UISC) to provide skill trainings and certification benchmarked to International Standards. One of the major focus area of the Upskills World Mission is to prepare youth for opportunities of employment in the global markets

Upskills Learning Council signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU’s) with different bodies world wide to offer skill development to people seeking jobs overseas. The MoU institutionalize a framework to provide skill training to lakhs of people who go abroad to work every year.

• UISCs will be state-of-the-art centers equipped with lab infrastructure to deliver International benchmarked training and certification programs
• UISCs are being setup at the overseas migration pockets of the country for equipping trainees looking to migrate overseas
• UISCs shall facilitate placement linkages to international countries through direct tie ups with Employers or Recruitment Agents approved by the Ministry of External Affairs
• Post the successful completion of the assessments, candidates would be awarded a joint certification of the Upskills Learning Council and the International Awarding Organisation
• Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT)

Apart from domain skill training, Pre-departure orientation training (PDOT) has been envisaged to spread awareness and help trainees understand about opportunities and challenges involved in migrating overseas for work. PDOT sensitize trainees on digital literacy, culture and language of the destination country thereby enabling better adjustment in a new environment. PDOT consists of 3 components (160Hours): Digital Literacy Module (40Hours) + Language Skills (Arabic) (80 Hours) + Country specific Orientation Skill (40Hours).

Process

Guidelines

• Guidelines – Upskills International Skill Centers (UISC)
• Guidelines – UISC Branding

Content

Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT) modules would be part of the trainings at IISCs, which shall make the trainees adjust to the culture and environment of the migrating country s well as provide the necessary digital literacy skills.

Pre-departure orientation training consists of :

• International Country specific orientation skill (As per the guidelines of Ministry of External Affairs)
• Language skill
• Digital Literacy modules.