CII EDU SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON ALIGNMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION WITH NSQF

By 1 2 1 News Reporter

Chandigarh 30^th August:-- In order to facilitate mobility from vocational to general education, and vice-versa, the National  Skills  Qualification  Framework (NSQF) will help make qualifications more understandable and transparent.  To dwell further on this, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) & Govt of Haryana is organizing 4^th edition of CII Edu Summit on 1 September 2014 at CII's Northern Region Headquarters in Sector 31 A in Chandigarh. Ernst & Young LLP is the Knowledge Partner of the Summit.

Vijay Thadani, Summit Chairman & CEO, NIIT Ltd. said that NSQF, a quality assurance framework, organizes qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. These levels are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of whether they were acquired through formal, non-formal or informal learning.  Launched in December 2013 to address the need to align the supply of skills through education and training to the requirements of the employers, the framework will map all the recognized qualifications into a unified framework that will be based on competence. Therefore, the mode of acquiring these competencies - through vocation training or education - becomes more prominent than the qualification by itself. With the formation of Sector Skill Councils, there is a lot of emphasis on following the NSQF, where education should be such that it aims at developing competencies. So far in India, it was qualifications that were used as benchmark to people getting employed. Vijay Thadani added, that according to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), only about 18-19 per cent of our population in the age group of 18-23 years is enrolled in higher education and a mere 6 per cent of this group are graduates with degrees. With the rapid growth of advanced agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, service and associated sectors in the economy, it is imperative that the populace is equipped to contribute to and benefit from higher education.

 

Darpan Kapoor, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council & Vice Chairman, Kapsons Group. Said that implementation of NSQF will provide for multiple pathways linking one level of education to another in both higher and vocational education domains. This shall enable flexible need-based learning at any stage of career through clearly outlined vertical/horizontal mobility and recognition of experiential learning. Another very significant objective of NSQF will be to assess and certify students against well-defined occupational standards. This will help in improving their chances of employability even at the international level.

 

Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII Northern Region.said that CII strongly believes that the country cannot achieve the universalization of education without the efforts of the private sector. For India to become a world knowledge hub, the entire education system in the country has to become sound and robust by achieving excellence and integration at all levels. This will transform millions of young people from across the world into educated global citizens, in years to come.