The Indian youth are a feted lot. Their power, as consumers and as workers, has been the hook for many entrepreneurial ventures, for many multinational corporations choosing to establish themselves here. However, the benefit of India being the youngest country (54 per cent population below the age of 25 years) can be truly realised only if at least 50 per cent of its youth population (between the ages of 15 and 24) is skilled, as against the existing five per cent.

Further, the skills to be imparted should have co-relation with the existing and futuristic market demand, both nationally and internationally, as globalization is also pushing skill migration along with capital and technology.

This is where skills development plays a role. Vocational education has become increasingly important in tackling the skills gap in India and the UK. While Indian and UK education has made enormous progress in higher education, India does not have the quantity or quality of vocational skills that is necessary to compete on a global scale.

The need for development of such skills has been strongly felt by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development and Ministry of Labour as well as Industry. UKIERI has been working in the field of Professional and Technical skills by facilitating partnerships between UK colleges of Further Education and Indian Vocational Colleges.

The colleges are working together on joint education projects which aim to meet industry skills gaps in strategically important areas for both India and the UK. Through various initiatives UKIERI has made an attempt to facilitate improvement through innovative, mutual, and sustainable partnerships that build stronger links between education and industry.

One such initiative was to partner with the FICCI Global Skills Summit and share the UK experience on Sector Skills Council and Quality Assurance; to bring forth international best practices.

The summit was held on 21 and 22 August 2008 in Delhi with UKIERI as a strategic partner. The key issues which emerged from the discussions during the two day conference included:

			The need for India to impart relevant skills to 10 million people every year to reap the benefit of globalization.
			To explore the possibilities and need for international cooperation in the area of skills development in India.
			Formation of Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) where SSCs shall work as an interface between the government & education on the one hand as well as industry & the workforce on the other.
			Concerns on Infrastructure Development including upgradation of ITIs, Polytechniques and formation of IMC.
			Addressing employability issues imperative for inclusive growth.                    • Training of Trainers                    • Quality Assurance/Certification                    • Standardization of curricula                    • Imparting soft skills

Skills Council and the Quality Assurance. Various stakeholders in general and the Ministry of Labour and Employment in particular were quite keen on learning about the SSC model in UK and are now willing to involve itself further on how these models can be emulated in the Indian context.

Quality assurance is another area where a lot of work needs to be done and the need of the hour is to bridge the gap between the expertise required by the industry and the curricula designed and taught.