International Skill Development Centre
an initiative of Shobhit University
The Changing World
Our world has graduated to new levels of technology, knowledge, entrepreneurship, productivity and development. The World's transition to a knowledge-based economy requires a new generation of educated and skilled people. It is witnessing sweeping changes which has created the need for skill development that directly relate and are linked to enhancement in productivity, efficiency, employability and profitability of organizations.
Skills development to enhance employability is an area of vital importance to almost all countries in the world. The introduction of new technology to sustain the growth of enterprises requires higher skill levels.
On one hand, Governments, employers' associations and trade unions around the world are working to improve the quality and relevance of training and employment services in order to improve the employability of workers and the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises on the other, the young university graduates are coming out in plenty but having difficulty in getting jobs. As a result there is an urgent need to reduce the skills mismatch and promote Skill development to cope up with the need for highly skilled workers and to enhance their employability.
All well paying jobs in emerging industries require workers with strong technical and vocational skills. Therefore, there should be programs for both students and existing workers to develop skills and knowledge which are required by the enterprises.
Even though the annual expenditure done on Vocational Training by the public was $ 250 million, the unemployment rate still stands at 7.4% (Source: World Bank Report-World Development data updated till March 2, 2011).
India has recently become one of the major destinations for knowledge outsourcing and skill development hub. The quality of skill enhancement programs, their variety and their delivery has become a major advantage for the world. It is only India where you can find training and skill enhancement solutions for any need.
What are Employability and Employability skills?
Hillage and Pollard's (1998) defines Employability as an individual's
ability to gain initial employment, maintain employment, move between
roles within the same organization, obtain new employment if required
and (ideally) secure suitable and sufficiently fulfilling work. It also
mean, the ability to communicate, manage information, use numbers, think
and solve problems, demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviors, be
responsible, be adaptable, learn continuously, work safely, work with
others and participate in projects and tasks.
Whereas employability skills are those skills required to acquire and
retain a job. Till recently, employability skills were considered to be
of a vocational nature. Now, definition of employability skills has been
broadened to include not only many foundational academic skills, but
also a variety of attitudes and habits. The term, employability skills,
is often used to describe the preparation or foundational skills upon
which a person must build job-specific skills (i.e., those that are
unique to specific jobs). Among these foundational skills are those
which relate to communication, personal and interpersonal relationships,
problem solving, and management of organizational processes (Lankard,
1990). Employability skills in this sense are valued because they apply
to many jobs and so can support common preparation to meet the needs of
many different occupations (Thomas H. Saterfiel and Joyce R. McLarty).
Why employability skill Development?
The world is moving to thousands of occupations which involve several
kinds of interactions from production & manufacturing to warehousing,
from cost analysis to marketing, from financial management to
administration and from personnel management to labour management. It
does not stop here, think of anything and there is someone in this world
who needs a small or detailed training on the matter. Sometimes it could
be as diverse as parenting or as routine as interpersonal interaction.
This has enhanced the common belief that skill development is the best
way for inclusive growth. The International community is looking towards
India as a major source for skill development.
In 2007, the International Conclave on Skills Development clearly
highlighted the need for a concerted effort in skills delivery. The
conclave not only pointed the relevance of skills in sustainable growth,
also the importance of international cooperation.
Current News
