State academy starts skilling youths for overseas careers - MSSU

State academy starts skilling youths for overseas careers

State academy starts skilling youths for overseas careers

Vice Chancellor

State academy starts skilling youths for overseas careers

 
Mumbai: Maharashtra has launched a centre to tap into jobs for just about anyone aspiring to sail past the Arabian Sea. Swami Vivekananda International Skills Development Academy in Vidyavihar will enrol, train, upskill and export just about any youth: A freshly minted diploma holder or a graduate or a mid-career professional hoping for a global career.
The idea is to upgrade the career trajectory of the youth of Maharashtra, who may be aspiring to fly out or may have been unsuccessful in bagging a job in the “city of dreams” where once millions migrated for better job prospects.State govt’s skills university has tied up with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to understand where each candidate stands in terms of skills and draw up a roadmap to get to the final destination: An international job.
“This centre is like a step-by-step process laboratory spread across several tutorial rooms that bridge the gulf between a candidate’s skill and aspirations,” said Mumbai suburban guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha. Explaining the process, Lodha said the first step is to understand aspirations, then look for a fitting job in the international market based on domain knowledge, top it with the requisite language and communication proficiency, put him or her through the interview process, add finishing touches through a cultural immersion simulation lab and ready the candidate for take-off.

It all started with a pilot project when about 120 students from various industrial training institutes, who were not on anyone’s betting slip, were placed in Germany and Japan for jobs that were paying them at least 3X of what they would earn. “We started receiving requests from people wanting us to consider them too. That is when we realised that many who go abroad go to little-known universities to study hoping that it would be their gateway to working abroad,” said Lodha. “The centre would hence not just be catering to the dream of an international job, but would also probably see a drop in students flying out to anonymous universities.”

The centre will not work like private agents shipping out cheap labour for commission. From negotiating salaries to work conditions, housing and benefits, terms of work will be discussed before the final handshake. Additionally, the centre does not plan to close the loop after exporting talent. “Instead, we will support them with housing, insurance, and visa services. This is a govt initiative, but we believe that India’s human resource needs to be continuously assisted. So, there is a dedicated team that will support all of them even after they move out,” said Apoorva Palkar, vice-chancellor of Maharashtra State Skills University.

Fitters for Germany, meat cutters for Japan, and now, liftmen for Russia or plumbers for Austria, youth such as Devendra Kumar from Karjat are preparing to cater to manpower shortage around the world. “As an engineer, I know that once I am fluent in German, I can take up a good job there,” said Kumar.

Several Indian states have a youthful working-age population. This demographic is predicted to hit a billion in the next decade, hailed as an “economic miracle”. However, for young Indians like Kumar, the “miracle” has a downside too: Intense competition. “To fly from Karjat or Nashik to Japan is a big aspirational achievement. Hence, a total of five international employment centres will be established in Govandi, Sambhajinagar, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. We have set a mission to provide international employment to thousands of students through this centre. We have collaborated with several countries for this initiative. This endeavour will enable young people to travel abroad at a minimal cost,” said Lodha.
But candidates must navigate multiple layers of global competition. “When there are job openings, companies are not just looking at the youth of Maharashtra. They are posting the same requirement in Vietnam or Sri Lanka too,” said Kavi Luthra, managing director of a consulting firm that works with state govt and facilitates global employment.

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