Indias Experience in Ensuring

Quality with Rapid Scale-up of TVET

Mr. Anant Prakash Pandey, IFS
Private Secretary to Chairman, National Skill Development Agency
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, India
ADB, Manila, 1-2 Dec 2015

Agenda
Landscape of Vocational
Education in India
Introduction of the National
Skills Qualification Framework
(NSQF)
Implementation of Quality
Assurance in India

India has one of the largest labour force with

only 4.69% formally trained
Comparison of the level of skilled work force of large
economies
1.4
(% of formally
skilled labour force, 2013)
1.2

Growth rate of labour force

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-

100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0 700.0 800.0 900.0

-0.2
-0.4
-0.6

Labour force (In millions)

% labour force with formal vocational
education or skill training
Source: World Bank Statistics, National Policy for Skill development and Entrepreneurship (India), Centre on International Education Benchmarking

Industrial Training Institutes have been a

major provider of skills training
Seating capacity of ITIs and ITCs1
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11
ITI

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

ITC

Historically, Industrial
Industrial Training
Training Institutes
Institutes were
were hallmark
hallmark institutions
institutions for
for delivery
delivery
Historically,
vocational education
education and
and training
training in
in India
India
vocational
1 Privately run Industrial Training Institutes, known as Industrial Training Centres
Source: Directorate General of Employment and Training

though, plagued with concerns regarding quality of training

Issues with Indias training infrastructure
Low capacity utilization

Low enrolment

No VET
2% 8%
1%

89%

Receving
Formal VET
Received
Formal VET

Poor employability
% graduates in wage/ self-employment
50%
41%
35%
40%
30%
16.20%
20%
10%
Andhra Pradesh
0% Odisha
Maharashtra

% of ITIs

Breakup of VET status1

of seating capacity of ITIs

60% Utilization
51%
50%
40%
24% 25%
30%
Under
20%
utilizatio
10%
n
0%

Weak national standards

and industry-linkage
Weak national standards for quality
assurance, accreditation norms, assessment,
certification procedure, curriculum standards
etc
Weak industry-linkage leads to demandsupply mismatch in terms of nature of training
imparted

1 As per NSS 61st round, among persons of age 15-29

Source: Status of Education and Vocational Training in India, 2004-05, NSS 61st Round, FICCI survey 2006, Industrial Training Institutes of India: The
Efficiency Study Report, ILO, 2003

 and suffered from low

aspirational
value
Main factors driving
poor aspirational
value
Lack of integration with general education; no
defined pathway for mobility between vocational
and general education
No transparency regarding progression within
vocational and technical education
Constraints on pursuing higher qualifications due to
limited opportunities
Negative perception that vocational education is
pursued by those who cannot pursue general
education
No international referencing of qualifications which
limits global mobility

NSQF introduced national standards

for awarding qualifications for the first
time

NSQF is a quality assurance framework, organizing qualifications

according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude in 10 levels.
Key features of NSQF:

National
National principles
principles for
for recognizing
recognizing skill
skill proficiency
proficiency and
and
competencies
competencies at
at different
different levels
levels leading
leading to
to international
international
equivalency
equivalency

Multiple
Multiple entry
entry and
and exit
exit between
between vocational
vocational education,
education, skill
skill
training,
training, higher
higher education,
education, technical
technical education
education and
and job
job
markets
markets

Issues addressed by NSQF

Defined
Defined Progression
Progression Pathways
Pathways

Credibility
Credibility

Mobility
Mobility

Opportunities
Opportunities for
for lifelong
lifelong learning
learning and
and skill
skill development
development

Transparency
Transparency

Industry-linkage
Industry-linkage

Engagement
Engagement with
with Industry/
Industry/ Employers
Employers

Perception/
Perception/ attitude
attitude
towards
towards vocational
vocational

Transparent,
Transparent, accountable,
accountable, credible
credible system
system

Introduction
Introduction of
of Recognition
Recognition of
of Prior
Prior Learning
Learning

education
education

The federal structure of governance

presents unique implementation challenges
Federal split of roles and responsibilities
Central Government
Government
Central

Policy-making vis--vis vocational

education including:
- Development of national
standards for awarding
qualifications
- Design of quality assurance
guidelines
Majority funding skill development
initiatives
Capacity building support to state
governments

State Government
Government
State

Implementation of skill
development programs
Execution of quality assurance
Supplementary funding of skill
development programmes
Work in close coordination with the
centre

creates implementation challenges

Lowers agility and pace of implementation
Challenges in ensuring consistency of transformation across
states

4 key elements of Indias approach to implementing

quality assurance
4 Key elements of implementation in a federal governance model
1 Designing an ORGANISATION

2 Creating a UNIFORM TEMPLATE

STRUCTURE to balance central and

(QUALIFICATION FILE) to align all

state roles in skill development

qualifications in India to NSQF. At the

same time, encouraging diversity of
qualifications awarded

3 Investing in STAKEHOLDER CAPACITY

4 Developing the NATIONAL QUALITY

BUILDING of all central and state-level

ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK (NQAF)

stakeholders to support the diversity and

which will lay out quality assurance

complexity of vocational education

guidelines for all aspects of NSQF

delivery

compliant vocational education delivery

INSTITUTIONAL REFORM

POLICY REFORM

Key stakeholders in the NSQF eco-system

Roles and responsibilities

CENTRE

Ministry of
of Skill
Skill Development
Development &
&
Ministry
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
National Policy
Policy on
on Skill
Skill
National
Development &
& Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Development

Coordination

skilling
efforts
Coordination skilling efforts

STATE
State Skill
Skill Development
Development
State
Missions
Missions
Develop state
state skill
skill policy
policy
Develop
Coordinate across
across state
state
Coordinate

National Skill
Skill
National
Development
Agency
Development Agency

National Skill
Skill
National
Development
Development
Corporation
Corporation

NSQF
NSQF

Industry-linkage
Industry-linkage

LMIS
LMIS

Private sector
sector training
training
Private

NQAF
NQAF

skill training
training programs
programs
skill
Mobilize financing
financing for
for skill
skill
Mobilize
training programs
programs
training

capacity
capacity
Sector Skill
Skill Councils
Councils
Sector

POLICY MAKING

Occupational standards
standards
Occupational
and
qualification
packs
and qualification packs
Assessment and
and
Assessment
certification
certification

Train the
the trainer
trainer programs
programs
Train

EXECUTION

Qualification Files introduced to

structure and standardize all
qualifications in India

The Qualification File captures essential

information such as

A Qualification
Qualification File
File is
is the
the
A

Type and
structure of
Qualification

Accreditation
and
Certification

Evidence of
need and level
industry
endorsement etc

Assessment
mechanism

template designed
designed to
to
template
capture necessary
necessary
capture
information to
to establish
establish
information
NSQF compliance
compliance for
for aa
NSQF
Qualification
Qualification

Progression
from the
qualification

International
comparability

Extensive capacity building efforts of stakeholders

Capacity Building through workshops, focus group discussions

and training sessions

NQAF being conceptualized for quality

assurance across aspects of vocational
delivery
education
8 manuals being developed as part of NQAF
NQAF
NQAF
Overview
Overview
Manual
Manual

Registratio
Registratio
nnof
ofNSQF
NSQF
Qualificati
Qualificatio
ons
and
ns and
Supporting
Supporting
Materials
Materials
Manual
Manual

Accreditati
Accreditati
on
onof
of
Training
Training
Institution
Institutions
sManual
Manual

Accreditati
Accreditatio
on
of
n of
Assessmen
Assessment
tBodies
Bodies
Manual
Manual

NQAF
NQAF
Auditors
Auditors
Manual
Manual

Risk
Risk
Assessmen
Assessmen
tt
Framework
Framework
Manual
Manual

QA
QAof
ofSSCs
SSCs
Manual
Manual

QA
QAfor
for
National
National
and
andState
State
Level
Level
Bodies
Bodies
Manual
Manual

Key takeaways from our

experience in rapid rollout of
quality assurance
Key success factors

Our observation
Amongst states, there are
differences in priorities

Divergence in skill
vision and alignment
with national policy
Gaps in understanding
of larger skilling
ecosystem
Organizational capacity
and resources at
states level

Leadership
buy-in
Needs assessment, per stakeholder

Customized rollout approach

Simplifying technical concepts

Thank You
Mr. Anant Prakash Pandey,
IFS