United Institute of Technology (Unitec) has signed an agreement with CMC Limited (through its CMC Education & Training Strategic Business Unit, called the CMC Academy) in India to offer vocational education and training.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by Unitec President Dr Rick Ede and CMC Chief Executive & Managing Director Ramanathan Ramanan in Mumbai on October 16, 2012 provides for training programmes to address the skill gap in Hospitality, Organised Retail, Automobile Servicing, Healthcare, Construction Technology, and Textiles.
Students in India will also be offered world class training adapted to the Indian market and industry requirements.
Dr Ede was a part of an education delegation led by Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce to India to meet with education institutions and government officials to promote New Zealand as an education destination.
Bridging skills gap
Mr Ramanan said CMC was committed to bridging the skills gap between the needs of the industry and available training facilities in India.
“The focus is to create specific job-enabling training programmes and proactively assist in the job placement process. The alliance with Unitec will help us to offer vocational training to accelerate job placements in India and potentially other emerging areas,” he said.
Dr Ede said that there was a huge potential for skilled manpower to match India’s increasing pace of development.
“This partnership with CMC is about building capability in delivering work-integrated vocational training in India. CMC is a well-regarded education and training provider and hence, working with them to deliver curricula that will meet their training needs is a great opportunity for Unitec,” he said.
CMC Global Business Head for Education and Training Arun Varma said, “The CMC Academy offers industry-relevant Education and Training in IT, Finance and Accounts of the highest quality and is committed to extend this to other vocational streams.”
Manpower demand
Dr Ede said that India’s accelerated economic growth and increasing demand for skilled manpower will require intensive efforts if the country is to achieve the target of up-skilling 500 million workers by 2022.
“Recent estimates have only 10% of the total workforce in the country receiving some kind of skills training, 2% with formal training and 8% with informal training,” he said.
According to a recent National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), only 6% of the total workforce (459 million) is in the organised sector.
“The World Economic Forum indicates that only 25% of all Indian professionals are considered employable by the organised sector. The unorganised sector is not supported by any structured skill development and training system to acquire or upgrade skills.”
Established in 1975, CMC Ltd is a leading System Engineering and Integration company in India and a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Asia’s largest software Company. Operating out of 18 offices and 180 service locations in the country, CMC employs over 10,000 people and has a wholly owned subsidiary in USA called CMC Americas, Inc.
Unitec is the largest Institute of Technology in New Zealand and the largest provider of trades training. With 23,000 students enrolled in 165 courses, the institution is committed to delivery of vocational and applied education and practically orientated research.
Unitec is also the Sponsor of the ‘Best Medium Business’ Category of the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards 2012. The Gala Black Tie Dinner and Awards Presentation Ceremony will be held from 5 pm on Monday, November 19, 2012 at the Sky City Convention Centre, Auckland City. Details appear in Homelink and Businesslink.
