India’s Experience in Ensuring Quality with Rapid Scale-up of TVET

Mr. Anant Prakash Pandey, IFSPrivate 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

% 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

Comparison of the level of skilled work force of large economies (% of formally skilled labour force, 2013)

- 100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0 700.0 800.0 900.0

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

[BUBBLE SIZE]USA

[BUBBLE SIZE]Japan

[BUBBLE SIZE]Germany

[BUBBLE SIZE]UK

[BUBBLE SIZE]South Korea

[BUBBLE SIZE]China

Labour force (In millions)

Gro

wth

rat

e of

labo

ur fo

rce

Industrial Training Institutes have been a major provider of skills training

Seating capacity of ITIs and ITCs1

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-140

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

ITI ITC

Source: Directorate General of Employment and Training

1 Privately run Industrial Training Institutes, known as Industrial Training Centres

Historically, Industrial Training Institutes were hallmark institutions for delivery vocational education and training in India

…though, plagued with concerns regarding quality of training…Issues with India’s training infrastructure

Low enrolment

89%

1%

2%8%

Breakup of VET status1 No VETReceving Formal VETReceived Formal VETReceived in-formal VET

Poor employability

Series10%

10%20%30%40%50%

16.20%

41%35%

% graduates in wage/ self-employment

Odisha Andhra PradeshMaharashtra

Low capacity utilization

Series10%

10%20%30%40%50%60% 51%

24% 25%

Utilization of seating capacity of ITIs

Under uti-lizationFull utiliza-tionOver utiliza-tion

% o

f IT

Is

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 demand-

supply mismatch in terms of nature of training

imparted

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

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

… and suffered from low aspirational value

NSQF introduced national standards for awarding qualifications for the first time

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

• Defined Progression Pathways

• Opportunities for lifelong learning and skill development

• Engagement with Industry/ Employers

• Introduction of Recognition of Prior Learning

• Transparent, accountable, credible system

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

• 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:

Credibility

Mobility

Transparency

Industry-linkage

Perception/ attitude towards

vocational education

Issues addressed by NSQF

The federal structure of governance presents unique implementation challenges

Central Government State Government

• Policy-making vis-à-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

• Implementation of skill development programs

• Execution of quality assurance• Supplementary funding of skill

development programmes • Work in close coordination with the

centre

Federal split of roles and responsibilities…

…creates implementation challenges• Lowers agility and pace of implementation• Challenges in ensuring consistency of transformation across

states

4 key elements of India’s approach to implementing quality assurance

4 Key elements of implementation in a federal governance model

Designing an ORGANISATION

STRUCTURE to balance central and

state roles in skill development

Creating a UNIFORM TEMPLATE

(QUALIFICATION FILE) to align all

qualifications in India to NSQF. At the

same time, encouraging diversity of

qualifications awarded

1 2

Developing the NATIONAL QUALITY

ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK (NQAF)

which will lay out quality assurance

guidelines for all aspects of NSQF

compliant vocational education delivery

4Investing in STAKEHOLDER CAPACITY

BUILDING of all central and state-level

stakeholders to support the diversity and

complexity of vocational education

delivery

3

INSTITUTIONAL REFORM POLICY REFORM

Key stakeholders in the NSQF eco-systemRoles and responsibilities

Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship

National Skill Development Agency

National Skill Development Corporation

• NSQF

• LMIS

• NQAF

• Industry-linkage

• Private sector training capacity

Sector Skill Councils

• Occupational standards and qualification packs

• Assessment and certification• Train the trainer programs

• National Policy on Skill Development & Entrepreneurship

• Coordination – skilling efforts

STATECENTRE

State Skill Development Missions

• Develop state skill policy

• Coordinate across state skill

training programs

• Mobilize financing for skill

training programs

POLICY MAKING EXECUTION

1

Qualification Files introduced to structure and standardize all qualifications in India

2

A Qualification File is the

template designed to capture

necessary information to

establish NSQF compliance for

a Qualification

Type and structure of Qualification

Accreditation and Certification

Evidence of need and level– industry endorsement etc

Assessment mechanism

The Qualification File captures essential information such as…

Progression from the qualification

International comparability

Extensive capacity building efforts of stakeholders

• Capacity Building through workshops, focus group discussions and training sessions

3

NQAF Overview Manual

Registration of NSQF Qualifications and Supporting Materials Manual

Accreditation of Training Institutions Manual

Accreditation of Assessment Bodies Manual

NQAF Auditor’s Manual

Risk Assessment Framework Manual

QA of SSCs Manual

QA for National and State Level Bodies Manual

NQAF being conceptualized for quality assurance across aspects of vocational education delivery

• 8 manuals being developed as part of NQAF

4

NQAF Overview Manual

Registration of NSQF Qualifications and Supporting Materials Manual

Accreditation of Training Institutions Manual

Accreditation of Assessment Bodies Manual

NQAF Auditor’s Manual

Risk Assessment Framework Manual

QA of SSCs Manual

QA for National and State Level Bodies Manual

Key takeaways from our experience in rapid rollout of quality assurance

• Leadership buy-in

Needs assessment, per stakeholder

Customized rollout approach

Simplifying technical concepts

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

Our observationKey success factors

Thank You

Mr. Anant Prakash Pandey, IFS