Through conferences and events, we seek to bring to India the best of the UK skills training and vocational education practices and promote engagement with their Indian counterparts for the benefit of both the countries.
The platforms also advocate and promote best practices that will aid in the implementation of the developmental agenda and help stakeholders engage in meaningful dialogues for addressing crucial national issues relating to employability and skills.
As the world changes so must TVET provision. Technological and industrial change, increased labour mobility and accelerating climate change provide significant challenges, but also, opportunities. The event took place on 5-7 March 2019 in London and Derby, and focussed on how we can best shape systems and institutions to both, respond to, and enable the future of TVET.
The seminar was attended by partners from the government, industry or education who are seeking to improve outcomes in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training policy.
During the seminar, the following questions were explored:
The programme also featured visits to employers and to independent training providers and colleges, expert speakers, interactive workshops, and a networking dinner.
Learning Aims
Participants left with an improved knowledge and understanding of effective practice in delivering quality TVET provision that meets the needs of the future and insight into policy setting and implementation models.
UK Skills Policy Dialogue
Held in November 2017, the event addressed the esteem of vocational education in the minds of young people, parents and wider society, and to gain an insight into how the UK careers advice system works and the initiatives underway to promote vocational employment paths. This interactive programme allowed delegates to share best practice, and included visits to employers and training providers.
Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop for Freelance TVET Trainers on core skills
We conducted a Training of Trainers session for qualified applicants willing to join the British Council’s skills team as freelance Training Facilitators.
The workshop was held on 31 May - 2 June 2017 in Bengaluru.
UK Skills Policy Dialogue, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
A skills study tour and policy dialogue on the theme ‘How important is enterprise training to job creation? Embedding enterprise in Technical and Vocational Education’ was held on 7 - 9 March 2017 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
The aim was to explore the differing approaches to entrepreneurship training within the wider international skills agenda by drawing on the expertise and varied perspectives of entrepreneurs, government officials and representatives from the education sector.
This event introduced delegates to the current UK and Global thinking on the role that enterprise and entrepreneurial training has in a wider skills agenda. The seminar addressed key issues such as: should enterprise training be part of, or additional to technical training; access to finance; the role of mentoring; reaching disadvantaged groups and the role of different stakeholders. It provided a range of views from business, government and education and also had visits to businesses, innovation hubs and colleges.
UK Skills Show and Study Tour, Birmingham
We conducted a study tour to the Skills Show, the UK’s largest skills and careers advice event, from 15-17 November 2016 in Birmingham, UK. Titled ‘Improving Employer and Learner Engagement in Vocational Education’, it gave delegates a behind the scene look into the Skills Show to meet the organisers, employers and students to get a better understanding of how participation in the WorldSkills competition can be leveraged to improve both employer and learner engagement, introduced the main components of the UK Skills system and sought to address key issues such as quality assurance, apprenticeships and inclusion.
7th CII Global Summit on Skill Development, Hyderabad
The summit took place on 9-10th November 2016 in Hyderabad on the theme ‘Networking for Globally Transferable Skills’. The summit explored current pressing issues, bringing together opinion leaders from across nations. The summit came with the belief that youth in all countries will benefit from imbibing global skill standards. Global acceptance has the potential to transform youth learning, workforce participation and ultimately enhance productivity.
Skill India Week
The British Council, the British High Commission and DfID joined hands with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India to celebrate Skills Week from 15-17 July 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The opening ceremony on 15 July celebrated UN World Youth Skills Day, witnessed the Hon’ble President of India inaugurating the event. The UK was an active partner to the Skills Week event through seminars, youth engagement and expo to showcase its offer in skills training.
We facilitated the participation of a delegation of six representatives from World Skills UK at the Skills Week. The delegation conducted master classes for competition experts at the venue, and the skills champions engaged with the youth in active interactions and showing demo skills.
For details, please refer to the summary report in the downloads section below.
Nypunyam - The International Skill Summit and Skill Fiesta, Kerala
The event was held in Trivandrum from 5-7 February 2016, jointly organised by the Directorate of Employment and Training (DET) and Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE) with the objective of raising the status of vocational education and training in order to build a globally competitive workforce.
We participated in the summit with contributions being made at the technical sessions by means of sharing best practices from the UK; and at the Skill Fiesta where two young Indian contestants, who recently attended the Skills Show UK (2015), had participated and showcased their skills in beauty therapy.
Skills Show UK
The Skills Show 2015 saw a remarkable number of students, parents, further education colleges and training providers participating with great fervour.
The British Council in association with the NSDC, enabled six Indian students to participate in the event, where they were joined by over 136 delegates from 20 countries, and about 75,000 attendees.
Participants from India included Ashwini Hemant Tareh (19) and Karishma Sunil Gupta (18) from Pune; Tabassum Sulthana (19) from Chennai; Shweta Singh (20) and Savita Palariya (20) from Uttarakhand and Pooja Rani (20) from Delhi. The event provided an opportunity for the students to benchmark their skills by competing alongside UK participants, while also prepping them for the International Skills Show 2017 in Abu Dhabi. The platform also enabled them to interact, share and gain knowledge from UK experts and embrace best practices.
For details, please refer to the Impact Story and the Success Story in the downloads section below.
English Skills for a World Class Workforce
Held on 20 Oct 2015 in New Delhi, the workshop aimed to identify job roles and sectors where English language skills, benchmarked against international standards, are essential for employability and mobility, and provided a platform for creating new commercially sustainable partnerships to produce the certificates, trainers and content needed to reach these standards.
The workshop was facilitated by ELT and skills professionals from British Council and was designed in collaboration with the NSDC. Key participants of the workshop included UK ELT providers, India SSC representatives, assessment bodies, and key government stakeholders.
For details, refer to this summary report on the workshop.
World Skills India Regional Competition: Gems and Jewellery
The competition was held in Jaipur on 18-19 Sep where 10 students demonstrated their skills and expertise, and 4 finalists were selected from amongst them.
The competition was a culmination of the regional events that had taken place in different states including Coimbatore, Bangalore and Surat. Two students were selected from these 4 finalists, who got a chance to compete and benchmark their skills at the UK Skills Show 2015.
World Skills India Regional Competition: Beauty and Wellness
The British Council with NSDC, CII, and Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC) held four regional competitions for talented youth in the Beauty and Wellness sector to travel to the UK and compete in the Skills Show 2015.
Competitions were held in Guwahati, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi.
Workshop on Blended Learning Model to Achieve Scalable Skill Development
The workshop was organised by British Council and the British High Commission, in association with the India Didactics Association on 10 Sep 2015 in Bengaluru.
The session was held alongside the World Didac Expo and saw the launch of some of the major highlights of the Research Report on Blended Learning Models for Skill Development and Opportunities for UK Providers. The workshop focused on exploring effective models in blended learning which can promote the ambitious skill development agenda of the Government of India, and explored how UK and India can harness each other’s expertise to create a self-sustaining ecosystem for delivering high quality skills training at scale.
The workshop was led by experts from India and the UK and was attended by leading technology providers along with key government functionaries, training providers, representatives of Sector Skills Council, and other participants.