New Delhi : Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) under its Skills for Jobs (SfJ) programme in partnership with Department of Trade (DIT), Government of UK organised an e-workshop for UK skill suppliers looking to enter the Indian vocational education and training market on 10 September.
FCDO through the SfJ programme has been providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSD&E) in scaling the Skill India initiative of the Government of India.
One of the major areas of support is in bringing in UK best practices in the Indian VET space and fostering business relations between India and UK based skill suppliers. KPMG India along with Palladium and FICCI support the programme as technical assistance management consultants.
The workshop was attended by more than 80 delegates over a wide range of UK based entities whose primary focus is on skill development. Mr. Jonathan Ledger, TVET specialist DIT opened the session by providing an overview of the planned agenda. Ms. Anu Gupta, Head-Skills, FCDO India initiated the presentation the session with a brief introduction on FCDO’s work in India, especially in the VET space and priority areas of the SFJ programme. Ms. Kaustubhi Harit, Skills Policy Lead, FCDO highlighted the priority areas under the programme and showcased the multiple interventions and outreach efforts which have been implemented by FCDO in the second phase of the SfJ programme.
Mr. Debabrata Ghosh, SFJ TA Team (KPMG India) continued the discussion further by providing an overview of the evolution of the Indian VET ecosystem and the value propositions that it holds. From the specificities of the central and state government initiatives to the private sector initiatives, he explained the range of opportunities for the UK entities. Together with an outline of market sizing endeavor that was done by SFJ TA team, he also spoke on several business models and market entry strategies for the UK skill suppliers. Mr. Abhishek Chaturvedi SFJ TA Team (KPMG India) spoke about the planned activities to enable virtual collaboration and the areas of support which FCDO would be able to offer in facilitating the market entry for the UK based suppliers.
The session was followed by an interactive questions and answers (Q&A) session which saw active participation of the delegates. Jonathan Ledger, TVET specialist, DIT anchored the Q&A session and also briefly highlighted the role that DIT can play in facilitating the partnerships. The session ended with a vote of thanks from FCDO and DIT to all participants and the panelists.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DfID) merged on 1 September 2020 to form the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
