Hyderabad: With low levels of employability of Indian engineers in focus, the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is keen on developing skills of students in higher education.
The Central government is planning to bring in a level based standardisation of skills in higher education, which will also allow students to seamlessly transfer from one course to another. It will also help those in vocational course to move to regular courses.
The government is asking universities to have specific credits for skills in the higher education framework. Skill-based programmes are also being planned for universities at the same level as regular Arts, Sciences or Engineering courses.
Officials, who recently interacted with the Central government, said the government is first trying to bring in a standardised system for skills like that in higher education.
“An electrician, for example, may have the skills now but if we give him some theoretical knowledge and little training to augment his skills, he can be recognised.
Like for driving, everyone gets a license and there is standardisation whether one can drive or not,” officials said.
Skills with several levels of expertise have also been proposed by the central government. There will also be equality between different courses.
“There would be levels from 1 to 10 and each level will correspond to certain number of theory and practical hours. There will also be flexibility to shift between courses,” officials said.
Skill development has been in focus with the TS government concentrating on improving the employability of engineers.
