OREANDA-NEWS. India and Germany are deepening their collaboration in the area of skill development. An implementation agreement was signed between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and (German International Cooperation (GIZ), to initiate a new project focused on adapting elements of the German dual system in select industrial clusters in India.

This new project will run for three years starting August 2016 with a budget of EUR 3,000,000 (22.6 Crores INR) – made available by the German Government and aims to foster conditions which will help create and improve cooperative workplace-based vocational training in India’s industrial clusters. The project will be implemented in three selected clusters, which include the Automobile cluster in Maharashtra and Electronics cluster in Bangalore.

German technical assistance will be used to enhance industry institute partnerships between Indian and German organizations, build capacity of local training institutions and foster industry linkages which will help adapt elements of the German dual system, into the Indian context. This new project will also play an important role in supporting MSDE’s existing programmes to scale up apprenticeship training.

The project will be implemented under the umbrella of the ‘Joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Skill Development and Vocational Education and Training (VET)’, signed during the Indo- German intergovernmental consultations on 5th October 2015 in New Delhi.

The Joint Working Group, under the MoU held its first meeting on 26 July 2016, in New Delhi. At the meeting, the two countries agreed to deepen their collaboration in a number of specific areas including: curriculum development, research and sharing of best practices, training of trainers, and establishing cooperative workplace based skill training programmes in three industrial clusters.

Commenting on the Indo-German partnership in the area of skill development, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, “We in India recognize the fact that Germany’s dual system is widely acclaimed as one of the best in the world, noted for its close linkages between industry and training institutions. This provides a competitive edge to German industry and businesses. We need to adapt elements of the German VET system to the Indian context to ensure that skill training in India is closely aligned with the requirements of industry.”