IISC

Background

India is a young nation with ~65% of its population below the age of 35 years. This demographic dividend presents an opportunity that can be leveraged to create a high-quality skilled workforce for the rest of the world, especially those nations which have an ageing or declining national population.

To cater to the global workforce demand, NSDC actively pursues global partnerships with governments and businesses with the aim of

• promoting global mobility,
• strengthening the Indian skilling ecosystem, and
• sharing of knowledge with other developing & developed economies.

This is in line with the Government of India’s vision to transform India into the Skill Capital of the World. At present, NSDC has actively worked in markets like Japan through the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) and the GCC countries including UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through Government to Government (G2G) and Business to Business (B2B) workforce mobility collaborations. Progress has also been made for developing partnership across countries like Canada, Australia, Finland, Morocco, Sweden, Russia, Jordan, Maldives, among others.

NSDC, along with Ernst & Young (EY) has conducted the ‘Global Skill Gap Study’. The study showcases the in-depth analysis of the global workforce markets with prime focus on leveraging the opportunities to the benefit of Indian workforce. The study highlights nations that would face workforce shortages in the foreseeable future and maps out the corresponding opportunities that these shortages present for the Indian workforce.

Key findings of the study highlight the demand of Indians in European countries, countries with mature migration systems like Japan, US, Australia, Canada, Singapore and countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). As per the study, sectoral demand for Indian migrants:

• In United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar shall be approx. 2.63 million (in next 5 years) across major sectors such as Construction (1.17 million), Wholesale & Retail Trade (0.42 million), real estate and rental & business services (0.28 million) etc.
• in Germany, Netherlands, UK, Sweden & Switzerland shall be approx. 0.30 million by 2030 across major sectors such as Health & Social Care (0.11 million), Manufacturing (0.05 million) etc.
• In Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Japan & Malaysia shall be approx. 0.95 million (in next 5 years) across major sectors such as Health Care and Social Assistance (0.22 million), construction (0.10 million) etc.

IISC Network

Objective

With this background, the IISC Network is envisioned to be the nodal platform to facilitate international workforce mobility opportunities for Indians. This network will be central to the GOI’s plan to make India the skill capital of the world. It will be a fee based, market driven model, determined by global workforce supply and demand dynamics. It will comprise of Member Organisations operating through several fixed centres to be referred as IISCs. Through the IISC Network, Member Organisations will be supported to work across various country clusters including:

• Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
• Japan, Russia, South East Asia
• North America
• Australia, New Zealand
• Europe

NSDC along with the IISC Network Member Organisations shall work to achieve the following milestones in the next 5 years for the above-mentioned country clusters:

• International Skill Harmonization & Benchmarking – Acceptance of Indian Skill Standards and collaboration for International Approved Standards across 10 Countries
• International Workforce Mobility – Place at least 100,000 skilled certified Indian candidates overseas
• Pre-Departure Orientation Trainings – Orient and train 250,000 candidates
• Recognition of Prior Learning Assessment & Certification Overseas – 25,000 workers