The programme focuses on bilateral and mutual benefits of the learners, researchers, scholars, fellows, skill sector professionals, leaders of higher education and further education institutions in India and UK.
The two strands of UKIERI are:
E-partnership and Research Incubation strand is focusing on developing jointly funded research and innovation programme with core societal benefit outcomes. Some of the existing UKIERI successful partnerships will be scaled to deepen engagement and greater impact and newer partnerships on key thematic areas will be supported..
ObjectivesThe Higher Education and Research strand announced funding worth £2.6 million for 43 successful partnerships between UGC recognized and HE institutions of India and UK respectively. The call attracted close to 219 joint research proposals.
The Higher Education and Research strand announced funding worth £3.1 million for 51 successful partnerships between DST recognized and HE institutions of India and UK respectively. The call attracted close to 334 joint research proposals.
Leadership and Faculty Development strand focusses on developing few strategic leadership initiatives that provide a strong institutional framework leading to high impact, bigger outreach and long-term sustainability.
Mobility, use of ICT and innovative technology will underpin these partnerships.
Objectives11 institutional partnerships in new thematic areas of skills-based training, ICT blended learning, qualifications portability, joint certification, recognition of prior learning, curriculum development, benchmarking NOS, and assessments were announced.
11 MSDE-UKIERI partnerships worth £1.3 million were announced following a call for proposals in new thematic areas of skills-based training, ICT blended learning, qualifications portability, joint certification, recognition of prior learning, curriculum development, benchmarking NOS and assessments.
The partnerships cover a range of topics like developing frameworks of qualifications for people with special needs, developing qualifications for improving quality of mental care, entrepreneurship development and capacity building in technology graduates involving key Further Education Colleges such as Capital College, London, Tourism & Hospitality Sector Skill Council, Retail Sector Skill Council and IIM, Indore to name a few. The partnership between Sutra Consulting Private Limited, India and Firetail Limited, UK to study the impact of work done under the development of the Transnational Qualification Framework is particularly interesting.
Following the successful UKIERI Leadership and Management Pilot Programme, held between February and April 2016 a fully developed training programme for academic leaders is targeted to influence leaders of higher education institutions in India. The activity is yet to get firmed up and discussions with MHRD and the UGC are ongoing for its implementation.
This programme was initiated in 2014 to encourage joint learning, sharing of best practices and the development of institutional mechanisms for sustained improvement for organizational management. This joint technical leadership programme offers middle-management staff advanced leadership skills that lay the foundation for long-term sustainability within participating institutions. In 2017 -18 the training was imparted to 100 delegates. 96% of the delegates successfully achieved CMI Level 5 Leadership and Management Accreditation after this training. The year 18-19 will see training on 200 delegates from various AICTE recognised institutions.
Through this program 36 principals from ITIs nominated by DGT were trained by Dudley College, UK. The programme has received a very positive feedback from the participants. Looking at the success of this pilot programme, MSDE has committed to extending this program to 200 Principals/Group Instructors from ITIs. The discussions on implementation of the programme are on going.
UKIERI facilitated a partnership between NSDC and FISS to support benchmarking of Indian National Occupational Standards across 15 sectors and 82 job roles to the UK National Occupational Standards. The partnership aimed to develop internationally recognised standards by mapping occupational standards of India NOS and the UK NOS to identify similarities and gaps. The gap analysis was recorded in the Comparison Reports of Indian Standards.
A review was held in May 2017 to study progress and work done post the launch of Transnational Standards in April 2016, in New Delhi. NSDC and FISS officials along with 15 Indian Sector Skills Councils participated in the review which was presided over by Joint Secretary and Senior Economic Adviser - Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Director - International UK Skills Federation and Director - Association of Colleges UK.
The outcomes of the review were:To identify potential areas of partnership in strengthening the skilling ecosystem of India, a delegation, led by MSDE, comprising of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), and State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs) visited UK. The delegation studied the policy, regulatory and governance framework and private & market-led delivery mechanisms of the UK Skill System. Along with new reforms towards improved quality, employability, vocational learning courses and employer participation, they also studied the role of government funded bodies in regulation and inspection. A detailed report with recommendation has been submitted to stakeholders for further work.
