Description
The governments of India and Australia are working to enhance cooperation on training, at both official and industry level. As part of the exchange of ideas, Francesca Beddie, General Manager, Research, National Centre for Vocational Education Research, visited India in August 2009 at the invitation of the Australia-India Council. This paper explores some of the common challenges the countries face in reforming their vocational training systems.Summary
About the research
The governments of India and Australia are working to enhance cooperation on training, at both official and industry level. As part of the exchange of ideas, Francesca Beddie, General Manager, Research, National Centre for Vocational Education Research, visited India in August 2009 at the invitation of the Australia–India Council. This paper is an expanded version of the speech she delivered at the second Global Skills Summit organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce.
Australia and India are very different countries in terms of population, income per capita, major industries and economic sectors, yet they share features of relevance to the development of skills in the twenty-first century. Like Australia, India is a federation with responsibility for education and training shared between the national and state governments. In both countries, distance is a factor for many industries, including the training sector. Although higher education is of considerable importance and highly valued in Australia and India, future gains in productivity will also depend on developing the supply of trained workers with intermediate-level knowledge and skills. This will lead not only to demand for whole vocational qualifications but also part qualifications or skill sets.
Key messages
- Further exchanges at the national government level could explore issues of mutual interest in the following:
- the development of qualifications frameworks suited to a global labour market
- the engagement of industry in a national training system
- the necessity for training that is both suitable to the learner and delivers high quality outcomes.
- There is scope to think more about cooperation on flexible delivery models that harness both technology and strong teaching skills.
- At this stage in the development of the Indian system, cooperation at the provider level is likely to be most fruitful at the level of vocational teacher education.
Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER