Melbourne, April 6: Australia’s Special Envoy for Trade, the Hon Andrew Robb AO MP, today met industry and education sector leaders in India, including the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Sri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, to progress education and training cooperation.

Mr Robb was accompanied by Australia’s Education Ambassador to India, Adam Gilchrist, to promote and strengthen Australia and India’s collaboration on education and training.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase Australian expertise in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and support countries like India to increase their skilled labour,” said the Minister for Tourism and International Education, Senator Richard Colbeck.

“Australia’s partnership with India will help both countries meet the demand for a global, skilled workforce in the future.”

The Australian Government, represented by Mr Robb, today announced the $5.4 million International Skills Training Courses initiative to extend Australia’s role in international education and training.

Senator Colbeck said “the initiative will see the Australian Government collaborate with industry and the training sector to develop courses that address skill shortages within the global economy.”

“The International Skills Training Courses initiative underpins our strong track record of delivering quality education to Indian students. In 2015 we welcomed over 53,000 Indian students, up 15.7 per cent on the previous year – the second highest of any nationality.”

Promoting Aus-India Skills Development - some fun at the end of the day for AndrewRobb and Adam Gilchrist. photo: Shubho Banerjee
Promoting Aus-India Skills Development – some fun at the end of the day for AndrewRobb and Adam Gilchrist. photo: Shubho Banerjee

The initiative follows a six month pilot run by seven Australian training providers to upskill Trainers and Assessors in India. Large scale delivery of courses across India will commence with a consortium of three Australian training providers.

The International Skills Training Courses initiative will support Australian Registered Training Organisations to increase their offshore delivery of innovative training that meets global demands.

The skills relationship is underpinned by the Australia India Education Council Skills Working Group, who will conduct its 26th meeting in India to coincide with the visit and explore opportunities for further collaboration.

Mr Robb said “the strength of the relationship across all education sectors was demonstrated by a number of new Memorandum of Understandings between Australian and Indian institutions being signed during this visit.”

“The Indian Government’s ‘Skill India’ initiative compliments Australia’s skills policy agenda. Like us, India requires training that fits the needs of their industry and economy, while also bridging the gap between educational institutions and the labour market.” 2

“International education is one Australia’s top two services exports and innovation, skills and training are key elements of the wider strategy for economic growth, not only here but in India as well,” said Mr Robb.

Applications for the new International Skills Training Courses will open in 2016.

More information is available from the Department of Education and Training website http://www.education.gov.au/internationalskillstraining

BT report

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feature photo – AndrewRobb, MP and Adam Gilchrist, Australia-India Education Ambassadorinaugurating sports field at Bluebells School in India.

By K. Dev