Team Lease

TeamLease has entered into an agreement with the Gujarat government to set up TeamLease University: a vocational education university to help plug an increasing skill gap in India’s labour force. This comes after the Union government recently announced its intention to set up a national vocational education framework to cater to millions of students who cannot, or do not, take up higher education. Though there are several skill training institutes in the country, this will be the first university for vocational education.

TeamLease University (TLU) will set up 22 community colleges across the State of Gujarat that will offer two year associate degree programs in collaboration with employers. The 22 community colleges are likely to come up over 36 months, while the first 10 will be set up over the next 18 months. Each of TLU’s 22 colleges will look at enrolling 300-700 students.

While developed countries give a lot of focus to vocational education, a lack of sufficient skilled labour is a major worry in India, the second-fastest growing major economy. “We have a very small vocational training sector in India. Only 5% of students go for vocational training while the number is nearly 80-90% in developed countries,” says Pawan Agarwal, a civil servant and author of the book, Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the Future. “While a direct comparison doesn’t make sense because agriculture is a dominant occupation in India, the difference is still very significant.”

“Youth un-employability is a bigger problem than youth unemployment,” said Gujarat principal secretary (education) Hasmukh Adhia, who signed the agreement on behalf of the state government.

TeamLease is adopting the university system because global experience shows that community colleges improve accessibility, increase inclusiveness, lower costs and create vertical mobility. TLU will offer an “associate degree”, rather than a diploma, which will confer credits recognized by degree programs. After a student passes a diploma program; s/he typically has to start afresh if he wants to pursue a degree. However a student passing out of TLU’s accounting technician course, on the other hand, will be able to join a B Com program in the third year, although this will apply only in Gujarat for now.

At TeamLease University, employers will be at the heart of academics and technology will be at the heart of operations. It will offer quality education via four classrooms (physical, satellite, e-learning and on-the-job). The two year associate degree programs will fill an important gap by creating a mezzanine layer between shorter certificate/ diploma courses (provided by TeamLease subsidiary IIJT) and traditional degree colleges. These associate degree programs are an important part of solution to the skill and vocational education crisis because of their higher duration (many children need more time for repair after having been badly served in their school year, higher employability (strong linkages with employers and mandatory apprenticeships) and vertical mobility (these programs can be used for lateral entry into traditional degree colleges).

The TLU model of 22 community colleges across the State recognizes that taking students to training substantially increase costs and it is important to take training to students. TLU will use a multi-modal delivery model that will include satellite delivery (from studios in Ahmadabad, Delhi and Bangalore), classroom instruction, e-learning and on-the-job training. Each community college will have technology at the heart of operations with online communities/portals for students and faculty, biometric attendance systems, and satellite classrooms. Each course will be offered in partnership with employers who will serve on the Course Review panel which will meet quarterly to review admission criteria, curriculum, assessments, faculty trainer, exams and much else. Each four semester associate degree will offer a one semester internship with an employer in the domain or function of their education.

For more details, please visit our blog at: http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/educationskills.html