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The Federal Council

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Switzerland and India enhance their cooperation in vocational and professional education and training

Bern, 22.06.2016 – State Secretary Mauro Dell’Ambrogio and India’s Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding today in Winterthur to establish formal cooperation in the fields of skills development and vocational and professional education and training.

With the signing of this agreement, the two countries intend to complement the existing commitment of Swiss and Indian players to professional skills development and vocational and professional education and training. The agreement institutionalises cooperation between the two countries in these areas and aims to promote Swiss vocational and professional education and training internationally. The agreement was signed at the second International Congress on Vocational and Professional Education and Training held in Winterthur. The first such congress was held in 2014. The agreement is consistent with the strategy of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI on international cooperation in vocational and professional education and training.

Switzerland and India have fostered excellent bilateral relations in the field of education, research and innovation for many years. In 2008, to mark the 60th anniversary of the bilateral friendship agreement between Switzerland and India, the Swiss VET Initiative India (SVETII) was launched. It is based on the initiative of the Swiss private sector and is implemented by vocational training experts of both countries in different locations in India. In addition, there has been an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the Federal Council and the Government of the Republic of India for around 13 years.

Both countries benefit from the joint activities in vocational and professional education and training, and in research and technology. They share the conviction that promoting professional and technical skills at various levels bolsters individual, social and economic development and growth.

SWISS national TV

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SkillSonics - Vocational and Education Training - SWISS national TV

National Skills Network

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National Skills Network

Swiss vocational training has set global benchmarks in TVET and is regarded as one of the best in the world. India can gain a lot by adapting the Swiss model to meet its unique requirements in skill development. In this Skill Story, G P Chandra Kumar, Founder and CEO, SkillSonics India, engages us in various interesting aspects of this model by sharing his experience in collaborating with Key TVET Swiss organizations Swissmem and SFIVET in implementing various skill development initiatives in India.

Highlights of the Swiss model of TVET

Swiss model is a very successful public-private partnership (PPP) model. Almost 70% of school students opt for vocational education and training after their 9th class. They choose a vocational course, based on their passion for 3 to 4 years, joining as apprentices in companies/organizations across all sectors in Switzerland.

They don’t pay for training during these 4 years, earn a stipend and the industry takes invests in them. Executed in a dual track model, around 15% of time is spent on theory classes in vocational schools run by the state governments, about 50% of time goes into competency based skills training at the company and balance 35% is on production based training. This ensures they are exposed to real life production competencies during the 3-4 years of training. It is quite pragmatic because the practical instructors are usually drawn from the production staff, who know exactly what and how work is to be done and which competency has to be honed, while theory comes from the vocational school run by the government.

Financially, the PPP Model has been designed to ensure that the industry is not burdened. 50% of funding is done by the government and 50% by the industry or companies for the training. However, the production gain from the apprentices during the course ensures that the investment made by the companies is recovered. It is like a win-win situation for both.

The industry sectors define both the content and curriculum of the course which means it is very close to what the industry wants, it is demand based and the assessment is driven by the sector to ensure the right quality. This reduces the mismatch between the industry and the outcome of the course.

Making vocational education aspirational

How can vocational jobs become aspirational without decent livable salaries? In Switzerland the difference between academic and vocational route is very low. It is equally attractive for anyone to specialize in a particular vocation. India is different, our costs, history and work culture is very different. With the abundance of people we think we can get away with low salaries which happen purely because of demand-supply principles which should not apply to people. We should start moving towards paying not based on our high population but based on the competencies and contributions of the workers if we have to compete globally and also raise the standard of living for our working population.

Switzerland is a small country with a fairly low population and it is necessary that every skill needed is encouraged and every person is trained at the highest skill level for that job role. They are trained to compete globally from a young age.

Unless there is a very strong push towards industry participation in a skills training program, it is difficult to have high quality outcomes. Currently, in India there isn’t much focus on quality as we are rushing towards fulfilling numbers. This will neither make India competitive nor will it create a good career path for our youth. So there’s an element of risk in our skill development pursuits today

Customer #1

G P Chandra Kumar

Modernization of ITIs

Initially, we worked closely with the ITIs in Karnataka and Maharashtra, but our intervention was more at the trainer level; we have trained and certified trainers with Swiss TOT courses. They were well suited as theory teachers. Many steps need to be taken to bring ITIs to international standards. It starts with the trainers, they need to be exposed to the current methods and processes from the industry and the training should be holistic. Equipment required for training is not up to the mark, the raw materials is not enough and the machine to student ratio in ITI is very low. While the curriculum and content is broad and good, the implementation, the exams are weak and that is what makes the outcome weak.

Our model of training enablement and implementation

We collaborate with training organizations to help them take the training to a global level. We are positioned as knowledge partners to institutes, companies, CSR initiatives who want to execute and deliver training at a high quality level. Our Services include training of trainers, training of examiners, skills consulting, and licensing our courseware ( 100+ courses) required to deliver training. We also handhold the training institutes to ensure they are implementing the program in our recommended methodology and quality. Our assessments team develops and implements assessments on a Swiss approach based on very high standards.

We also have courses driven by NSDC/Sector Skill Council definitions of the courses for Indian conditions. We offer those courses with recognized national certifications. We have also have short Skill Upgrade courses out of the same Swiss model for upgrading the skills for existing technicians in the industry. We have invested a lot of money and time into courseware development.

SkillSonics’ success stories

For example, in Gujarat, a multinational company was facing a situation where in the next 5 years a lot of old workers were going to retire and they decided to invest in an internal apprenticeship based training center with our knowhow and courses. Now every year they are taking 10 to 20 people and running a 2 year program and inducting them in manufacturing. A well trained youngster is able to replace a senior worker with higher and broader skills needed for the future. This has been a very successful skill initiative based on their internal needs. Another company had 100 employees and 200 contractors for fabrication and welding. They decided to improve the productivity and quality of their employees by investing in a training program. Today, these training youngsters are replacing expensive contractors successfully.

We did an interesting project with ACC Cement. They have around 18 plants across India. One of their groups of critical workers were – maintenance technicians. We jointly developed a series of short program on work skills and technical skills in mechanical, electrical and instrumentation areas. We trained more than 3000 existing staff across the country and they have seen a big improvement in attitude and productivity since then..

SkillSonics Advantage

We’ve been in the Indian skills arena since 2008. We started with a pilot project to adapt and adopt the Swiss model in India. This gave us clarity on the way we can expand in India. We are now in a unique position where we are able to bring international level quality at fairly competitive Indian prices. That’s our strength. Having an exclusive partnership with Switzerland and with equity and loan arrangement with NSDC In India, we offer both international and Indian certifications to the market. We will be expanding to reach more organizations with our courseware through a licensing model in least 100 locations in the country in the near future.

ACC Limited

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  • Testimonials

    Andreas Bischof
    Head of VET, Bühler Group

    “Every dollar invested in these promising talents is money well spent and a win-win for workers and companies. The Swiss apprenticeship model makes economic sense because it not only gives graduates a chance to start their careers fully prepared, but the company also benefits from a highly skilled workforce.”

    Kamesh Sundaram
    Head - People Development at Texmo Industries

    “When our students graduate from SkillSonics training programs they are ready for the shop floor and are immediately deployable as a productive workforce”

    Kirit Patel
    Assistant Manager, Swiss VET and Welding, GMM Pfaudler

    “Students are able to perform a quality check on their own – they are trained to identify and correct the mistakes when the required quality standard is not met. The Swiss methodology prevents them from making the same errors again.”

ACC Limited

The only cement company with “Super Brand” status in India.

ACC Limited is India’s leading manufacturer of cement and ready mixed concrete, and the only cement company to get Super Brand status in India. It has a presence in 20 locations and employs over 10’000 workers in India.

Summary

Cement production is a continuous process. Any interruption in the production cycle can lead to production slowdowns, material wastage and large expenses. ACC management wanted to improve their plant uptime and safety record. They mandated SkillSonics to upskill their workforce and train their trainers across 26 plants. Within 2 years, SkillSonics had trained 3’500 employees. Thanks to the program, plant performance and safety records improved significantly.

Challenges
  • Working with mixed groups of workers aged from 25 to 50 – uneven technical and intellectual know-how
  • Ensuring safety of workers and equipment
  • Bringing a clear sense of meaning and purpose to training for self-improvement
  • Working in different local languages
  • Coordinating the training program and the ongoing factory work schedule
How SkillSonics Helped

SkillSonics offered a two-year program to train and certify 6’000 employees across 26 ACC plants. Experts from ACC and SkillSonics jointly devised the program, training modules and specified the learning outcome for 287 trainee batches. The program was conducted in 2 phases (each of 1-year duration) and was completed successfully within the specified time frame. SkillSonics trained 3’500 employees in different plants. SkillSonics also trained ACC trainers in pedagogy and applied didactics. The trainers were inducted as co-instructors so that they could continue in-house training after the SkillSonics program ended.

Results

ACC carried out a skill gap analysis before the SkillSonics program began and after it ended to measure program benefits. Findings showed that the safety awareness and work skill programs resulted in significant improvements in team work, overall coordination, personal safety and safety of plant and equipment. Domain-specific training improved employees’ understanding of their jobs. Trainees achieved better results and positive recognition, which led to higher retention rates. In general, workforce stability improved and with it overall productivity at ACC.

GMM Pfaudler Limited

All Projects

  • Testimonials

    Andreas Bischof
    Head of VET, Bühler Group

    “Every dollar invested in these promising talents is money well spent and a win-win for workers and companies. The Swiss apprenticeship model makes economic sense because it not only gives graduates a chance to start their careers fully prepared, but the company also benefits from a highly skilled workforce.”

    Kamesh Sundaram
    Head - People Development at Texmo Industries

    “When our students graduate from SkillSonics training programs they are ready for the shop floor and are immediately deployable as a productive workforce”

    Kirit Patel
    Assistant Manager, Swiss VET and Welding, GMM Pfaudler

    “Students are able to perform a quality check on their own – they are trained to identify and correct the mistakes when the required quality standard is not met. The Swiss methodology prevents them from making the same errors again.”

GMM Pfaudler Limited

GMM Pfaudler, an Indian market leader in the manufacturing of equipment for the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors

GMM Pfaudler Limited is a leading supplier of engineering equipment and systems for critical applications in the global chemical and pharmaceutical markets. GMM Pfaudler has been working with SkillSonics to implement the Swiss VET System since 2012.

Summary

GMM Pfaudler prioritizes a long-term strategy that ensures the seamless transfer of knowledge to the next generation of employees. As part of this undertaking GMM Pfaudler asked SkillSonics to establish a multi-skilled production technician program in welding, fabrication and CNC machining. The program took place at its factory-based VET training center built according to Swiss parameters. The students systematically increased the amount of time spent in the workshop from 40% in the first semester to a full day in the last semester of their 2-year course. They acquired practical skills and after graduating could immediately be deployed on the shopfloor.

Challenges

GMM Pfaudler was established in 1962 as Gujarat Machinery Manufacturers. It grew successfully into a market leader in glass lined equipment in India and has been proud of its expertise and highly qualified workforce. There was no room for error when the question of how best to transfer expertise to the next generation of workers arose; GMM wanted to get its strategy right from the start. “We wanted to ensure, that we keep providing high quality products, services and solutions in a timely manner to all our clients irrespective of some of our most senior employees’ retirement,” says Mr. Chandulal Makadia, Vice Preisdent, Manufacturing.

How SkillSonics Helped

The solution lay in finding a reliable partner who would assist GMM Pfaudler to design a training program with a focus on practical training and a smooth workforce transition. GMM Pfaudler chose SkillSonic’s Multi-Skilled Production Technician (MSPT) course. In the first semester, the trainees spent one day a week in the company workshop and attended theory classes, including an English language course for the rest of the week. By the third semester, there was an equal distribution of classroom study and practical training.  The trainees spent their entire fourth semester in the workshop. During the program, the trainees learned key elements of welding and fabrication technologies directly related to GMM Pfaudler processes. They also had time to work on their own projects to develop creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Results
  • Knowledge transfer and transition to a new generation of workers was resolved in a structured and seamless manner.
  • Since 2012 a total of 109 apprentices have been trained. Most of the apprentices have since joined GMM Pfaudler as permanent employees.
  • Employee loyalty and commitment to GMM Pfaudler makes it easier to plan for future initiatives.
  • Better expertise has resulted in more efficiency, increased productivity and improved discipline.