National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has entered into a partnership with HCLTech with an aim to bridge the skills gap, particularly in the tech and engineering sectors, according to an official announcement.
Under this collaboration, both the organisations claim to work together to promote the adoption of technology among learners from diverse backgrounds and explore new global markets and business opportunities.
The agreement was exchanged by Ved Mani Tiwari, CEO, NSDC and C Vijayakumar, CEO and managing director, HCLTech. This partnership comes shortly after the recent G20’s Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting, which achieved consensus on deliverables in three discussion areas: Digital Skilling, Digital Economy and Digital Public Infrastructure, as mentioned in the statement.
This partnership claims to enable NSDC and HCLTech to jointly transform the assessment landscape and digital learning by introducing digital assessments in tech and non-tech-based courses (B2B & B2C). There is also scope for collaborating on the creation of new products and programmes to enhance talent with flexibility and scale.
“NSDC and HCLTech are entering into this partnership with a commitment to enhance the trust in job markets. Both organisations will jointly develop an assessment platform where students and working professionals can get themselves assessed and certified for skills in demand. This is a significant step towards moving from qualification-based hiring to skill-based hiring. Both parties will also collaborate to offer reskilling, upskilling online courses to prepare for opportunities in a dynamic job market,” Ved Mani Tiwari, CEO, NSDC, said.
It is estimated that the assessments market is expected to grow to USD 10 billion by 2027. North America accounted for the largest (40%) revenue share in 2021. Europe plays a significant role in international employability and rate of employment, hence contributing to the growing share in the assessment services market. APAC market is expected to register the fastest revenue growth during the forecast period.
As part of the agreement, NSDC and HCLTech claims to jointly leverage each other’s technical and domain expertise in the Assessment platform, Assessment and hiring test (both tech and non-tech), Smart labs (coding and data science), Learning programmes, Faculty development and certification programmes and Advisory services for government and institutions.
Additionally, both parties also claim to collaborate in creating joint IPs for digitising and digitising assessments, covering the wider landscape of skilling as well as educational ecosystem and engage in advisory services and positioning tech solutions.
“We are delighted to join forces with NSDC to leverage digital technologies to build a future-ready talent ecosystem for India and the rest of the world. I am confident that HCLTech’s proven Career Shaper learning and assessments platforms and NSDC experience in talent and nation building can make a significant impact in how technology can be smartly used for skilling,” Srimathi Shivashankar, corporate vice president, global head, EdTech Business, HCLTech, said.