BVoc course’s basic limitation was its name: TeamLease Services official

NEW DELHI: Established in 2013 at Tarsali in Gujarat’s Vadodara district, TeamLease Skills University is India's first vocational education and training university. It was the result of a public-private partnership between the Gujarat government and Bengaluru-based recruitment agency, TeamLease Services. During an interaction, TeamLease’s chief strategy officer Sumit Kumar speaks about the university’s unique approach, regulatory limitations and the future of skilling in the country. Edited excerpts:

Where did the idea of a skills university come from and how has it fared so far?

Our aim was to create more employable people and bridge the skill gap. Being in the employment business, we realised that the world of work was transforming and that there was a disconnect between education and employment. We explored a community college concept where we could mobilise students locally and get more industry-linked programmes. We were registered as a state private university in 2013. While we focus on the local population, students from outside Gujarat have also enrolled at the university.

In 2022, we were accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) – we are the only skills university to be assessed so far.

How many students are enrolled?

While there are around 400 students for campus programmes, we have also been working on industry projects, where organisations re-skill their existing workforce. TeamLease also runs an apprenticeship programme and was involved with the National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM).

In fact, we were the first university to prepare an industry apprenticeship programme under the Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programme (AEDP) guidelines, in collaboration with Electronics Sector Skills Council Of India and Automotive Skills Development Council.

What proportion of curriculum consist of on the job training?

Every semester, students go through an industry course, with around 30% time spent in industries we have tie-ups with locally.

How many courses do you have and how do you choose which to offer?

We have a flagship BSc Mechatronics programme, in addition to BCom, DMLT and hospitality-related courses. We chose regular nomenclature for the courses, instead of BVoc, to have a wider appeal. The programmes were designed keeping in mind the needs of the industry.

For example, we came up with the mechatronics programme as it was the requirement in Vadodara's industrial manufacturing belt. Our BCom is inclined towards financial services. Hospitality courses cater to tourism in that particular area. So all of them are linked to industries in Gujarat.

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When we work with an organisation, we do more of an apprenticeship-embedded programme, where we look at the job roles and the needs of a specific organisation. We then customise around 20% of our coursework according to their needs. The remaining 80% curriculum is common as we also have to adhere to the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.

How do you convince students and industries to participate in this model?

Our faculty is very much linked with the industry and we have a dedicated department for industry tie-ups. TeamLease also works with close to 1,000 organisations for apprenticeships; the university gets the advantage of that connection.

While we use regular publicity channels, word-of-mouth also works for us. Our alumni placed abroad have built the institute’s reputation. We also see that the programmes are affordable.

How is the campus placements situation?

We have been achieving 100% placements in a variety of sectors, including BFSI and Mechatronics. Some opt to start their own venture.

How do you ensure that the fee remains affordable?

We are a very cost-light institute as we were in a public private partnership (PPP) with the Gujarat government. We share our premises with ITI Tarsali, though we were paying rent for it. We ensure that students working in the industry are paid stipends according to the Apprenticeship Act.

Why weren't you able to scale up in that campus or even other areas?

Our idea was not to create a building but to build an institution and foundation. What really stopped us from growing was the State Universities Act, which forbade us from going outside the state. There are certain sectors that aren't popular in Gujarat. We couldn't go outside to pursue those.

If skill universities get leeway from the government or UGC, there can be phenomenal growth. For some programmes, we are forced to partner with skill universities in other states.

Also, we are subject to the same norms as regular universities. While the NAAC team told us that we surpassed their expectations in terms of industry linkages, we fell short on other parameters such as campus, resulting in a ‘B’ grade. There should be a separate set of rules for skill universities.

Have you considered establishing universities in other states?

It would have been a costly project and we wanted to keep the courses affordable. However, skill universities have now come up all over the country.

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What does the industry get out of it?

Industry needs skilled manpower. Through this collaboration, they are building their capacity. We are part of their skilled workforce supply chain. Today we have almost 5 million people graduating in the country and employability is a concern for everyone. The employability gap is due to the lack of the last mile finishing.

Then, why not just focus on upskilling and re-skilling?

From a larger context, it's about experiential learning. That's also missing in an area which is very skewed towards imparting theoretical knowledge. You have to provide balance. The manufacturing sector has picked up due to the product-linked and employment-linked incentives (ELI). There are certain sectors where there's a consistent need of people at entry level like BFSI, hospitality, retail and manufacturing. There has to be a regular feeder to build consistency in supply chain.

Besides, the stipends help students fund their higher education. The employee sponsoring or subsidising these programmes also helps.

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Have other skill universities lived up to their promise?

Some have while others are struggling. A few have made it because they understood their purpose in society and achieving economic growth. For others, it was a fad. They built sprawling campuses only to realise that they have to take care of running and maintaining them. If one is to pay Rs 2 lakh for a skill programme, they might as well enroll for a regular programme.

What should be the way forward – the PPP model?

Absolutely, it's a no-brainer. PPP works very well. The state government has to have an active role in it. For example, Telangana is doing phenomenal work with the Young India Skills University. The UGC also needs to take inputs from the industry for AEDP.

The industry will not operate as per academia. The guidelines should allow for industry to actively participate and have their skin in the game. The concerns of the industry are not reflected in the new draft AEDP guidelines.

Can there be a similar model for humanities and basic sciences?

Absolutely. Students can pursue apprenticeship while doing BA, which has maximum graduates. We have to look at the closest sectors that come into picture, for example logistics. Also, why does one have to link higher education with apprenticeship and not the other way round? Learning is not restricted to the classroom and the National Credit Framework (NCrF) recognises that. Nomenclature should be more inter- and multi-disciplinary. The basic limitation of BVoc was its name, which was less aspirational.