Matrix on cards to assess impact of skilling measures

NEW DELHI: The skill development ministry will soon develop a matrix to measure the skills imparted and its impact on employability in the country. The decision follows criticism that the National Skill Development Corporation ( NSDC), set up under the ministry, has failed to increase the share of employable youth despite several years of imparting skills.

Manish Kumar, managing director of NSDC, said the corporation has entered into a five-year MoU with Deakin University of Australia for conducting data analytics and impact evaluation studies in the skills ecosystem. These projects would catalyse bridging the skill gap and enhance quality training institutions across the country.

“NSDC aims to promote employable skills across the country. Deakin University will work with us on data analytics to integrate businesscritical information into our workflows and we expect first quality output from them in a year,” said Kumar, who is also NSDC’s CEO.

According to the agreement, Deakin University will be a knowledge partner for NSDC towards developing an impact assessment (IA) and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) framework for its projects. Besides, the university will be responsible for development of framework and methodology for data analytics and review of existing data for generating insights.

The university may also undertake studies, analyses on datasets available with NSDC or data jointly gathered.

“It is a powerful opportunity for us to bring our expertise to a government organisation already operating at the highest levels. Deakin will first look at the skills set of the people, understand the scope of work, put a framework for the entire project and set timelines to deliver,” said Kerrie Parker, CFO of Deakin University.