Push for VET centre of excellence in India

A CENTRE of excellence for training in India would boost the success of Australian providers by
lowering their costs while preserving quality, according to a new report.
The most common model of training organisations, especially TAFEs, is low-volume premium
training with small classes and standardised packages, says Prasenjit Kundu in his report for the
Australia India Institute.
"That's not what India wants - India requires a long-term outlook built on low-cost training," he
says.
"Profitability is hard to come by in the short term, but potentially large in the mid to long-term due
to the vast size of the market."
Mr Kundu says an India-based centre of excellence, offering quality assurance and other shared
services to vocational education and training providers with an interest in the market may reduce
the cost of engaging with India by 35 to 45 per cent.
This would help providers unbundle training packages and customise their offerings to fill niches in
India's VET market, where the majority of students need credentials less ambitious than those
enshrined in Australia's qualifications framework.
Former NSW minister Michael Knight, who visited India for his 2011 student visa report, urged
Australia's VET providers to shift their sights from inbound students to offshore delivery.
Mr Knight recounted a conversation with India's then human resource development minister Kapil
Sibal. "He seemed much more interested in high-quality training being available in India rather than
to Indian students travelling to Australia," Mr Knight said. "Australia's reputation for vocational
education is that of a world leader."
Dilip Chenoy, chief executive of India's National Skill Development Corporation, will speak at the
annual conference of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training in Adelaide next
month.
"He's been given the target of upskilling 150 million Indians by 2020 and we've got (a memorandum
of understanding) to bring ACPET members to partner with Indian employers to help them meet this
enormous target," said ACPET chief Claire Field.
Mr Kundu, a fellow at the University of Melbourne-based institute, says India does represent a
potentially big opportunity for Australia's VET sector, but not without risk.
With its young and large population, India is projected to have 700 million people of working age
by 2022 and 500 million of them will need vocational or skills development training.
Although India needs international partnerships, the government is unlikely to invest or create
infrastructure to smooth the entry of foreign providers, consistent with a strong cultural bias
towards higher education.
"A critical challenge is to make the VET career path 'sexy' for Indian students," Mr Kundu says.
"Just as tradies have enjoyed growing status in Australia, so too Indians can be persuaded to see
the advantages of small-business and independent-contractor status as an alternative to the
diminishing number of lowly paid government jobs on offer.
"An image makeover that focuses the Indian public on success stories and role models produced
by Australian VET could expand demand."
The risks for foreign providers include "regulatory ambiguity, price sensitivity, very few well-
articulated short-gestation engagements, lack of deep government financial support for the sector,
and pressure of numbers of students who need to be trained".
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However, providers from Canada and Europe (especially Germany and Britain) have stolen a march
on the Australian sector, and TAFEs have "failed to communicate" the image of quality and
confidence associated with their publicly funded status.
Mr Kundu says cuts to public funding in Australia are another reason for colleges to try to secure
long-term revenue by finding niches to fill in India's VET market.
"India is not looking to premium providers to train electricians, but would welcome skills-building in
high-tension-line laying and maintenance," he says. "Similarly, training for arc welders is not viable
for foreign providers, but training tradies with undersea welding skills would be."
He says the proposed centre of excellence would carry out studies of likely sectors for providers
and provide capacity-building by training Indian partners to agreed standards.

He recommends the centre be given three years' seed funding from government, after which it
would become self-sustaining.