TCS iON launches Skill Hub to provide industry-relevant digital content

Platform will bring credibility and transparency to skills assessment, says firm's global head

TCS iON, a strategic unit of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), today launched the Skill Hub, a digital platform providing standardized, industry-relevant and digital content at the Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC) Annual Conclave 2019, in Delhi.

The ‘Skill Hub’ hosted on TCS iON’s Digital Learning platform, is a standardized, anytime-anywhere-any device skilling, training, certification and job listing platform. The automotive sector being the first to on-board this hub, will enable ASDC to skill, reskill and upskill candidates at speed and scale.

“It (Skill Hub) is an important milestone for the country and we look forward to having both academia and industry leverage this digital platform and make skilling mainstream,” said Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON.

Skilling can be paid for through government sponsorship programmes, industry sponsorship or even individual candidates. The quality digital content will focus on industry-relevant subjects, aligned with Qualification Packs (QP) and National Occupation Standards (NOS). The ‘Phygital’ (digital solutions integrated with physical assets) delivery model will ensure fair and inclusive access to the platform.Physical assessments will be performed across 257 TCS locations identified specially for the Digital Hub.

“The Digital Hub was built over the past 18 months and a separate vertical within TCS iON, consisting of a large employee base, focuses on skill training and assessment modules,” Ramaswamy added. The company is now in talks with stakeholders across tourism, hospitality, banking and financial services to provide similar skilling services on the platform.

ASDC supports the Government’s Skill India program and schemes like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY) that seek to enhance the skills of young aspirants to make them more relevant and qualified for employment in the automotive industry.

“This platform will also help to bring additional credibility to programs like PMKVY as it will allow the assessment experts to observe the practical part of the tests in real time on camera,” he said.

TCS iON will also bring ASDC’s training partner ecosystem onto a single platform and will help the Council manage affiliations, enhance quality of delivery, and improve transparency. The ‘Skill Hub’ will host learning content across Sales, Services, and Manufacturing domains in the Automotive sector, as well as focus on multi-lingual learning content, aligned to Industry 4.0 principles.Almost 80% of the skilling requirements in the automotive domain are around services, sales and road Transportation in roles like automotive service technician, sales consultants, showroom hostess/ hosts and vehicle drivers among others.

Source: https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/tcs-ion-launches-versatile-digital-skills-hub-for-automotive-sector-119072401422_1.html (Accessed on July 25, 2019)

India Innovation Challenge Design Contest to be broad-based to reach remote corners of the country

NEW DELHI, JULY 24: India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC), a national design contest for engineering students should be accessible to students even in remote corners of the country. To ensure that Texas Instruments India (TI India), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education in India, Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) have come together. The motive is to help strengthen the innovation ecosystem, enhance skills and drive a start-up culture amongst engineering students.

The announcement was made at the finals of IICDC 2018, coinciding with the announcement of this year’s top 10 winning teams.

Congratulating the IICDC 2018 winners, Sanjay Srivastava, Director, TI India University Program said, “IICDC’s vision is to give students an opportunity to be innovators and entrepreneurs. Several ideas focus on agriculture – a segment widely deprived of technology advances. Interestingly, more than 90% of participation comes from Tier II and Tier III towns. That’s the kind of grassroots innovation we want to drive through IICDC.”

The 10 finalists will get an opportunity to take their start-up idea from the lab to the market, supported by a fund from DST of INR 4.94 Crore, incubation at NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurship hub at IIM Bangalore, and technical mentorship from TI engineers along with access to TI tools and technology. To-date, IICDC has incubated 20 start-ups.

SRM Institute of Science and Technology from Tamil Nadu won the Chairman Award for Technical Innovation on ‘Inkless Printing Technology’. A. P. Shah Institute of Technology from Maharashtra was the first runners up for their innovation ‘Solar Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Node’ and Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College from Puducherry was adjudged second runners up awardon their innovation ‘Mustard Seed Processor Machine’.

Elaborating on the partnership with IICDC, Prof. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE, said, “Our message to the student community is simple - no matter which college you study in or which pin code you reside in, if you have a powerful idea and a drive to make a difference, IICDC will give you an opportunity to achieve your goal.”

The last three editions of IICDC saw students file over 150 patents, and the numbers are increasing every year. Dr. Anita Gupta, Associate Head, DST, said, “We continue to partner with IICDC because it is a unique, powerful platform to drive student-led, tech-focused innovation. Our seed funding to the winning teams aims to bring the best of these ideas to life.”

Professor Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chair, NSRCEL at IIMB, “At NSRCEL, IIMB’s innovation and entrepreneurial centre, we have successfully incubated around 50 students to help shape their entrepreneurial ideas into start-ups”.

By forging partnerships with multiple stakeholders with far-reaching influence in technical education, expertise in business and management, industry knowhow, IICDC aims to foster an innovation and entrepreneurial culture amongst engineering students in India and to empower them to launch successful companies with a clear purpose to make the world a better place.

Source: 

https://news.careers360.com/india-innovation-challenge-design-contest-be-broad-based-reach-remote-corners-of-country (Accessed on July 25, 2019)

AICTE decision to stop low employment potential disciplines evokes mixed response

 A decision of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to not allow new conventional disciplines with low employment potential from the academic year 2020-21 had evoked mixed response. While officials of the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of Chhattisgarh Government were of the view that the decision would clean the ‘garbage’ of private engineering colleges, Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekananda Technical University (CSVTU), Bhilai, said the colleges are independent to choose their disciplines. CSVTU Vice-Chancellor Dr M K Verma made it clear that the colleges are in a better position to judge as to which disciplines should be taught to their students.

 

“The private engineering colleges work on ground level and conduct independent survey to know the market trends before introducing any branches in their respective colleges. CSVTU grants No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the disciplines the colleges apply for. However, the NOC is given on the basis of laboratory and faculty arrangements,” said Dr Verma. Dr Verma further said that the technical university AICTE was yet to issue circulars of its decision.

 

Dr Verma, however, said that the engineering colleges would have to follow the instructions of AICTE provided the decision is made mandatory for the colleges. On the other hand, a DTE official, who did not want to be named, said that the decision of AICTE, if comes into effect, would help in closing the disciplines failing to attract students in the private engineering colleges. The official said that it is very early to say anything unless the department receives any official letter from the AICTE.

 

The official said that still nearly 10,000 employment potential disciplines evokes mixed reponse engineering seats of private colleges lying vacant even after the completion the third phase PET counselling. Only spot admission remains to go, he said. It is to be mentioned, the AICTE said to have decided to permit only emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Block Chain, Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, Quantum Computing, Data Sciences, Cyber Security, and 3D Printing and Design. In a bid to bridge the gap between industry requirements and courses imparted at engineering institutes, the AICTE has initiated several steps, including this one.

Source: https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2019/7/24/AICTE-decision-to-stop-low-employment-potential-disciplines-evokes-mixed-reponse.html (Accessed on July 25, 2019)

Initiative by Honourable Vinod Tawde: Gift books instead of flower bouquets

Source: https://twitter.com/TawdeVinod

Modifying the custom of welcoming with bouquets of flowers, introduced a new tradition of 'Book instead of Bouquet', where books are used in place of flower bouquets. To my great honour, this was picked up by PM @narendramodi ji, creating a new trend! #TransformingMaharashtra