National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a public-private partnership that is catalysing the skill development ecosystem in India, has partnered with upGrad, one of India’s largest online higher education companies, to utilize its technology platform to expand the reach of online skilling programs in India.
As part of the partnership, NSDC’s eLearning platform – eSkill India – will use the key features of upGrad’s Live platform to carry out online skilling programs.
The Live platform replicates a real-time classroom learning experience by providing much greater interactivity and helps with real-time doubt resolution, enabling skill seekers to have complete command over the active session. Therefore, a strategic collaboration of knowledge and technology would minimize the learning breakdown, for one and all. Aligned with the ‘Skill India Mission’ to strengthen the skilling ecosystem in India, the alliance is a key step towards NSDC’s sustained efforts to continue the momentum on skill empowerment through online learning during the current pandemic, said a release on Monday.
Issuing a statement on the partnership, Dr. Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC, said,
“These critical times have accelerated digital learning, expanding the reach of skilling opportunities. Skill aspirants and professionals can use a wide range of resources to equip themselves with new-age skills. Our collaboration with leading knowledge providers is enabling users to access a rich repository of high-quality, self-paced learning content.”
NSDC’s eSkill India encourages learners to explore online skill-courses anytime, anywhere. The portal leverages technology to enable skill seekers to accelerate their learning through virtual learning and remote classrooms. Leveraging strategic knowledge partnerships, the portal expands its portfolio of offerings to benefit the training providers as well as the skill seekers. According to the release, the portal has so far curated more than 450 eLearning courses in multiple Indian languages through its partnerships with globally acclaimed knowledge providers.
Mayank Kumar, Co-founder and MD, upGrad, also commented on the partnership saying,
“We are delighted to have partnered with NSDC to support its initiative that encourages Indians to continue skilling, even while at home. This is the time when lifelong learning has become critical and with our strategic collaboration, we aim to accelerate digital learning in the country.”
Founded in 2015 with the conviction that in an ever-changing industry, professionals need to continuously upskill themselves to stay relevant, upGrad has been the torchbearer in the online learning space and has enabled multiple platforms to reach out to thousands of skill aggregators to operate in its full capacity, thus bringing an upskilling close to students and professionals across the country.
Since its founding, the edtech major has focused on building a great online learning experience by collaborating with the right universities and industry partners. Currently, over 50 institutions are said to be conducting their classes seamlessly through its Live platform, with over 45,000 students registered. Some of the institutions include Nagpur University, Lovely Professional University, Jamia Hamdard University, Sinhgad Group of Institutions, ABES Engineering College, along with several colleges from Tripura. The Mumbai-based platform claims to have onboarded over 53,000 paid learners and impacted more than half a million individuals, globally.
