HRD Ministry approves ATDC & AICTE MoU

GURGAON, India - Dec. 31, 2014 - PRLog -- With the ever increasing requirement of skilled-youth in the rapidly growing IT/Fashion related sectors, there is distinct rise in demand for “SKILL-EDUCATION” courses from the new generation.  In an attempt to reduce the growing gaps between skilled man power requirements and availability in the apparel industry, Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC) signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with All India Council of Technical Training (AICTE), under the Ministry of HRD at Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi on 31^th December 2014 for approval to offer B. Voc Programmes in Apparel Manufacturing & Entrepreneurship and Fashion Design & Retailing. The MoU was signed by Prof S S Mantha, Chairman,AICTE and Sh Virender Uppal, Chairman, ATDC. The signing of the MoU was witnessed by, Shri Satya N Mohanty,Secretary, Ministry of HRD (Higher Education), Sh Hari Kapoor-Vice-Chairman, ATDC, Sh H K L Magu - Chairman (F&B) and other senior Officials of AICTE and ATDC.

According to the MOU, 30 training centres of India’s largest vocational training provider ATDC has been approved by AICTE as “SKILL KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER” (SKP) under the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSFQ) Scheme. The NSQF is a nationally integrated education and competency based skill framework that will provide for multiple pathways, horizontal as well as vertical, both within vocational education and vocational training and among vocational education, vocational training, general education and technical education, thus linking one level of learning to another higher level.

This initiative is aligned with ATDC’s long-term courses for proper recognition and certification and in view of the practical difficulties in working with Institutions/Universities with only a State-level jurisdiction. This initiative is a very significant one as it certainly goes a long way in promoting skill based competency modules to be part of the skill certification levels where a student can undergo skill based learning in textile, apparel and fashion sectors systematically and have both lateral and vertical mobility.

The committee for suggesting curriculum for Apparel & Fashion programmes formulated by AICTE under the Chairmanship of Dr Darlie Koshy, has developed the “Vocational Content” of the certificate level-I to Level-VII in the Fashion Design, Textile Design, Apparel Manufacturing and Fashion Management streams.

In the first phase, the B. Vocational programmes will be offered by select 7 ATDCs already in the Apparel Textile Clusters across India which includes ATDCs at Jaipur, Okhla, Noida, Faridabad, Tirupur, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar.

Dr. Darlie Koshy, DG&CEO-ATDC& IAM, said “ATDC Vocational Institutes are a vital part of the vocational training system for careers in apparel, fashion and textiles having a pan-India presence in and near Apparel-Textile Hubs, offering certificate, diploma and advance diploma courses. To attend to the ever increasing demand for degree courses, this MOU will facilitate us to offer new generation vocational course that addresses critical knowledge and skill sets required to make the candidate “industry ready” right from the start and also become a “young-entrepreneur”.” ATDCs have state-of-the-art infrastructure in terms of training equipment and human resources to offer 2 Programmes viz. B. Vocational in Apparel Manufacturing & Entrepreneurship and B. Vocational in Fashion Design & Retailing both having a suitable mix of general-education and skill-development components based on the NSQF as per AICTE prescribed framework.”

ATDC has collaborated with Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), an Institute of National Importance through an Act of Parliament under Ministry of Skill Development and the B Vocational Degree Programmes would be offered under the tripartite arrangement between RGNIYD as “University” and Institute of Apparel management (IAM), Gurgaon and ATDC being “Knowledge Partner and SKP” respectively. The “Skill-Development” component to be given by SKP i.e. ATDC and knowledge partner - IAM, will provide students with appropriate knowledge, practice and attitude, so as to become work ready. The signing of this MOU would allow ATDC to offer the programmes in January-February 2015 session through may be ATDC Faridabad or NOIDA as a pilot and thereafter in the main admission session i.e. July 2015 at other ATDCs.

Shri Satya N Mohanty, Secretary, Ministry of HRD (Higher Education), said “I congratulate ATDC for initiating this unique course B. Vocational in Apparel sector. This course will not only be helpful in skilling the youth but also resonate themake in India pitch in the textile and garment industry.  ”

“This arrangement would encourage employability, and also flexibility to pursue formal education and take up appropriate jobs in the Fibre-to-Fashion value chain at the end of different levels of certification with better employability and learning capacity.” said, Prof S S Mantha, Chairman, AICTE.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of ATDC, Sri Virender Uppal said “Industry requires trained professionals at all tiers in the apparel industry, while the existing courses address the entry level requirement, B. Vocational courses give thrust to middle management professionals which are in significant demand due to new technological and IT interventions in the apparel-retail industry”.

This MOU will compliment AICTE and ATDC capabilities to reach and achieve a common goal of skilling India.