Northampton Business School (NBS), England’s No. 1 University for Employability (Higher Education Statistics Agency, HESA, 2012) announced today that it has formed an exclusive joint venture with Vijyoti Pvt. Ltd., India based company specializing in Capacity Development for employability-readiness and leadership skills, straddling the education, private and public sectors.
The new venture is called “Northampton University – Vijyoti Employability Development Pvt. Ltd.” (NBSVED). Delhi-based NBSVED brings to India its unique country-specific Employability Certification program. Vijyoti will leverage its experience providing work-readiness and leadership development training for clients in the education, private and public sectors, and operationalize NBSVED across India, maintain rigorous quality control standards and open certified high-ranking participants to fast career track through its network.
Said, Dr. Ian Brooks, Executive Dean of The University of Northampton’s Business School (NBS), “With course and module content and curricula in academia becoming less distinguishable, one significant differentiator remains – the ability to swiftly put the theoretical skills to practical use, namely through relevant soft skills such as communication, critical thinking and reflection, diversity and inclusion, cross-cultural management and behavior in the board room – or, namely, employability skills. This is to move successfully into both national and international work environments. This new venture with Vijyoti enables us to create a platform that bridges the gap between academia and industry, and accelerates corporate productivity, globally.”
The innovative course structure and content is very flexible, and can be delivered from short-term interventions (2 weeks intensive) to up to one year. It is the combination between the behavior change- orientation of the concept, its specific India-focused content and the future-directed participant involvement that makes the concept very promising. The product reflects the amalgamation between what state-of-the-art training and facilitation can provide when it is paired with research based educational concepts, plus a strong business focus.
Said Vijay Pande, Managing Director, Vijyoti, “This JV is a culmination of my life experience as Ford Foundation, Dy. Representative, which enabled the setting-up of IITs and IIMs as we know them today. Today India’s working population will be highest in the world in the next 15-20 years.
However, if this workforce is not employable, then it will lead to social tensions and upheavals. We must expand young graduates’ talents and outward looking orientation to increase their ability to function in their job and to reduce the time it takes before their can unfold their full performance. Though this partnership, our objective is to work towards harnessing the largest working population and work towards building the largest employable workforce in the world.”
NBSVED certified teachers along with experienced facilitators from overseas will work in synch to expose participants to ideas and mindset for local adoption, thus, creating bridges between young talent and the experienced business world outside.
Said Professor Holger Siemons, Head Global Employability Development and Cross-Cultural Management, University of Northampton, ‘Vijyoti and I have an over 5-year relationship and history of working together in India with a focus on employability. [Global] employability skills substantially increase career perspectives and ensure new hires more swiftly reach the stage of full performance.
We are enormously excited to forge a formal relationship through our JV. We have developed an innovative learning product that encourages and provides an advanced concept of learner-centered and self-reflective opportunities for experiential learning to build those skills that enable and empower for successful, yet swift, participation in international operations.”