MC Interview | Apprenticeship-embedded degree enhances labour productivity, builds talent supply chain: Sumit Kumar of Teamlease

Sumit Kumar, Vice President Teamlease Skills University and business head of national employability through apprenticeship initiative of Teamlease Services

Apprenticeship-embedded degrees can solve the employability crisis amongst the youth to some extent, and help overcome the skills crisis of the industries, says Sumit Kumar, Vice President Teamlease Skills University and business head of national employability through apprenticeship initiative of Teamlease Services.

The employability factor hovers around 22-25 percent for non-technical graduates and about 45-47 percent for technical grads, which has a cascading effect in the form of talent scarcity in the industry, Kumar told Moneycontrol in an interview.

Kumar, who is coordinating with several industries, policy makers in multiple government departments, and universities to promote the system, says apprenticeship-embedded degrees is the way forward to enhance job readiness, labour productivity, and also better formal employment opportunities.

He said degree apprenticeships are the future of higher education, which builds on 'learning by doing', 'earning while learning' and 'learning with modularity'. Indian education authorities have recently allowed apprenticeship-embedded degrees, a mode where students spend 70 percent of the time in factory floors or in offices, and utilise the rest 30 percent of their time for theory studies.

India has roughly 5 lakh apprentices now (but are largely in short term and post study engagements). The government has an ambition to reach 1 million by the end of Fy23. Kumar said with degree apprenticeships, this will pick up pace, and India can have 10 million apprentices in the next few years. Edited excerpts:

Q) Existing university system is churning out a large number of graduates but finding it tough to place them in work. How will apprenticeship-embedded degree programmes be different?

We need apprenticeship-embedded degree programmes to solve the employability crisis amongst the youth and to overcome the skill crisis for the industry. The employability factor hovers around 22-25 percent for non-technical graduates and about 45-47 percent for technical graduates, which has a cascading effect in the form of talent scarcity in the industry.

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Apprenticeship-embedded degree programme is a blend of knowledge and capability that encourages application of knowledge through on the job learning exposure. This process of learning builds cognitive skills and improves the job readiness of a student which is the need of the hour. Degree apprenticeships are the future of higher education which builds on 'learning by doing', 'earning while learning', 'learning with modularity', 'learning with flexibility' and 'learning with social signalling value'.

Some of our recent reports highlight that 92 percent of Indian universities and higher education institutes believe that degree apprenticeships prepares students better to meet the demand of evolving workforce; and 61 percent of the employers who engaged with degree apprentices find the return of investment in the programme is more than 51 percent, they rank these student apprentices higher on trainability and productivity.

Germany and the UK have mastered the concept of degree apprenticeships which involves an active participation of employers in executing the programme in multiple disciplines, which gives enough and more options to students to kick start their careers.

Q) Apprenticeship is seen as a mode of mobilising inexpensive labour to shop floors. With apprenticeship based graduation programmes, this will exacerbate and may shift focus from education to work quite early. Critics argue that it may impact their prospects in the medium to long run?

The pace at which the world of work is evolving and so is the talent needs, employers can no longer afford to take apprentices for granted. Apprenticeships is the mechanism to create talent and degree apprenticeships is the way to create a talent supply chain.

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Employers are willing to subsidise or sponsor the tuition fees for such programmes as they yield higher returns through this investment in share to create productive resources which are intangible assets for an organisation. They are supporting the vertical mobility of these apprentices which in turn enhance their employability and livelihood opportunities. I believe, the quality isn't compromised as they get trained under the supervision of industry experts, and they gain theoretical knowledge from expert faculty of the institution.

Q) You touched upon the issue of wage premium…Is there any data to back the view?

These apprentices are the sought after resources for any organisation. Our (Teamlease) data suggests that 98 percent of these apprentices after completion of the training programme get into formal employment, 37 percent get absorbed by the same employer, where they underwent apprenticeship training etc.

Degree apprenticeships are the future of higher education.

- Kumar

Q) How is the regulatory environment? How are UGC, education ministry and the skills ministry evaluating the possible shift in the colleges and universities?

UGC has come up with the Degree Embedded Apprenticeship Program guidelines, that gives flexibility to the universities and colleges to frame curriculums focusing on the job learning. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is open to make amendments (the apprenticeship act) to make way for degree apprenticeships and simplify the execution process.

While the broad level guidelines and rules are in place, we need to make changes to make the execution seamless. The whole bilateral arrangement of learning (student and institution, apprentice and employer) needs to be transitioned into a tripartite arrangement between student, employer and institution.