NASSCOM FutureSkills and DeakinCo., the corporate division of Deakin University, Australia, announced their partnership to offer free courses in communication for skilling, reskilling and upskilling programs in India, to help individuals and organizations prepare for now and future work trends in IT-BPM sector. The virtual launch was conducted in the presence of His Excellency, Shri A Gitesh Sharma, Indian High Commissioner to Australia and His Excellency, Barry O’Farrell AO, Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr S Ramadorai, Former Vice Chairman, TCS alongside other senior representatives from Deakin University and NASSCOM.

The strategic association between DeakinCo. and NASSCOM FutureSkills presents new possibilities and aims to facilitate a Skill Development and Continuous Learning Framework by making available DeakinCo. short courses that focus on content, high quality delivery and industry connections, to enable the skilling/re-skilling and up-skilling imperative for the IT-BPM industry and related stakeholders in India. Under the collaboration, DeakinCo. will develop the short courses with a focus on the essential skills mandated by emerging technologies coupled with COVID-19 induced lockdown, which have transformed the future of work.

Responding to industry needs, DeakinCo. has specifically curated two short courses focused on communication skills, initially at the foundation level (early careerists) and proficient level (team leaders), for the IT-BPM sector. Delivered completely online and based on a self-paced format, the programs will be available on the FutureSkills platform. Further, as an indication of DeakinCo.’s commitment to this new association with NASSCOM FutureSkills, the courses will be available free of cost for the first six months. Thereafter, DeakinCo. will expand its upskilling product offering both additional workforce levels and skill areas.

Speaking on the collaboration, Amit Aggarwal, Co-Architect NASSCOM FutureSkills & CEO, IT-ITES Sector Skill Council, NASSCOM said, “As industries are getting disrupted by new technologies, the skills needed for new jobs are going to be different. NASSCOM FutureSkills is committed to enable employees of India’s IT-ITES sector to get started with their journey to build these new skills. We are also expanding our focus to include talent in other industries and university/college students who will soon join the work-force. There is an enormous shortage of talent on new-age skills. We are pleased to have DeakinCo. join us as a partner in our journey to build India as a global hub for Digital Talent.”

Speaking on the initiative, Professor Iain Martin, President and Vice-Chancellor, Deakin University said, “The strengthening of Australia-India bilateral ties through skill development and education is an important priority for both nations.  While the IT industry has always promoted continuous improvement in skills, we are extremely pleased that NASSCOM FutureSkills has chosen to partner with DeakinCo. to increase the scope of their mission. DeakinCo.’s training programs blend the academic rigour of Deakin University with extensive industry and practitioner insights.  As such, DeakinCo. is well positioned to support NASSCOM FutureSkills’ commitment to the creation of a highly skilled workforce that can benefit and sustain India’s economic rise.”

The High Commissioners’ elaborated that education and skilling are the two most important pillars of the future for any economy and that for India and Australia to realise joint ambitions, such skilling and training partnerships like the one between DeakinCo. and NASSCOM FutureSkills, will be extremely beneficial to equipping a workforce to take advantage of emerging needs and opportunities.  “We are delighted to associate with NASSCOM in addressing the skilling needs of the workforce of the future. DeakinCo.’s focus is on developing workforce capabilities essential for organisations and individuals to adapt to a changing work landscape, with this year’s pandemic yet the latest dynamic impacting on global workplaces. Our programs are developed with extensive input from industry practitioners to ensure they address real-world needs of modern work environments.” said, Glenn Campbell, CEO, DeakinCo. As a way forward, the partners also aim to facilitate research initiatives in the areas of skilling, reskilling and upskilling and make it available in the public domain.