NSDC and Alison collaborate for skill development across India

The National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) and ALISON have announced a partnership to bring greater scale to free online learning access across India as part of Prime Minister Modi's "Skills India" Initiative

ALISON has announced skill development initiatives with the NSDC including platform sharing and course development in English, Hindi and Arabic to enhance workplace skills at home and abroad.

Mumbai, July 18, 2016: As part of the United Nations recognised "World Youth Skills Day" celebrations, the President of India, Honourable President Shri Pranab Mukherjee, has announced a partnership between the NSDC and ALISON. The agreement has led to the unveiling of a new skills development website under the URL http://www.indiaskillsonline.com/ which will map newly revised self-paced learning resources to industry learning needs defined by India Sector Skills Councils as 'Qualification Packs'.

Through the new portal, India learners will be able to study free courses towards national standard qualifications. Also announced was the launching of "pre-departure" courses to prepare Indian migrants for living and working in the Middle East. The courses, which introduce Arabic cultural norms and language are taught in both English and Hindi, and will shortly be available in other Indian languages.

Speaking of the partnership, Rajiv Mathur, Operations Director of the NSDC stated that the development of the partnership with ALISON is an exciting development for the Indian Skills development sector. He further said, "Working together, the NSDC and ALISON can advance skills training to a whole new generation of learners at a scale and depth not possible till now. Free access to learning, via every device, whether desktop or mobile is essential to make India the skills capital of the world in line with the ambitions of our Prime Minister, Mr. Modi."

Mike Feerick, CEO & Founder of ALISON stated, "We are delighted to be working with the NSDC. We share high ambitions and a similar social contract to up-skill millions of workers across India. Together, we can reach new standards of learning achievement, driving economic activity of the India people at home and abroad."

Through the Skills India Online portal, Indian learners will also have access to the full ALISON course curriculum of over 750 free online courses. ALISON already has a very significant presence in India with over one million registered learners.

About ALISON

ALISON is a global leader in free online certified learning and skills training for the workplace. With 7 million learners it has over 800,000 graduates worldwide with a further 250,000 new learners registering each month. ALISON has over one million registered learners in the USA, UK and India. Pioneering the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courseware) movement since 2007, ALISON provides 750+ free online courses at diploma and certificate level. The free learning platform adds new course offerings on a weekly basis, driven by demand from learners and employers seeking time and cost efficient ways of upskilling their staff.

ALISON is a for-profit social enterprise and it is changing how the world learns through its pioneering free learning ecology. Its goal is to drive all costs of education and skills training to zero at an individual learner level including learning, certification, learner management, assessment, verification and publishing. The company has received a number of prestigious awards for its pioneering work in making education more accessible to all, including a UNESCO Award for Innovation in ICT for Education in 2011 and a World Innovation Summit for Education Award (WISE) in 2013.

ALISON was a "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" finalist at the World Economic Forum/Schwab Awards (2016). Headquartered in Galway, Ireland, ALISON was founded by CEO Mike Feerick, social entrepreneur, Ashoka fellow (2010) and Harvard MBA.

To learn more visit: https://alison.com

About National Skills Development Council (NSDC)

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is a unique Public Private Partnership (PPP), with 51 percent equity held by private sector and the balance 49 percent by the Union Government. Formed in 2010, NSDC is a professionally run not-for-profit company that includes 39 Sector Skill Councils and over 267 training partners with over 4021 training centres spread across over 500+ districts in the country. NSDC is mandated to skill 150 million Indians by 2022.

For more information visit: http://www.nsdcindia.org/

Full List of NSDC Courses Now Available on the ALISON Platform

NSDC Course: Food & Beverage Steward
NSDC Course: General Duty Assistant (Healthcare)
NSDC Course: Machining Technician - Lathe
NSDC Course: Retail Trainee Associate
NSDC Course: Middle East Cultural Etiquette
NSDC Course: Middle East Cultural Etiquette (Hindi)
NSDC Course: Learn Arabic using English (Hindi Subtitles)
NSDC Course: Learn Arabic using Hindi (English Subtitles)