With India projected to become the world’s most populated country within a decade at 1.4 billion, the government has set a goal to upskill 500 million people by 2022 in order to harness the country’s economic potential.

Under the partnership, ALISON and AISECT will provide a free e-learning platform to students offering internationally recognised vocational courses, which will be free of charge and open to all.

“The real need is not to get everyone to PhD level. It is about bringing people with manual and basic workplace skills up to the skill level of the modern worker”

ALISON founder Mike Feerick said the platform’s MOOC-mode of educating is ideal to meet India’s upskilling needs.

“India is a perfect market for what ALISON provides. The real need is not to get everyone to PhD level. It is about bringing people with manual and basic workplace skills up to the skill level of the modern worker,” he said.

“When the masses within the Indian workforce upskill, you will finally see India awake as one of the economic powerhouses of the world.”

Ireland-based ALISON uses open-content from top publishers to create workplace training courses for five million learners worldwide. It currently has more than 500,000 Indian students registered in India alone.

AISECT director Abhishek Pandit said the partnership “will allow us to integrate our extensive network and resources with ALISON’s proficiency in open and distance learning to build ‘hands-on’ skills to bridge the demand-supply gap of skilled individuals in the country. “

Since 1985, AISECT has been offering skills development education in India and has grown to operate 12,000 centres across 27 States and three Union Territories, as well as several higher education institutions.

The company has also recently partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation to provide skill based training to over 1.3 million people in the next 10 years.