An empirical note on contribution of industries to skill development mission

To realize our individual and collective economic aspirations skill development is critical and which at the moment is on an abysmally low proportion. This is hindering the economic development of the country. One major factor leading to low success has been found to be the lack of involvement of industries and a confusion regarding the role they need to play. To explore this issue this study has been undertaken. The objectives of this study are (a) to determine the priority of the identified industry support variables as per the expressed beliefs of the stake holders, namely teachers, industry managers and policy- makers and also whether or not they differ in their perceptions and (b) The second objective is to classify the ten variables into broader groups using exploratory factor analysis. Questionnaires were framed with ten statements (identified through a robust focus group discussion) the response for which was to be measured by various stake-holders on a five-point continuous scale. The study identifies Absorption of trained man-power and extending apprenticeship & internship as the highest priority activity for industrial interventions. It further identifies a divergence of views of stake holders in prioritizing the identified ten variables. Finally it concludes that the ten variables can be reduced to three broader classification namely providing employment and inputs and facilitating the skill mission with additional services.