Page 3605 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 27 October 2015
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Ministerial delegation to India
Ministerial statement
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Disability, Minister for Racing and Gaming and Minister for the Arts) (11.52): For the information of members I make the following ministerial statement on a recent ministerial delegation to India.
As members will be aware, from 26 September through to 3 October I led a delegation to India to promote the ACT’s capability in vocational education and training and to enhance collaborative education arrangements. The main focus of this delegation was the Indian states of Gujarat in the north and Kerala in the south.
India is set to become a more dominating presence in the world economy. However, this is heavily reliant on the skills development of the population, particularly the youth population. Currently 19 per cent of the population is aged 15 to 24 years. The government of India has undertaken to create a 500 million person skilled workforce by 2022. The figures are indeed staggering. This is an undertaking on a scale which those of us here in our small city-state struggle to comprehend.
To succeed in this and to meet the needs of its growing economy, India must increase the number of quality trainers and training institutions in the country. The Australian government has indicated that this will require an estimated 70,000 highly skilled trainers now and 20,000 additional trainers each and every year. Given the high levels of respect for the quality of CIT’s training, this presents an exciting opportunity for CIT to support the building of capability within the Indian workforce.
Increasing the skills link with India has been a focus of the Australian government, with the then Assistant Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham, meeting with the Indian government minister for skill development, Minister Rudy, in May this year to discuss the skills priorities for both countries.
A government-to-government approach to negotiations in formalising relationships for business development between education providers in India and Australia is of paramount importance, and it was this, in part, that influenced my decision to lead the delegation.
In India I attended formal meetings with my Indian ministerial counterparts. I also attended meetings with other senior members of parliament and government departments as well as private companies and leading universities. This level of interaction was highly regarded, resulting in the signing of two memorandums of understanding between CIT and educational institutions and other commitments to work collaboratively to develop skills across several key areas in India.
CIT has a strong focus on enhancing its international opportunities, including inbound students and transnational education delivery. With new governance arrangements in place, CIT is well positioned to compete in the international marketplace, and I was
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