Page 3606 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 27 October 2015
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pleased to be able to present the capability of the ACT government’s public provider to the governments of Kerala and Gujarat.
This trip also provided an opportunity to further develop the emerging transnational work through building closer alliances between Australia and our Asian neighbours, including India. CIT has a well-established international growth strategy, and its business development in India is well advanced. There are many opportunities for Australian VET providers in India, and CIT has capitalised on its niche strengths of forensic science, ICT, renewable energies and nursing, and is doing so through partnerships as well as tendering for project work.
The key message I took to India was that the ACT government and CIT are strong, reliable, experienced educational providers who want to work in partnership with India, with governments and private industry, collaborating on skills development and achieving the educational requirement targets that have been set by the Indian central government.
As I mentioned, the focus of this delegation was on the two Indian states of Kerala and Gujarat, which present strong and unique opportunities for CIT and for the ACT. In Kerala the key focus was creating a dialogue to work with government in skills development in the schools sector and in the post-school sector.
Kerala has set a target of creating community skills hubs and CIT is positioned to work with the government to put the framework into place. While this state has a population of 33 million people, it also has the largest number of people now living outside the country. It is worthwhile noting that Kerala expatriates also form a large proportion of the Indian population in Canberra, and the relationship with this highly motivated group of people adds to the rationale behind working in this state. Further, Kerala has the highest level of literacy in India. They proudly declare that they were the first Indian state with 100 per cent literacy. It is because of this that CIT is actively pursuing opportunities in Kerala with the government and private industry.
Indeed, a second and highly successful focus for the Kerala leg of the program was signing an MOU with NeST information services, a Kerala-based ICT company that employs over 4,000 people in India and internationally, and with an annual turnover of approximately $200 million. This MOU will provide opportunities for ACT ICT students to undertake work placements and to build partnerships to establish online programs in global information systems in India.
Building on my involvement at meetings, CIT will work with NeST in developing fibre optics programs in the Canberra region as well as developing online programs for delivery into India through NeST’s well-established cyber campus.
The Australian general manager for NeST is based in Canberra and is active in the Australia India Business Council. This relationship is helping the two organisations to find common ground to work across the two countries. This business arrangement is a true collaboration, with both organisations bringing their strengths to the table.
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