National Education Foundation Program in India

GOAL:
The goal of the NEF program in India is to train and certify one million jobs-seeking Indian college students in IT and/or Soft Skills during 2014-2017 via a nationwide MIITE (Million Indians IT Education) program.

RATIONALE & MISSION:
Indian employers need millions of qualified IT employees. Industry estimates indicate that only a quarter of all college graduates are employable. It is hard to believe that a country, where half of the  population is under age 25, is facing a skilled IT labor shortage! Indian employers find it time-consuming and expensive to first select suitable employees and then up-skill them for jobs.

The MIITE project offers high-quality, affordable IT and Soft Skills online training to prospective employees nationally in high-demand IT and Soft Skills certification programs, giving everyone in India an equal opportunity to get good IT and Soft Skills jobs, and help India to maintain its status as a global IT leader – the twin missions of this visionary project.

BACKGROUND:
NEF founder Dr. Appu Kuttan is an internationally-renowned expert in improving national socio-economic programs using Management By Systems (MBS), Happy and Holistic Executive practices and empowerment through digital education. He is the ‘father of Cyberlearning’ (coined the word) and founder of the nonprofit National Education Foundation (NEF), the U.S. and global nonprofit leader in bridging the digital, academic and employment divides.

In the early 80’s, he advised former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in developing India’s vision to become an IT power.

In the mid and late 80’s, as the owner and Chairman of the World-famous  Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, he created the ‘Total Tennis’ system, and helped to develop three World tennis champions – Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Jim Courier.

In 1989, he founded NEF in Washington, D.C Metro Area, USA. In 1993, NEF became operational with the encouragement of President Bill Clinton  and Intel Chairman Dr. Gordon Moore, with funds donated by Dr. Kuttan from the proceeds of the tennis academy sale to IMG, the multi-billion dollar sports management global leader. NEF set a goal of training millions of disadvantaged students and adults in IT and business skills via digital education. Having achieved that vision in the U.S. and  other countries including training tens of thousands of Mauritians in digital literacy through Mauritius Prime Minister’s Universal ICT Initiative, Dr. Kuttan launched this MIITE project to fulfill a promise he made to former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi years ago — coming back to India to train a million Indians and providing them high quality educational opportunities leading to jobs!

HOW DOES THE MIITE PROGRAM WORK?

1. Partnership with corporations/other  entities in India and U.S: NEF will provide complimentary IDs giving access  to all its 2,500+ top quality online Web-based IT/Business courses (used by global leaders such as Wipro and Lockheed Martin) to corporations/other  entities in India and U.S., followed by proposals for providing online/blended  learning (online +classroom) training for their employees at about 30-70% savings in their training costs. NEF would then agree to sponsor  an equal number of college students  in Indian colleges of interest to the employers by giving scholarships in their name, with 100% grant from NEF. Thus, the employers save 30-70% of their training costs, and receive 100% PR, publicity and CSR credits for helping to train students in colleges they choose at no cost.

This way, NEF can fund the whole MIITE project without asking for donations or grants from corporations, governments or other entities.

2. Students will study the course materials, use exam prep materials at the MIITE CyberLearning centers at participating colleges, and take the final exam and receive course completion cetificates from NEF’s academy partner, the State University of New York, globally raned among the top 100 universities in the world, ahead of all Indian universities.

BENEFITS TO CORPORATE/OTHER ENTITY PARTNERS:

• 30-70% saving in training cost
• Fulfillment of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at no cost
• Enormous positive PR and publicity in their area in interest in India at no cost
• Enormous national and global positive PR and publicity at no cost

BENEFITS TO COLLEGES/TRAINING CENTERS:

• Better employment opportunities for their students
• Improved reputation

BENEFITS  TO TRAINEE PARTICIPANTS:

• Equal opportunity to get training, and certification

BENEFITS TO INDIA:

• Preparing and providing equal employment opportunities for a million Indians, especially women, minorities and other disadvantaged segments of the population
• Helping to keep India at the top of the highly competitive global IT arena
• Improve the living standard for a million Indians, their families and communities
• Helping to develop a most cost-effective model for reducing global terrorism by training and providing job opportunities for educated unemployed youngsters, thus preventing them from becoming terrorist thinkers and leaders

KEY DIFFERENTIATORS:

The differentiators of this MIITE Initiative are:

• Holistic systems-based total solution (training-certification-employment  assistance)
• High-quality cost-effective program
• Universally recognized certifications
• Leveling the playing field for all (bridging the divides)
• National focus
• An exemplary model of a US-India public-private sector partnership
• Win-Win-Win-Win concept: employers win by saving training, certification and recruitment costs while earning positive PR and publicity at no cost; NEF wins by meeting its mission of bridging divides, empowering people and making a difference in the lives of a million persons; communities and India win by improving the living standards; and most importantly a million people and their families win with a higher quality life.

Moreover, this is a replicable model applicable to all IT and Soft Skills (for example Project Management) certifications and most-in-demand jobs in India.

For more information on the India initiative, visit www.miite.org  or contact NEF at contact@cyberlearning.org .