Impact of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) on the employability of graduates—a study of government ITIs in Mumbai

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to ascertain the factors by which Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) affect the employability of graduates in Mumbai, India. The ITIs are major providers of VET in India. Presently, India is part of a skilling revolution with the goal of providing superior quality formal skill training to 400 million people by the year 2022. Consequently, the ITIs are receiving a great deal of attention at the national level. Applying a qualitative approach, data were collected from 15 students, 21 staff members (teaching and non-teaching) and 13 employers associated with the ITIs in the city and suburban area of Mumbai. The findings show a distinct set of six factors by which ITIs affect the employability of graduates—by imparting knowledge and skill, affecting students’ attitude and expectations, providing apprenticeship, signalling favourable characteristics, acting as an intermediary between the industry and the graduates and helping build social networks. The conclusion is that ITIs can incorporate strategies to actively enhance the employability of graduates by leveraging these factors.

KEYWORDS:

• India
• Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)
• employability
• vocational education and training (VET)
• skill training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.