IBM Collaborates with NSDC for Digital Education Platform

International Business Machines (IBM) announced its collaboration with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer ‘Open P-TECH’, a free digital education platform, focused on emerging technologies and professional development skills. The collaboration will offer online courses from the Open P-TECH platform and will also offer it to users via NSDC’s eSkill India portal to empower Indian youth on various skills to succeed in future careers.

Under the partnership, the company will catalogue its 30 + Open P-TECH courses on the eSkill India portal, with 60+ hours of learning, as a knowledge partner. IBM will provide online courses in emerging technologies like Cyber Security, Blockchain, AI and Machine Learning, Cloud, Internet of Things, along with professional skills, like Design Thinking to learners between 18 to 22 years for free.

"The power of technology should be leveraged for reaching out to the youth with scale and quality. Online trainings through digital platforms like Open P-TECH and eSkill India need to be accelerated to overcome geographical and socio-economic barriers. Digital learning will enable higher participation of women in the labour workforce as the scope for employability will increase.  Overall, digital learning will boost prospects of employment and livelihood for the youth," commented Dr Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation.

“As the pandemic is driving the digital transition to happen more quickly, there must be new forms of learning if we want to empower young learners with technical and market-related skills. Our collaboration with NSDC is a significant milestone to equip the next generation with digital skills. Open P-TECH will make foundational learning in emerging technology and professional skills for the youth more accessible. Aligned to the country’s Skill India mission, we are taking another step in the evolution of our digital education approach to help the next generation of professionals have the exciting future they deserve,” said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India /South Asia.

IBM’s Open P-TECH, a free digital education platform, focused on emerging technologies and professional development skills, was launched in India in March 2020. The platform equips learners and educators with foundational technology competencies, along with workplace learning skills. Under the partnership, the Open P-TECH platform will offer courses to develop soft skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving — a set of 11 key skills which are generally not available in a college curriculum, but are high in demand and are valued in the job market.

Open P-TECH is now available to students and teachers worldwide. To register:  https://open.ptech.org.

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