Press Release

2011

NIIT Foundation adjudged ‘Best Private Sector Skills Provider’ at UK India Skills Forum (UKISF) Awards 2011The prestigious award conferred by UK India Business Council and FICCI recognizes NIIT Foundation as the Best Skills Provider in Private Sector categoryNIIT Foundation felicitated for its initiatives in skill development in the vocational training space
New Delhi, September 29, 2011: NIIT Foundation (NF), set up to provide world-class education and training to the under-served communities, has received the coveted UK India Skill Forum (UKISF) Award 2011 in the Best Skills Provider (Private Sector) category.

This prestigious award was presented to NIIT Foundation by Mr. S Ramadorai, Adviser, PM’s National Skill Development Council at a ceremony attended by leading industrialists and bureaucrats, at the FICCI Federation House in New Delhi.

Instituted by UK India Business Council (UKIBC) and FICCI last year, the UK India Skill Forum (UKISF) Awards acknowledge excellence in the area of skills development and are presented to Indian companies to recognise their commitment and achievements in the vocational training space.

Set up in the year 2005 by the founders of NIIT, NIIT Foundation (NF) focuses on sustainability and strong management and technical expertise in the area of skill development and gainful employment for the underserved youth. NF has a mandate to reach the unreached, uncared and unattended to ensure inclusive development in the country.

On receiving this prestigious award, Mr. Neeraj Agarwal, Project Director, NIIT Foundation remarked, "On behalf of NIIT Foundation I would like to thank UKIBC and FICCI for presenting us with this award. This recognition will further encourage us to continue offering vocational training to the ever-increasing 'available' but 'unemployable' urban and rural workforce in India, and thus help create a pool of industry ready professionals in the country."

NIIT Foundation received the award in the Best Private Sector Skills Provider (Graduates/School Drop Outs/Rural Communities) category, for its initiatives in areas of skill development and providing gainful employment for the underserved youth of the country. The Foundation has been imparting employability courses through 75 centres across 10 states, and has reached out to more than 24,000 youth in the last 3 years, 80% of whom have been successfully placed.

Over 43% of students trained by the Foundation are girls. It has partnered with 52 civil service organizations and 250+ corporates to enable successful training and placement of students. Over 2312 students have been successfully placed over the last two years.

The training programs offered by NIIT Foundation focus on sustainability, building strong management capacity and technical expertise with a clear understanding of the needs of the impact group- the underserved youth of India.

The UKISF Awards are one of the first initiatives to strengthen the UK and India cooperation in the areas of training and education. An initiative of the UKIBC, this is a first step towards realising Hon. Prime Minister of UK, David Cameron's vision for UK - India partnership.

The awards this year were given in 4 categories: Best Government Funded / Supported 'Bottom of the Pyramid' Skill Provider, Best Private Sector 'Bottom of the Pyramid' Skill Provider, Best Private Sector Skills Provider (Graduates/School Drop Outs/Rural Communities), Best UK India Partnership for Skills Development.

About the UK India Skills Forum (UKISF)
The UKISF is led by the UK India Business Council in London and supported by UKTI in India. The forum is an eighteen month young forum that has seen significant collaboration between India and the UK in the area of vocational skills provision comprising of over 120 UK Skills provider organisations. In the last few months the UKISF has generated a number of bilateral contacts and has shown immense progress.

One of the key strengths of the UK India Skills Forum is its ability to mobilize expertise from the whole of the UK, across the entirety of the technical and vocational education and training sector. It incorporates skills providers as well as assessment bodies, equipment suppliers, infrastructure developers and experts in a wide range of delivery models. In this way it can act as a "one stop shop" for Indian organizations seeking to address their particular training requirements.

About NIIT Foundation
NIIT Foundation (NF), was set up in 2005 by the founders of NIIT, with the key objective of providing world-class education and training for the under-served communities. NF has a mandate to reach the unreached, uncared and unattended to ensure inclusive development in India.

NIIT Foundation’s vision is to be global-path-breakers in employability training, gainfully employing at least 2 million under-served youth annually.

To shape the mandate, NF has commenced a number of programs that would positively impact the underprivileged of the country through various educational interventions. The intent of NF is to better understand the education and employability issues at the grassroots level and build sustainable training intervention models. NF makes critical interventions towards upgrading the skill base and employability of marginalized youth - in urban slums and rural areas.

Over the last 3 years, NF has impacted over 20,000 youth and placed over 85% of eligible candidates. The key projects under way: District Learning Centers for rural unemployed graduates (DLC)Career Development centers for urban slum youth (CDC)N-Reach program for capacity building and accreditation of NGOs (N-Reach)Technology Center for urban slum children 6-14yrs
About NIIT
NIIT Limited, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, offers learning and knowledge solutions across 40 countries.

Leading IT magazine Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT, the ‘Top IT Training Company’ award successively for the past 18 years, since the inception of this category. Rated among India’s Business Superbrands 2008, NIIT’s Individual Learning Business offerings include industry-endorsed programs for students seeking careers in IT - GNIIT, Edgeineers and Global Net Plus for IT professionals.

NIIT has provided computer-based learning to over 15,000 government and private schools. The futuristic NIIT NGuru range for schools is a holistic education package that comprises Interactive Classrooms (an embedded Teaching Learning Material, that uses elements of interactivity, automation and web links library); Math lab (technology tools that enable school students to learn and explore mathematical concepts); IT Wizard (equips the students with core computer knowledge and IT skills); and Quick School (an Education Resource Planning solution for school management).

For working professionals, NIIT Imperia, Centre for Advanced Learning, offers Executive Management Education Programs in association with IIM Ahmadabad, IIM Kolkata, IIM Lucknow, IMT Ghaziabad and IIFT Delhi. NIIT Imperia also offers specialized courses in Finance in association with KPMG and on Digital Marketing with Google India and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

NIIT Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI), formed by NIIT with equity participation from ICICI Bank, offers programs for individuals and corporates in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.

NIIT Uniqua, Centre for Process Excellence, addresses the increasing demand for skilled workers in the business and technology services industry by providing training programs in relevant areas. This is a part of NIIT Institute of Process Excellence Limited, a NIIT-Genpact venture.

NIIT’s Corporate Learning Solutions, offers integrated learning solutions (including strategic consulting, learning design, content development, delivery, technology, assessment and learning management) to Fortune 500 companies, Universities, Technology companies, Training corporations and Publishing houses.

NIIT delivers a tailored combination of catalog learning products, technology and services through Element K offerings. These include: vLab®: hands-on labs, instructor-led courseware, comprehensive e-reference libraries, technical journals, and KnowledgeHub™: hosted learning management platform.

NIIT’s innovative HR practices have been felicitated by Aon Hewitt as amongst ‘Top 25 Best Employers in India- 2011’; Indian Education Awards 2011 as ‘Best Education Company to Work with’; by Great Places to Work Institute as amongst ‘Top 25 India’s Best Companies to Work for’ and First in Training & Education Industry, 2011.