Uncle Sam's working class

A Virginia college will help to focus on vocational training in tune with industry needs.

Time was when the word America was enough to send Left-leaning Bengalis into a tizzy. Lately, of course, they can't seem to have enough of Uncle Sam. So no eyebrows were raised when Jadavpur University (JU) recently tied up with the Virginia College Community System (VCCS) for an exchange programme.

JU has similar tie-ups with universities in Europe, but this is one with a difference. Besides the usual exchange of students and faculty, JU will be looking closely at VCCS's "workforce development programme" with an objective to emulate, or adapt, it to the Indian context.

The closest analogy in India to workforce development is vocational training. But while vocational training has failed in every way here, workforce development in Virginia and other parts of the US is a huge success, primarily owing to its nimbleness and flexibility in responding to the needs of industry.

Explains Beverly Blois, dean of the Northern Virginia Community College, "The college board regularly reviews classifieds in The Washington Post and monster.com to see what jobs are in demand and offer programmes tailored to meet it." Community colleges also network with trade organisations to find out their needs.

It's a win-win model that has many a success story, the most high-profile being America Online. The association began soon after AOL moved into its Dulles headquarters in the mid-nineties.

Funded by the state assembly, VCCS began offering courses to locals in skills required to get jobs in AOL. Soon AOL staff were using the VCCS to upgrade their skills or were faculty there.

AOL has since moved its headquarters to New York and laid off workers in its Virginia facility, but the base of IT-savvy workers in the area has made sure that northern Virginia now has the highest concentration of IT firms in the US.

There are other instances of a close industry-community college interface "" Dominion Power putting up electric poles to train electricians, or Mosecour Hospital funding a building to train nurses.

It's something West Bengal would do well to learn from, especially at a time it is doing its utmost to attract industry. Indeed, state education mandarins from the vocation training department, who attended a presentation by VCCS officials, seemed alive to the potential in the tie-up with JU.

But it's too much to expect anything revolutionary from the behemoth that is our education system. As of now, JU and education department officials only seem ready to take baby steps forward.

In the words of Subimal Sen, vice-chairman of the West Bengal Council of Higher Education, "VCCS can help us design and change the course material and they can also help us train the teachers of vocational education courses."

From there on, it's anybody's guess.