Additional Skills Acquisition Programme (ASAP) project: the case of an employability enhancement initiative in India

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore an employability enhancement initiative, the Additional Skills Acquisition Programme (ASAP) project in the state of Kerala, India, as a case for the inclusive development of employability in college and university students. Design/methodology/approach: ASAP is applied as a case study to examine the employability enhancement initiative in India. Findings: Participation in the ASAP project led to increased measures of employability. These increases were most pronounced in women and individuals living below the poverty line. Partnerships between educational institutions and organisations focusing on students’ technical and skill development can help overcome local and national talent shortages. Originality/value: The theoretical implications come from addressing the lack of representation of skills based employability initiatives among students from India in the vocational behaviour literature. Practical implications come from knowledge sharing of innovative strategies to enhance the employability outcomes of individuals entering the labour market. New ways to overcome the reported mismatch in business education between curriculum content and the development of employability skills in graduates are presented. Benefits for diversity and inclusion are also provided.

Education, Employability, Higher education, India, Skills, Vocational behaviour

10.1108/JIEB-10-2021-0094

2046-469X

393-405

Nimmi, P.M.

05cf28ed-5549-4d1e-8e9d-e2b094c6759c

Mathew, Paul V.

fdaf7714-3a7f-4b78-b88f-ef1b0d3c71b5

Donald, William Edward

0b3cb4ca-8ed9-4a5f-9c10-359923469eec

23 September 2022

Nimmi, P.M.

05cf28ed-5549-4d1e-8e9d-e2b094c6759c

Mathew, Paul V.

fdaf7714-3a7f-4b78-b88f-ef1b0d3c71b5

Donald, William Edward

0b3cb4ca-8ed9-4a5f-9c10-359923469eec

Nimmi, P.M., Mathew, Paul V. and Donald, William Edward (2022) Additional Skills Acquisition Programme (ASAP) project: the case of an employability enhancement initiative in India. Journal of International Education in Business, 15 (2), 393-405. (doi:10.1108/JIEB-10-2021-0094).

Record type: Article

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Accepted/In Press date: 29 April 2022

e-pub ahead of print date: 24 May 2022

Published date: 23 September 2022

Additional Information: Funding Information: The ASAP project was established in 2012 as a combined initiative of the General Education, Higher Education and Labour departments in Kerala, later forming a Government Company in 2020 (). Funding for the project was provided by the ADB via a result-based lending loan, underpinned by disbursement linked indicators such as the time-bound completion of the project (). The primary focus of ASAP was to integrate general and vocational education for students enrolled in school, college or university courses to enhance their employability levels to prepare them for the world of work. This responded to calls by the to tackle “the issue of growing unemployment in Kerala.” Publisher Copyright: © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Keywords: Education, Employability, Higher education, India, Skills, Vocational behaviour

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