The Goa Government and IBM joined hands to provide online training courses to help improve technical and professional skills of the state’s students, job seekers and entrepreneurs.

To bring this into action, IBM will work together with the Director of Technical Education, Goa and Implementation partner REACHA (Research and Extension Association for Conservation Horticulture and Agro Forest). The program will be poised to nurture skill development of especially those of rural entrepreneurs and other government stakeholders. It will include industry relevant course content through the IBM SkillsBuild program.

This partnership is poised to enhance IBM’s SkillsBuild program to build a robust ecosystem. Since the time of its launch in November 2019, the program has covered 113,000 learners with 180,000 learning hours and 100,000 course completion. The collaboration is set to host about 10,000 learners across 10 institutions by the end of the year. The program offers classes on technologies such as Cloud, AI, data analytics and cyber security including professional skills like Design Thinking for any adult learner.

“The collaboration with IBM will provide a much desirable platform for accessing and availing digital content, personalized coaching and experiential learning, in the field of ICT, for Engineering, Polytechnic, BCA, MCA (computer science) students. With this they will have opportunities to prepare for in demand job roles, work in real projects and their employability is expected to be enhanced”, adds the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant.

“The world has entered into an extreme digitized mode and technology has become the sutradhar and the unifying course to help navigate business challenges and drive innovation. As organizations set up their digital transformation efforts there’s a huge requirement of skilled manpower in emerging technologies like Cloud and AI that can be addressed only by creating the right avenues and platforms for skills training and learning. With IBM’s skilling programs, any learner can access content that is especially designed to develop new-collar job skill sets and entrepreneurship capabilities. IBM SkillsBuild program in India has reached more than 100,000 students in 20201 and through this collaboration will bring job relevant skills and industry knowledge to Goa’s youth”, said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India/South Asia.

Currently IBM is extending its SkillsBuild program for free for any who are interested and mainly those falling in categories such as small business owners, entrepreneurs and job seekers. Also, the completion of this course rewards its learners, ‘micro-credentials’ as digital badges that serve as proficiencies to employers.

Previously IBM had partnered with the National Skills Development Corporation, Directorate General of Training at the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Central Board of Secondary Education, Niti Aayog and State Department of Education and State Skills Mission to impact more than four lakh learners and students across 22 plus states through its education and skilling initiatives.