Pearson India, Educomp announce IndiaCaN

Updated on: Friday, November 27, 2009

Kolkata: Pearson and Educomp formed a joint venture to provide vocational training in India on November 26.

The venture known as IndiaCan, or I-CAN, got its new snappy name during a brief ceremony with Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson, and her counterpart at Educomp, Shantanu Prakash,

"Educomp and its JV partner Pearson will provide training and certification on a par with the best globally. That's exciting because in the process we'll be creating a globally mobile workforce," said Prakash

IndiaCan, formerly known as Educomp Vocational Education Pvt Ltd, starts life with two prestigious partnerships, one involving the CII, the country’s leading trade association, the other with TranSmart, a logistics company with pan India presence.

IndiaCan combines Educomp, India’s largest education company, and Pearson, the world’s largest education services provider, in a joint venture that will target one of the country’s biggest opportunities – training young people.

CII partnership

In the CII partnership, due to be sealed soon, IndiaCan would deliver training to a certification programme designed by Edexcel, the accreditation and certification unit of Pearson.

The aim is not only to improve skills but also to upgrade the capability of trainers and assessors, topped off with qualifications from UK’s Edexcel.

The qualification is based on Edexcel’s popular BTEC vocational framework, one of the most popular routes to education attainment in the UK and elsewhere.

CII hopes that the qualification will standardise assessment and training practices across the country and bring them on par with international standards.

TranSmart

In the second deal, IndiaCan will train 2,000 TranSmart employees contractors from all across India over three years to international standards and certification benchmark, also preparing them for a BTEC qualification which will position TranSmart as a quality and productivity leader in the logistics industry.

IndiaCan plans a national network of more than 600 vocational training centres, focusing on jobs across segments such as finance, retail, IT and insurance. The JV’s focus will be on delivering training in tier two and three cities.

One of IndiaCan’s earlier coups was with Delhi Transport Corporation to train 500 drivers and conductors ahead of the Commonwealth Games next year.

Pearson India, Educomp announce IndiaCaN

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