Purpose: Purpose: The quality of vocational education and training (VET) processes plays an important role in international education policies and research. In India, issues of quality came into focus in recent years due to an increased demand for skilled workers, and continuing challenges in the area of quality of VET. Existing quality assurance mechanisms of VET in India are characterised by a lack of comprehensiveness and uniform standards. This paper addresses the contextualised development of an Indian-specific approach for quality measurement. It centres on following research question: Which quality areas, criteria and related indicators are of relevance for measuring quality comprehensively? Approach: Design-based research substantiates the research objective, which is to develop a model that is theoretically and technically sound, as well as adapted to the national context. The question of how to create "cultural-fit" was essential for the research process illustrated in this paper. Starting point for the development of the approach was to build a structured review, and following analysis, with reference to existing models and approaches to quality management. The initial search examined national and international academic sources for quality management in business and education, as well as governmental sources for quality management strategies in VET. A significant number of models were selected, based on inclusion criteria, and these models were aggregated to provide a source for a first own conception of an approach. Results: Quality dimensions and criteria were collected and identified with reference to distribution across models. In total, seven major quality areas are identified, namely Institutional Sphere and Context; Personnel; Educational Planning, Provision and Assessment; Learning and Teaching; Leadership and School Management; Industry Linkage and Learner Achievements. In addition, 40 quality criteria are determined under these major quality fields, and relevant quantitative and qualitative sub-indicators for measurement are derived. Conclusion: The actual results will be a basis for the following pilot-based implementation in India. The model can provide meaningful feedback and data-based recommendations for continuous improvement of the Indian VET system and may furthermore provide for a reflected and contextually adapted implementation in other countries.

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India which is moving through ‘demographic dividend’ and wants to achieve tag of ‘knowledge based economy’ need to invest in skill formation and developing educated and skilled workforce. This article will begin by broad overview of education and critical evaluation of current skill development policies at school and vocational level. There would be a brief discussion on role played by private sector in training of workforce in India and what are challenges faced by employers and employees and where lies the conflict of interest. After that in concluding section the major problems will be combined together to come out with the broad basic reason for the failure of such policies and conclude by scrutinizing what can be done in future to bridge the gap between educated and employed. Policy approach to skill development is supply driven and less attention is paid to demand side factors. Study recommends creating national training funds which can be used to collect levies from organized and large firms to be used for skill development of the informal sector. Levy based financing can help in solving problem of free rider and moral hazard as is held by the private sector. Study also recommends making vocational education compulsory from 8th standard and bridging the wide gap that exists in Indian labor market between ‘educated’ and ‘employable’.

This chapter looks to analyze three aspects skill: premium or wage incentive, existence of skill-biased technical change, and problems with current vocational training programs prevailing in India. All these three aspects will be analyzed with a gender-based approach specifically looking at female outcomes in comparison to male outcomes. This study would also throw some light on why labor force participation rate has been low in the case of females in India. Using NSSO data, it is found that skill premium was falling for women in labor-intensive sectors and rising in capital-intensive sectors, but it had no major effect on skill premium of total workforce due to low female labor force participation rate. Overall skill premium is stagnant for total workforce, and capital skill complementarity is not present in case of Indian economy. Movement of labor in Indian economy has been from one unskilled sector (agriculture) to another unskilled sector (construction). The study also finds that the major reason behind skill development system being supply driven is lack of involvement of the private sector financially.

The paper tests the presence of skill premium and capital skill complementarity in the Indian Economy. Using NSSO data for skilled and unskilled workers measured on the basis of educational qualification, the study attempts to find factors that affect the movement in skill premium in the Indian labour market. Using two different definitions, the study finds that skill premium does not show a stagnant behaviour. This was due to factors specific to the Indian economy-a large reserve army of labourers and a weak relative absorptive capacity of different sectors. Firms prefer adopting techniques such as flexibility, outsourcing, de-unionisation and hiring contract workers for maintaining higher level of profits rather than adopting new technologies. On account of these factors, Skill Biased Technical Change (SBTC) and acceleration hypothesis could not be observed in the Indian Economy.