HYDERABAD: Telangana has set a new benchmark in workforce development with the launch of the Life Sciences Skilling Initiative, executed through the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR Telangana). The pilot programme achieved 100% placement in full-time roles or internships for all students who appeared for interviews.
According to a press statement on Tuesday, the programme reached over 2,000 students from 40 colleges in just 45 days, with 140 candidates selected from 1,500 applicants through an industry-approved assessment process. These students underwent 64 hours of technical training and 40 hours of soft skills development, supported by experts from ICT Mumbai, NIPER, and the University of Hyderabad.
For the pilot batch, 85% of the training fee was subsidised by C4IR Telangana with support from industry partners. The initiative enabled participation from financially constrained students, with 68% coming from families earning less than Rs 25,000 per month, 83% being women, 49% first-generation graduates, and 43% from rural or semi-urban areas. Notably, 25% of the students supported their families through part-time work, while 51% had received educational support from government or NGO schemes.
Following the pilot’s success, the government plans to expand the programme with Young India Skills University to cover over 2,000 more students and introduce advanced tracks in AI/ML for life sciences, digital health, pharmacovigilance, medical writing, and clinical data management. Telangana, already a major life sciences hub contributing 35% of India’s pharmaceutical production and a third of global vaccine output, aims to build a USD 100 billion life sciences economy by 2030.