THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Knowledge Economy Mission (KKEM) has collaborated with Coursera, a leading global online learning platform, to equip youth across the state with industry-relevant tech skills. As part of the initiative, the state government is planning to train 60,000 job aspirants and students and equip them with skills for 17 high-demand digital jobs across the globe. The partnership is an integral part of KKEM, which aims to train 30 lakh individuals and create 20 lakh jobs by 2026.
Chief Marketing Officer Tim Hannan of Coursera, in an exclusive interaction with TNIE said that the collaboration is a first step towards empowering the youth and giving proper career guidance, which is presently lacking. “We aim to upskill job seekers and professionals with high-demand skills that will complement the high-quality education people are getting in Kerala,” he said.
The learners will have access to 40 virtual academies focused on key domains such as AI/ML, cloud computing, cyber security, creative design, logistics and supply chain and digital marketing. The academies feature professional certificates from leading companies including IBM, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Adobe to help learners launch their careers.
He said that everything has changed after the pandemic and people have become more accustomed to learning online. “Generative AI Courses are rapidly changing and their impact on the job is emerging. The courses on AI are in high demand and India is one of the main markets for our courses,” said Tim.
As part of the initiative, around 1,000 mentors are being trained to give guidance to job seekers and professionals to help them access the specific job. Under it, a talent accelerator programme - a three-month intensive initiative for final-year students in higher education institutions will be launched in 250 colleges in the state soon.