DigiVidyapeeth to drive government's media and entertainment skilling programme, to expand into other sectors soon

To fill the massive skill gap in India's rapidly growing media and entertainment space, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which operates under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, has tied up with ed-tech platform DigiVidyapeeth.

The platform, that has developed an industry suitable curriculum keeping in mind the future needs of the industry, will take care of the skill dissemination part, while the certification of students will be done by the Media and Entertainment Skill Council (MESC), which is a division under the NSDC.

According to Invest India, the Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry is likely to touch $34.8 billion by 2022. The M&E industry is projected to grow at a pace of 14% over the period 2016-2021, outshining the global average of 4.2% CAGR.

The platform, through its innovative course framework, will address the existing skill gaps in the industry.

Pradeep Khatri

"The skill dissemination part will be taken care of by DigiVidyapeeth, and the assessment and certification of students will be done by MESC. Our trainees will now have access to the industry with a certificate by an arm of the Government. Best part is that certified trainees will also benefit from tie-ups with industry partners and various companies that give preference to people with certificates from MESC in their jobs," said Pradeep Khatri, Founder and MD, DigiVidyapeeth Learning.

The modules have been created by the ed-tech platform and have been ratified by MESC. As these courses deal with applied skills, they also plan to regularly update the syllabus as per industry needs. “MESC experts went through our syllabi and they suggested certain upgrades to suit a broader base. Now the curriculum has been finalised,” he said in an interview with BestMediaInfo.com.

While the platform offers a range of courses, the MESC certification will be provided for the ‘Digital Marketing Course’ and for the ‘Mobile Journalism Course’. “This year we may also get into an understanding with NASSCOM and The Healthcare Sector Skill Council with certain offering in that domain. But there are no immediate plans,” he said.

For the coming year, the platform aims to skill at least five lakh students. “MESC is under a mandate by GoI to skill almost 1.2 million people by 2022 and our coming together with MESC means that this is going to be our target as well. For this year, we are very serious about reaching a figure of at least half-a-million students,” he said.

Spelling out his media plans for the year, he said that the key platform is going to be digital and social media, search engine, and content marketing. “Apart from that we are going to go hyperlocal with radio, then there's going to be a little bit of print and in bigger cities, there will be outdoor campaigns. A TVC is also being produced,” he said.

Coinciding with the announcement of their partnership with MESC, on January 1, DigiVidyapeeth went for a complete brand refresh. Shifting from their earlier blue and yellow brand colours they have now adopted the colour red, symbolising their shift from being a disseminator of future skills to now complete being a platform that offers future skills plus a powerful certification plus an access to great job opportunities. A hashtag #DigiVidyapeethTurnsRedHot that was created around the refresh announcement trended at No. 3 on Twitter on January 2.

Formerly the Head of Marketing at India TV, Khatri says after spending almost two decades in the mainstream media space, it was a challenge to enter into a new industry.

“The industry operates in a very different way. It's majorly a recall, reference, and a brand-led industry and till the time you generate that trust, even the chances of survival, forget about the success, are little,” he said.

However, it is the same experience as a marketer that has come to his aid today. “The experience of marketing helped me create a product that actually has a pull rather than only a push. We have built a product that not only makes one industry-ready and that too in a quick time. Duration of our courses is 30 hours spread over a month or month-and-a-half at maximum. Also, these courses complement the university education system in India right now,” he said.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com