The Kerala Academy for Skill Excellence (KASE), the nodal skill development agency of the Department of Labour and Skills, is setting up its first Centre of Excellence in Nursing, a finishing school which will impart additional professional skills and training to nurses with an internationally accredited curriculum.
KASE has tied up with NMC Healthcare, Abu Dhabi, and the SUT Hospital group to launch this venture. The agreement was signed between KASE and NMC-SUT group here on Saturday in the presence of Labour Minister Shibu Baby John. “This is the first skill academy in the country to offer training with international certification. Kerala is proud to have taken the lead in this initiative,” Mr. John said. KASE intended to set up 18 such centres of excellence in the next one year, he said.
The agreement between KASE and NMC-Healthcare is that at least 60 per cent of nurses who successfully complete the training will be ensured placement abroad. The centre would commence functioning in January 2015 at Kinfra. KASE would select industry partners and approach foreign universities to offer a globally recognised curriculum, he said.
Specialised areas
B.R. Shetty, MD and CEO of NMC Healthcare, said the centre would train and employ nursing graduates in hospitals in the Middle East and Europe in the first year. The training would be for a period between three to six months in specialised nursing areas such as emergency medicine, neonatology, cardiology, paediatrics etc. Soft skills and language training would be given. The academy would also help the trainees clear qualifying exams required for placements abroad. Nursing graduates with a degree from an accredited university and about two years’ experience would be eligible to join. Three hundred candidates would be accommodated in the first batch.
Mr. John said there would be a fee for joining the academy. The main aim of KASE was to make sure that nursing graduates got suitable prospects abroad.
