CASE STUDY FUTURE RIGHT SKILLS NETWORK
Building India’s future-ready workforce
A bold alliance is reinventing vocational education at scale
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In a world where nearly 40% of core job skills1 are expected to be disrupted in the next five years, the race to future-proof economies is accelerating. For India—with the world’s largest youth population and a rapidly evolving industrial base—the question isn’t whether to transform vocational education, but how to do it fast, inclusively, and at scale. The stakes are high: getting it right could unlock a demographic dividend; falling short could leave millions behind.
To meet this challenge, the Future Right Skills Network (FRSN) was launched in 2019 as a public-private alliance between Accenture, Quest Alliance, and Cisco—working in close partnership with India’s Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
What began as a bold initiative of few has since grown into a network including global players like JPMorgan Chase, SAP Labs, and LinkedIn. Its strength lies a shared belief: systemic change in skilling requires collective action—no single entity can drive it alone.
At the heart of this transformation are Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)—a nationwide vocational training network serving over 2 million2. Once marked by low enrollment and legacy training models, FRSN is working with the government, industry, and civil society to reimagine these institutions as engines of inclusive growth—equipping youth with the digital, green and AI-ready skills needed to compete in tomorrow’s economy.
IMPACT AT SCALE
800,000+
students have engaged with the network’s programs since inception
44%
increase in soft skills
55%
transition rate to jobs or higher education
8
state departments actively collaborating with the program
From legacy to leadership
For decades, vocational training in India struggled to keep pace—constrained by outdated curricula, limited digital infrastructure and weak industry ties. Placement rates prior to the FRSN launch were around 30%, and societal perceptions often discouraged enrollment, even where capacity existed.
FRSN’s work at the intersection of policy and practice has contributed to shaping the Government’s ₹60,000 crore (approx. $6.5M) ITI modernization agenda—supporting a shift from fragmented efforts to a more unified, future-ready skilling ecosystem.
Bridging the industry gap
Historically, industry engagement with ITIs was transactional, focused on hiring rather than training quality. The industry perception study by FRSN highlighted the skills and aspiration mismatches, prompting efforts to foster collaboration with employers and industry associations to align training with real-world demand. Faculty training, exposure visits, and improved curricula are key areas FRSN has been working on to enhance training quality, forming a major focus of the ITI upgrade under the PM-SETU scheme.
Deploying research-led advocacy, the network surfaced critical gaps in trainer development, curriculum relevance, and data systems—enabling strategic improvements across the ecosystem.
Learners reflecting the promise of FRSN
Meet the learners who reflect the program’s potential.
Driving systemic change
FRSN is more than a skilling initiative—it is a platform for convening thought leadership to drive lasting impact. Their Future Skills Forums and State Ecosystem Summits bring together government, industry, civil society, and learners to foster collaboration.
By 2030, FRSN aims to be India’s foremost policy-practice collaborative—aligning public, private, and philanthropic investments to reimagine vocational training at scale. Strategic priorities include leading the State of the ITI Report as a national benchmark while upgrading teacher-training institutions under PM-SETU and partnering with state departments to help ensure proven innovations are institutionalized at scale. Together, these efforts will enable millions to step confidently into the future of work—unlocking India’s demographic dividend and driving inclusive growth.
