Educational Programmes at the degree level are expected to land the graduates in a gainful employment. Though few graduates may want to get into entrepreneurial ventures, the proportion of such graduates is minimal. Degree programmes were able to get gainful employment as long as the country had regulated economy. Graduates were picked for jobs based on their degrees or institutions from where they got graduated. Ever since the economy was liberalised, corporates had to be keen on matching their productivity and cost to their international peers. This made them choosy while recruiting people; focus has changed from degrees to skills, and significance got shifted from institutions to attitude of the applicants.

This shift in the focus of recruitment from mere degree to skill & attitude made the degrees awarded by most institutions meaningless, as their graduates did not possess the vital skill and attitude to convince the corporate recruiters. The number of unemployed or under-employed graduates piled up over the years.

The Skill India Mission of the Government of India had addressed this issue with the introduction of apprenticeship-embedded Under Graduate Programmes in humanities. In the meeting on ‘Mainstreaming of apprenticeship in Higher Education’ held at NITI Aayog in January 2018, it was decided to Integrate of Skilling in Higher Education with an aim to enhance employability skills of undergraduates to make them industry-ready. It was also decided to embed apprenticeship training within the programme period to skill the degree students. The Sector Skill Councils were given the responsibility for industry connect with Higher Education Institutions to ensure onboarding of degree students for apprenticeship training.

Very few Sector Skill Councils, including Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSC), were assigned with the task of designing apprenticeship-based degree programmes and launch the same in collaboration with Higher Education Institutions. With the well-defined Programme Outcome of creating skilled resources for gainful employment in Logistics Sector at entry level of managerial position, Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSC) launched the nation’s first apprenticeship-based BBA / B.Com. Degree Programme in 15 HEIs across the country in June 2019.

Encouraged by the successful conduct of the Apprenticeship-based BBA / B.Com. Degree in Logistics, and on the persistent demand from the industry, LSC has created six new apprenticeship-based UG Degree Programmes on various sub-sectors of Logistics viz,

1. Agri Storage & Supply Chain,
2. Aviation Services & Air Cargo,
3. Ecommerce Operations,
4. Exim & Express,
5. Land Transportation, and
6. Maritime Logistics.

Suiting their core focus of creating managerial skills in chosen verticals, these programmes are named as Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS). Including these new programmes, LSC’s various degree programmes are in offer in 50 centres across the country in the Academic Year 2020-21. In addition to the UG Programmes, LSC has also designed apprenticeship-based ‘Diploma in Logistics Technology’, and ‘PG Diploma in Data Science in Logistics & Supply Chain’. Both the Diploma programme, and the PG Diploma programme would be launched in select few institutions during the Academic Year 2020-21. ‘Logistics Specialisation Module’ with 7 courses, and a spell of apprenticeship training for 6 months has been designed and is getting implemented in few Engineering Colleges. The Diploma in Logistics Technology for Polytechnic Colleges, and Logistics Specialisation Module have been duly approved by All India Council for Technical Education.

With the objective of creating awareness among young minds about the dream career opportunities in Logistics Sector, LSC offers ‘Logistics Literacy Programme’ in two phases. The first phase is conducted for students in IX Standard, while the second phase is meant for XI Standard students.