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Purpose. This chapter discusses the challenges and different strategies to increase skill development for the future workforce.

Methodology. Multiple sources on the topic were studied and reviewed in this chapter. The idea of skill and its development is discussed in the literature review.

Findings. Different nations’ governments have promoted human capital development by providing up-skilling and retraining programs to balance supply and demand. Skills gaps need to be brought to the attention of stakeholders, such as governments, businesses, and the educational system. Teachers, employers, and other stakeholders need to develop strategies and action plans to ensure that the skills gaps are appropriately identified and adequately addressed. These initiatives must be developed with input from various stakeholders.

Practical Implications. The research results would inform the curriculum, incorporating skill development processes tailored to various scenarios. These findings would aid business organisations in crafting skill development programs that address identified skill gaps. Challenges in skill development would be taken into account during course development, and relevant teaching–learning materials would be created. Key stakeholders, such as accrediting organisations, employers, and students, should exert more influence on academic institutions to prioritise societal demands for economic development.

Originality/Value. The uniqueness and significance of this chapter lie in its concise summary of the strategies to tackle the hurdles in skill development.

Introduction: Skill development is crucial in developing economies by enhancing productivity and creating employment opportunities. At the macro level, it also leads to industrial development and economic growth.

Purpose: The research is to identify the types of skills required for increasing the probability of employability of labour. It also aims to define the challenges and opportunities in skill development to drive change.

Need of the Study: Studying opportunities and challenges for skill development in developing economies is essential for achieving sustainable economic growth, reducing poverty, increasing employment opportunities, and promoting global competitiveness.

Research Methodology: Some skills are recognised through research that has been published to determine the skill set needed to increase labour productivity. To draw lessons, some skill development initiatives by various companies are also identified and presented in case studies. Additionally, several government programs are available to assess the possibilities and prospects for skill development in the Indian market.

Practical Implications: The research will be valuable in micro and macro decision making. At the micro level, research is advantageous for a business person to initiate the skill development of its employees by using government schemes. Nations other than India can understand the policy framework for skill development.

Findings: The term ‘skilling’ has become fashionable. Due to the need for skill-based earnings data, only some studies examine the return on skill (ROS) of the labour market. Skill development plays a significant role in bringing change at the micro and macro levels. Hence it is necessary to exploit all opportunities for skill development.

Purpose: This chapter explores the two major schemes applicable to skill development in India: Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).

Need for the Study: The primary objective of this research is to check the role of these schemes in enhancing the skills of socio-economically stressed community members for their livelihoods. The secondary aim is to analyse the outcomes of these schemes through a qualitative inquiry.

Methodology: A survey was conducted, and the data was collected from trainees of the skill development programmes. Based on the responses, a qualitative content analysis was performed, which showed that most trainees have the thirst and urge to enhance their life skills for a minimalistic livelihood.

Findings: The study concluded that though there are many schemes, only PMKVY is active. They focus on more than just youth communities. Instead, they consider individuals in different age categories.

Practical Implications: The Government of India (GOI) is progressing towards a healthy economy to compete with other countries. For this mission to be achieved, skill and labour development is paramount. Appropriate training must be provided and administrated through government schemes.

Skills development among construction stakeholders has become an increasingly urgent necessity for the successful implementation of Construction 4.0 in recent years. There is a lack of comprehensive analysis on the domain of Construction 4.0 implementation, with a focus on skills development. This study aims to address this gap through the use of the science mapping approach to show the gaps of research domain and propose future directions.

This study adopted a three-step holistic review approach, comprising bibliometric review, scientometric analysis, and qualitative discussion, to obtain a comprehensive overview of research in the field of Construction 4.0 skills development. f on a total of 57 articles published in three databases, the influential sources, keywords, scholars, and articles in the domain were analysed. A follow-up discussion aimed to identify main-stream research topics, research gaps, and future research directions.

Findings discovered that the topics were concerned about Construction 4.0 whilst skills development aspect was lacking in creation of policies, frameworks, strategies in different contexts. The study revealed research gaps such as presence of skills gaps and shortages in some countries, the lack of frameworks and roadmaps for successful Construction 4.0 implementation, and the lack of readiness assessments from professional, company and industry viewpoints.

This study contributes to the knowledge in the domain of Construction 4.0 and the contribution of skills development for its implementation and a comprehensive overview with research gaps and future research directions in the domain.

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the reflective practice of business students on how it helps to develop their employability skills through various university strategies.

The study employed a simple random sample to select undergraduate level 400 students from the Universities under study (the University of Ghana, University of Professional Studies Ghana, Lancaster University Ghana and Webster University Ghana). Only final-year students with an informed judgement on the reflective practice and various institutional practices to acquire graduate employability skills were participated. The independent variables of the study are institutional strategies (curriculum design, extra curriculum, work-integrated learning, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement, internship job placement), the moderator is the reflective practice and the dependent variable of the study is graduate employability.

The study found that the moderation role of reflective practice had a significant effect on institutional strategies (extracurriculum, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement and internship job placement) and graduate employability.

The study was limited to only undergraduate business students from four universities ignoring other disciplines and postgraduate students.

The practical implication is that reflective practice must be an integral tool for various universities if they want students to use their strategies to sharpen their employability skills.

The social implications of the study emphasise the reflective practice of graduate students in universities. This implies that firms and other institutions must consider reflective practice for the maximum output of their employees.

The concept of employability is a bit complex as it concerns many stakeholders of the educational process; the students, academic staff, employers, policymakers and higher education; the private sector; and the government. Although examining students' employability development skills is of great importance, students' reflective practice tends to be overlooked in most studies. Therefore, the focus of this study examines how the reflective practice of graduate students promotes employability through the various university strategies, which had not been considered.

The pandemic has affected people across the world. Businesses have been impacted and in a way have affected the employment scenario worldwide. The skill development initiative is playing a major role in bringing back the affected to the mainstream. Skill development efforts have always been a true solution to income generation especially in context to developing the underprivileged segment of the nations. Numerous countries are enabling skill development through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. India is one such country which has undertaken lot of effort in enabling Skill Development by encouraging impact-based CSR practices. It would be interesting to understand the impact of pandemic on work and how the skillsets are expected to change with the change in the working environment. The chapter mainly focusses in identifying the workplace changes with special reference to Education, Information technology, Retail, Mining and Power Generation sectors in the Indian context. It has also attempted to share the existing skill gap in fulfiling the organisation's expectations and the strategies addressing the skill gap. The chapter also shares best practices in skill development and focusses mainly on understanding the impact of such efforts. The chapter uses case study as a methodology and includes qualitative data analysis of impact interviews. The chapter uniquely attempts to share the policy, programmes, outcomes and major road blocks especially in context to skill development in the Indian scenario and how CSR drive has been instrumental in addressing the skill gap in India.

The purpose of this study is to examine how doctoral students in the biological sciences understand their research skill development and explore potential racial/ethnic and gender inequalities in the scientific learning process.

Based on interviews with 87 doctoral students in the biological sciences, this study explores how doctoral students describe development of their research skills. More specifically, a constructivist grounded theory approach is employed to understand how doctoral students make meaning of their research skill development process and how that may vary by gender and race/ethnicity.

The findings reveal two emergent groups, “technicians” who focus on discrete tasks and data collection, and “interpreters” who combine technical expertise with attention to the larger scientific field. Although both groups are developing important skills, “interpreters” have a broader range of skills that support successful scholarly careers in science. Notably, white men are overrepresented among the “interpreters,” whereas white women and students from minoritized racial/ethnic groups are concentrated among the “technicians.”

While prior literature provides valuable insights into the inequalities across various aspects of doctoral socialization, scholars have rarely attended to examining inequalities in research skill development. This study provides new insights into the process of scientific learning in graduate school. Findings reveal that research skill development is not a uniform experience, and that doctoral education fosters different kinds of learning that vary by gender and race/ethnicity.

Although natural science disciplines significantly contribute to sustainable development goals (SDGs), little research attends to how higher education institutions (HEIs) influence the development of leadership skills needed among sustainability leaders. This paper aims to examine the leadership development experiences of natural scientists at the forefront of disciplines associated with SDGs to identify barriers and drivers to sustainability leadership skills development at HEIs.

A mixed-methods comparative study was used, integrating qualitative interviews among 21 natural scientists and 11 non-scientists, two focus group discussions and a cross-sectional survey of 221 leaders. The theory of planned behaviour was used as the analytical frame to identify themes emerging from the data as facilitators or barriers to leadership development.

There was a statistically significant difference between scientists and non-scientists in the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions that drive participation in leadership development activities. Attitudes belittling leadership skills, limited integration of leadership skills in medical, engineering and agricultural curricula and a social identity of superior learning efficacy impede natural scientist students at HEIs from engaging in leadership development.

Further research using a larger sample could assess the prevalence and effect of the drivers and barriers on sustainability leadership effectiveness.

Beyond integrating leadership skills in HEIs curricula, the development of sustainability leadership requires deliberate elevation of the value of leadership skills within natural sciences, specifically by addressing attitudes, beliefs and workload challenges that impede scientists’ engagement in co-curricular activities.

Integrating multiple disciplines provides generalised insights into the context of leadership development among natural scientists at HEIs. This study identifies specific drivers and barriers affecting leadership development at HEIs in a developing country setting.

Purpose: Preserving a country’s culture is crucial for its sustainability. Handicraft is a key draw for tourism destinations; it protects any civilisation’s indigenous knowledge and culture by managing the historical, economic, and ecological ecosystems and perfectly aligns with sustainable development. It has a significant role in creating employment, especially in rural regions and is an essential contributor to the export economy, mainly in developing nations. The study focuses on the skills required and existing gaps in the handicraft industry, its development and prospects by considering women and their role in preserving and embodying the traditional art of making handicrafts.

Approach: A framework has been developed for mapping and analysing the skills required in the handicraft sector using econometric modelling; an enormous number of skills have been crowdsourced from the respondents, and machine learning techniques have been used.

Findings: The findings of the study revealed that employment in this area is dependent not only on general or specialised skills but also on complex matrix skills ranging from punctuality to working in unclean and unsafe environments, along with a set of personal qualities, such as taking initiatives and specific skills, for example polishing and colour coding.

Implications: The skills mapping technique utilised in this study is applicable globally, particularly for women indulged in casual work in developing nations’ handicrafts industry. The sustainable development goals, tourism, and handicrafts are all interconnected. The research includes understanding skills mapping, which provides insights into efficient job matching by incorporating preferences and studying the demand side of casual working by women in the handicraft sector from a skills perspective.

In the digital age, the development of students’ career intentions requires serious concentration since these are associated with the students’ future employment and, ultimately, their survival. This study attempted to demonstrate in Pakistan’s Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) the role of soft skills towards the students' career development (CD) and their future career intentions (CI).

In this study, the researchers used a quantitative approach and a questionnaire to collect the data from the surveyed participants. Finally, the researchers based this study’s findings on 392 useable samples.

By employing the structural equation model (SEM), this study’s findings show that soft skills, such as Creative Self-Efficacy (CSE), Problem-Solving Confidence (PSC) and Teamwork (TW) have a positive and significant effect on CD and CI. However, while Critical thinking and Creativity (CRC) has a positive and significant effect on CD, it has no effect on CI. In addition, this study’s findings confirm, also, that CD has a positive and significant effect on CI.

This study’s findings assist policymakers and university administrators to understand the importance of soft skills in creating CD and CI. These promote the development of employability skills and fulfill its part in preparing graduates for the unpredictable job market. This study’s findings help, also, to develop logical reasoning in making decisions and in dealing with complex organizational issues.

In a practical way, in Pakistan, this study’s findings confirm the role of soft skills towards students' CD and CI.