Retailers Association of India partners with IGNOU for offering employment-oriented academic prog

Retailers Association of India (RAI) on Thursday said it has extended its partnership with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for offering skill-based and employment-oriented BBA (Retailing) academic programme with a modular approach.

The programme has been jointly designed and developed by IGNOU in collaboration with RAI and the two parties have renewed their memorandum of understanding, RAI said in a statement.

Commenting on the collaboration, RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan said the USD 854 billion Indian retail industry employs over 46 million people and hiring is expected to see an uptrend in the years to come.

''We believe that employment in the retail sector will increase by as much as 25 per cent in the next five years. This tie-up is very useful to the industry to attract talent and also to nurture talent for career progression,'' he added.

Under the programme, learners are exposed to three months of internship during their study, where they get practical exposure to major operations of retailing, which enhances their employability in the retail sector. This is an initiative by the IGNOU to promote university-industry collaboration as envisaged in the new education policy 2020.

With the retails sector gradually recovering from the COVID-19 induced disruptions of last year, RAI said collaboration among different stakeholders including government, financial and academic institutions, industry bodies, businesses and even customers will be key in stimulating growth and recovery.

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