Professional networking platform LinkedIn and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on Tuesday announced a partnership which will provide free access to LinkedIn Learning resources to upskill Indian young professionals and create a future-ready digital workforce.

Under the partnership, 10 free LinkedIn Learning paths (consisting of 140 courses) for a range of in-demand tech jobs, will be made available for free on eSkill India digital platform until March 31, 2021.

According to LinkedIn data, Indian professionals with digital skills are 20 per cent more in demand than professionals without digital skills in 2020.

With this in mind, the LinkedIn and NSDC collaboration aims to enable a future-ready digital workforce by providing access to free learning resources aligned with 10 in-demand jobs in today’s digital economy.

“Our partnership with NSDC further reinforces our commitment to close the skills gap and help the Indian workforce upskill for jobs of the present and future,” Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn, said in a statement.

“We hope to continue to use the power of our products and platform to build a more equitable and just future, and create economic opportunity for all,” Gupta added.

According to the company, the 10 free LinkedIn Learning paths will help India’s youth develop the skills needed for those jobs.

Each learning path includes a series of video content designed to help job-seekers develop core digital skills needed for an in-demand tech role, covering a broad range of skills from entry-level digital literacy to advanced product-based skills.

The professional networking platform is also making available three soft skills LinkedIn Learning paths for free on the eSkill India portal.

As part of the partnership, LinkedIn will additionally be providing periodic labour market insights based on LinkedIn’s Economic Graph of over 69 million members in India.

This will include in-demand skills, emerging jobs, and global hiring rates for the NSDC to better understand the skilling ecosystem.

“Our collaboration with LinkedIn reflects our commitment to advance digital competencies and skills of young professionals,” said Manish Kumar, CEO and MD, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). IANS