'India Is Rapidly Emerging As A Global Hub For Education, Learning...': Wiley India Head

With over 200-years old history, NYSE listed Wiley has transformed from an academic publisher to a global leader in research and education, working dedicatedly towards three impact areas in India. Ritesh Kumar, Country Lead, Wiley India talks to Ashish Sinha on its India growth story.

Excerpts: 

Wiley has been in India for a long time now. What is your outlook for the India market?
India is a strategic focus market for Wiley, and Wiley’s global leadership is very committed to its employees, customers and clients in the country. Given the accelerated pace at which the country is growing across industries and sectors, India is rapidly emerging as a global hub for education, learning, research and talent development, thereby creating more opportunities and avenues for Wiley to continue to build on its 215-year-old legacy.

How is Wiley contributing to the overall education and academic ecosystem?
Over its 215-year-old history, Wiley has transformed from an academic publisher to a leader in digital content, platforms and services in both research and education. As a leader in the knowledge industry, we enable discovery through scientific research, power career-connected education for students and professionals by making education (on-site, online, or both) more practical and useful, and shape workforces for employers so that employers find and develop the best talent. 

Our corporate momentum cuts across our entire business. For example, globally, we’re helping Pfizer with their research career centers, P&G with their scientific knowledge hubs, and Amazon Canada with tech training. In every step of the way, we are guided by our vision of unlocking human potential and making a meaningful impact on the world by supporting learners, institutions, and corporations in achieving their goals.

How are you leading the industry transition to open access?
The pandemic has reimagined the world’s relationship with science – often for the better. As we face a future where the climate crisis will deepen, and future pandemics loom, it’s absolutely essential that the public has access to high-quality science.

Open access primarily stands for increased openness, increased reproducibility, and increased collaboration. In today’s world, the open research revolution is being driven by new, digital tools for scientific collaboration and publishing, which make peer-reviewed scientific knowledge more easily accessible by professionals and the general public. While it is important to expand open access offerings, it is equally important to do so in a legal and sustainable way that allows the vibrant research ecosystem to grow and thrive.

At Wiley, we believe that open access is the future of academic research and therefore, we are committed to accelerating the industry’s transition to open access. We’re making cutting-edge research more readily available to the scientific community to drive more innovation and advancement. This type of immediate access to knowledge is essential during a global health crisis, like Covid and ongoing pressing global challenges like the climate crisis.

Additionally, we’re growing our research solutions -- we are delivering the infrastructure and publishing services to help our customers, including societies, associations, and corporations, succeed in the open future.

Employers are dealing with a massive skills gap as they are not able to find skilled talent. How is Wiley addressing these gaps?
As technology continues to advance, the skills required of people across the world are also evolving at a rapid pace. According to ‘National Employability Report for Engineers 2019’ report, in India particularly, over 80% of engineers are unfit to take up any job in the knowledge economy and only 1.5% of engineers are fit for new-age jobs.  A report from International LabourOrganisations(ILO) indicates that there will be 29 million skill-deficit in India by 2030. These statistics point to a growing skill and employability gap, especially with entry-level talent.

At Wiley, we are cognizant of the fact that identifying, recruiting or onboarding skilled talent is a herculean task. Organizations, therefore, need an alternative and complementary source of graduate talent that addresses risks and provides a strong return on investment – and that’s where Wiley’s Talent Development solution, Wiley Edge comes into the picture. Since our acquisition of Wiley Edge (previously mthree) in 2020, we have been working passionately towards solving the skills gap problem for leading global employers. 

Wiley Edge is working directly with employers across North America, UK, Europe, and APAC, to address their talent or skilling needs. In India alone, the training and deployment of graduates into Fortune 500 companies across the technology, banking and finance sectors, has grown four times since 2021. This growth is attributed to our concentrated quality efforts attuned to the core objective of bridging the skill gap.

Our Alumni offering focuses on custom-trained emerging talent. We harness a hire-train-deploy model that finds college grads and equips them with in-demand skill sets to meet the highly specific needs of individual corporations. After spending 3-12 weeks at our academy, graduates are deployed to one of Wiley’s clients for 12-24 months, after which they transition into full-time roles.

How is Wiley contributing to skilling and re-skilling the existing workforce in India and across the globe?
According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of all employees around the world need to upskill or reskill by 2025 to embrace the changing nature of jobs. Today, the focus of both the employers and the employees has shifted back to upskilling, re-skilling and lifelong learning. Globally, Wiley Beyond is encouraging employer upskilling and re-skilling initiatives by providing companies impactful employer-sponsored education programs. Wiley Edge is helping corporations unlock the potential within their existing workforces through upskilling and reskilling programs — a need that has grown more acute during the Great Resignation.

Wiley’s University Services, works towards providing technology-enabled education solutions to meet the evolving needs of universities, corporations, and ultimately, learners. University Services has partnered with over 70 institutions across the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Australia, and supports over 800-degree programs. In India, we offer  WileyNXT, an online executive education program partner which supports educators and universities in India and Singapore. Through quality services to institutions and universities, WileyNXT aims to make learning more engaging and help employees find new ways to achieve, get certified, and advance their careers in the skills of the future. University Services helps universities to build and scale high-quality online education programs in order to reach working professionals and lifelong learners.