Noida, Aug 20: Skills Development Network Trust, an independent non-profit organization advancing skilling and employability across India, supported by Wadhwani Foundation has partnered with Knimbus, a digital library platform used by over 600 institutions and more than 2 million authenticated users, to expand access to employability and job-readiness learning for students across Indian campuses.
The partnership was formalized through an MoU signed at Sharda University, Greater Noida, during its National Librarian’s Day event, “From Knowledge to Opportunity: Reimagining the Library as a Learning, Skills & Career Hub.”
Through the partnership, Wadhwani JobRise and Wadhwani JobConnect -employability and career-readiness programs designed to help learners build workplace skills, prepare for interviews and connect with job opportunities – will be made available through Knimbus-powered institutional digital libraries. Students at participating institutions will be able to access the programs through the same authenticated digital library environment they already use for academic resources.
The rollout will be undertaken in phases in consultation with participating institutions.
Tarun Arora, Founder and CEO, Knimbus, said,
“On National Librarian’s Day it is worth saying plainly: the library is the most underused piece of employability infrastructure in Indian higher education. With Skills Development Network Trust, the millions of Knimbus logins can now also opens job-readiness and interview preparation programmes. No new system for the college, no new registration for the student.”
Col. Santosh Kumar, VP – Skilling, Skills Development Network Trust, said,
“Our focus at Skill Development Network is to help youth find a dignified, sustainable path into the world of work, whether as an employee or as a microentrepreneur. Through the Wadhwani JobReady Programme, we prepare learners with the skills employers actually need, and through our Micro-Entrepreneurship Programme, we help others build livelihoods of their own rather than wait for one. Knimbus already has an established digital relationship with hundreds of institutions and their students. This partnership gives us a practical, at-scale way to bring Wadhwani JobReady and Wadhwani JobConnect directly into platforms students already use turning readiness into real opportunity, faster.”
Dr. S. K. Sahoo, University Librarian and Event Director, Sharda University, said,
“For a long time a library was measured by what it held. On National Librarian’s Day, I would rather we were measured by what our students go on to do. Knimbus has already changed how our students reach knowledge — it brought our subscribed journals, repositories, OPAC and open-access collections onto a single platform that carries Sharda’s own identity, and put it in the hands of every student, wherever they are studying from. With Skills Development Network Trust, that same door now also opens on employability and career readiness from access to knowledge, to skills, to employment. Connecting a student to what they need next is what librarians have always done; this partnership simply widens what we are able to offer them. In the tradition of Dr S. R. Ranganathan, our library becomes the place where learning meets livelihood.”
The MoU was signed during Sharda University’s National Librarian’s Day program, attended by librarians, faculty, placement officers and academic leaders from institutions across Delhi NCR. A leadership panel featuring Prof. Dr. Sibaram Khara, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University; Col. Santosh Kumar; and Tarun Arora explored the changing role of campus libraries in an era of AI and growing employability expectations.
Through Wadhwani JobRise and Wadhwani JobConnect, participating institutions will be able to provide students with career-focused learning, job-readiness and interview-preparation support, including access to AI-enabled learning tools.
