CHENNAI: In order to introduce the new trending courses, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to appoint new industry partners for 2026-2027 to provide fresh skill training to the students in Arts and Science, Engineering and Polytechnic colleges under the Naan Mudhalvan upskilling initiative.

Naan Mudhalvan provides free employment-linked skill development training to the youth in the age group of 18-35 years across the state, fully funded by the state government through Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC).

A senior official from the Higher Education Department said that Naan Mudhalvan desires to engage industry and eminent training partners to deliver training for students pursuing Engineering, Arts and Science, Polytechnic Colleges and ITIs in the state.

"The selected training partners will deliver training across the defined zone as offline in-person sessions as per the defined training calendar," he said adding the training duration will range between 45 and 60 hours, spreading across a semester.

According to the official, the selected industry partners will be responsible for providing both student training (in their respective colleges) and faculty training, along with industry certifications.

"In addition, the industry partner will also provide Training of Trainers (ToT) programs, ensuring continuous faculty development and assessment", he said, adding "all the skill courses under Naan Mudhalvan will be embedded in respective university curriculum as mandatory credit programmes run during the college hours."

The official said that all the selected industry partners will submit the course syllabus with learning outcomes, final test projects, industry use cases, detailed learning materials, assessment plan and rubrics in a structured manner with guidelines of evaluation for faculties and students as per the format decided by TNSDC.

He said more than 60 courses will be introduced under the scheme for engineering students, 38 courses for Arts and Science colleges, and 43 training programmes for polytechnic students.

"We have already invited Expression of Interest to engage industry and training partners for the scheme," he added.