INSTITUTE OF LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
An Entity of Change for the Educational Arena
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
This immortal phrase coined by the late Mahatma Gandhi is the guiding light for many individuals across the planet. Knowledge is the most valuable asset in this era that scales the growth of a person. The fact is evident from people seeking growth. To stay ahead in this competitive market, people strive for more knowledge. Many National and International Institutes come up with tailored courses to feed the appetite of knowledge worldwide. Institute of Learning & Development (ILD), is one of the posh foundations providing qualified training solutions and education consultancy services. With numerous value-added learning solutions, ILD serves professionals from corporate as well as public sectors, youth from educational institutes – in short, people from all ages and backgrounds.
GUIDING PEOPLE OVER 2 DECADES
ILD was founded in 2001, in Hong Kong by renowned educationist, entrepreneur of change and critically acclaimed author Dr Rita Vyas Nagarkar. Its purpose propels upon Dr. Vyas Nagarkar’s belief, “life long learning is the cornerstone of a person’s development”. Its customized solutions are known for creativity, focused content backed by, effective delivery. Its multifarious course-portfolio contains topics that cover over twenty-five career streams – and thousands of bite-sized learning materials. Parallelly, it provides Branding and Design Services, Youth-SME Bridging Internships, University-Industry/Community Bridging Seminars, Content and Curriculum Development as well as Document Design solutions.
ILD is revered, for filling the gaps of knowledge and skill-sets making people competent for their desired goals. In its long and resilient stint, it has satisfied hundreds of world-class companies and brands. Its excellence has driven its proficient trainers, whose academic expertise shapes ILD as trustworthy Institute for Non-Formal education. Most of these trainers are doctorate and have substantial teaching experience. Also, ILD’s course developers and advisors are selected amongst renowned academicians to ensure an International standard for contents.
Its courses mainly focus on areas such as Discourse and Genre Analysis, English for Specific Purposes, Langugae for Specific Purposes, Professional Communication, Intercultural & Cross-cultural Communication, Soft Skills for Personal and Professional Growth, Entrepreneurship & Business, Marketing & Sales, Advertising & Branding, Train the Trainer, Coaching & Mentoring, Wellness, Ecology & Environment, Marine Science as well as Needs Assessments & Document design, to name a few.
A WELL – DEFINED MENTOR
Whether in academics, authoring books/blogs or becoming an entrepreneur of change, Dr. Vyas Nagarkar has excelled in all the facets. Her transcending qualities are fostered, by her edification and knowledge of diverse elements. She completed her M.A from R.D University, Jabalpur. Afterwards, she did her M.Phil from the University of Hong Kong; also, earned a Ph.D in English Linguistics focused upon communication, language and culture, from City University of Hong Kong. Thereafter, Dr. Vyas Nagarkar embarked on her entrepreneurial journey in 2001, intending to support people’s development across the globe. Instead of teaching profession, Dr. Vyas Nagarkar desired to make a difference; hence, choosing entrepreneurship as a career.
Fortunately, her risk was worthy of its effort – ILD has grown into a holy sanctum of educators, course developers and researchers of diverse backgrounds and ages from all over the world.“I wanted to provide quality courses and learning materials on varied subjects for students of diverse ages and backgrounds”, comments Dr. Vyas Nagarkar.
Through ILD, she has culminated a transformational change for millions of people across the globe. As of now, ILD has more than 1.5 million online learners and 10M Beneficiaries across Hong Kong, Macau, Greater China, as well as the Asia – Pacific region. Furthermore, it has completed 20000+ assesments and provided more than 1200 learning materials and books.
BRINGING CHANGE IN THE ACADEMIA
Dr. Vyas Nagarkar has been in the academic arena for more than 25 years mainly focusing on teaching, research, and consultancy. She has mentored corporates, civil servants in Hong Kong government, Mainland China, India and other parts of the Asia Pacific region. During this period, she found two hurdles that required sustainable action. First, was that useful academic research very often got lost in academic journals. This was a waste of time and money, as research only benefited the researcher and excluded practitioners in its field and the broader community.
Second, she observed a major ambiguity between learners’ employability skills and formal education. These loopholes needed to be filled since, traditional education wasn’t enough to make a person employable in this fast-track generation. ILD emerged as a bridge to every aspirer’s objective while curating solutions that benefit the wider community.
Built upon core values like Credibility, Quality and Trust, ILD has carved niche expertise in an immensely volatile sphere. The team on board are well-defined leaders, authors and academic researchers, who make ILD committed to its core purpose. The robust team also help in procuring tech-augmentations that provides personalized customer experiences. The Company has automated back-office systems, virtual assistants and other digital innovations for building teaching teams across the world. The team also invests into R&D to garner knowledge, develop and design tailored contents and keep the company updated with trends.
A WELL-NURTURED WORKFORCE ON BOARD
“We make sure that our organization and employee values are aligned during the recruitment process to ensure that the new employee will be compatible from the very start”, says the founder. The sustainability of a company depends upon the integrity and development of its employees. ILD’s greatest asset is its team; as such, they are treated with the same respect and understanding as to the clients. Employees are provided time-to-time feedbacks and supervisory support, making them clear on the Company’s goals. They are also equipped, with proper resources to incur results at deadlines. Parallelly, employees’ well-being, is ensured through effective communication between the team and the upper echelon
The transparency ensures an uninterrupted flow of information and flexibility between all. Employees are nurtured on individual skills putting them to good use and are challenged with Company aligned tasks and responsibilities. Employees are also given the authority to make a decision when needed. ILD also conducts after-work parties, staff lunch, team-work workshops, festival/get-togethers, boat trips and much more for their enthusiasm.
UNBROKEN TO THE PANDEMIC
COVID-19 has been the most novel challenge for ILD but wasn’t able to shut them down. They pushed forward leveraging on digital technology, conducting online training. ILD remodelled its business – design & deliver courses and stayed connected with candidates and employees. The adaptive method made them more proficient with remote meeting and training platforms, helping them expand outside the Asia-Pacific market to Europe and beyond.
A JOURNEY WITH SEVERAL LANDMARKS
In the last 2 decades, ILD has surpassed many challenges and won several landmarks in the process. It has received reputable teaching development grants from the government to devise school-based curriculum, project-based learning as well as teacher training. For its spectacular contribution to people’s development, it has received research grants to research topics that align with the government regulations or those that are linked to people’s welfare. For example, ILD participated in prestigious CERG funded research on Food Labelling Regulation, whose findings were shared for community benefit.
“Lifelong learning and continuing acquisition of knowledge and skills is the cornerstone of a person’s development” – Dr. Rita Vyas Nagarkar
