India has the potential to emerge as the skill capital of the world, provided the country succeeds in equipping working age population with marketable skills.Vice President M Hamid Ansari told this today while delivering the convocation address at the North Maharashtra University at Jalgaon. India is one of the few countries where the working age population will be far in excess of those dependent on them. According to the World Bank, this will continue for at least three decades till 2040. Mr Ansari said that this would be a potential source of strength for our economy, if we take the right steps to harness this demographic dividend. Mr Ansari added that if the GDP grows at an average rate of about 8% till 2022, it is expected that a skilled workforce of 500 million people is needed by 2022, with around 12 million people expected to join the workforce every year. For an economy to sustain this growth rate, it would be essential for the workforce to be exposed to acquiring newer skills either through higher/technical education or vocation skills or a combination of both.Quoting the 12th Plan document, Ansari, however lamented that our higher education institutions suffer from problems of quality and that 'too many of our universities are producing graduates in subjects that are not required by the changing job market. While there are 227 million children studying in schools, only 15.3 million students enrol for higher education and vocational training.Vice President Ansari said skill development is a stupendous challenge, but at the same time offers great opportunity too. Quoting the Yashpal Committee Report on the Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education, the Vice President called for mainstreaming of vocational education sector into the University curriculum.Governments, corporate sector, civil society and NGOs will have to combine their efforts in a mission mode towards the attainment of this goal by 2022.