What the program to train nurses for Germany tells us about skilling

Creating a skilled workforce for the global labour market is an important aspect of India’s development strategy. The government has made access to labour markets of countries a part of trade agreements. The programme to train nurses for employment in Germany can offer a study on how successful this can be.

In all the traditional destination countries like the U.K., U.S., and Canada, migrant issues have come to the forefront over the last few years. There is a sizable difference in the kind and amount of people who go to these countries because a lot restrictions have come into place. As skilled international migration becomes a contested topic with ongoing discussions in Europe and other regions, some researchers in India are working to ensure there are safe channels of migration available. They are also working to establish migrants as individual with rights as opposed to merely labour.

The Hindu speaks to Varsha Joshi, Senior Research Associate at the International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMAD), Thiruvananthapuram, who has been awarded a fully funded Ph.D. position in social science research at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. Her doctoral research will examine the India–Germany migration corridor under the University’s Research Training Group (RTG). Ms. Joshi looks at the changes in these destination countries with a more Europe focused lens, especially on Germany. She talks about the Triple Win programme and what we learn from it about creating a skilled population for the global workforce.

As per the official website of the Triple Win programme, there is a shortage of nursing professionals throughout Germany – and the demand for nurses is increasing as people are living longer lives. At the same time, well-trained nurses are frequently unable to find suitable work in their home countries. In response to this issue, the Triple Win programme was launched in 2013 as a joint project by the International and Specialised Services (ZAV) of the Federal Employment Agency of Germany and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with the goal of bringing nursing staff from countries with surplus labour to work at hospitals and elderly care institutions in Germany.

Could you brief us about your area of research and its inception?

In Kerala over the last ten years or even the last five years after COVID, I observed the number of German language institutes that have opened up and the kind of people that are rushing into Germany because of the opportunities it’s presented. There are a lot of government programs that are being run government to government (G2G) signed between India and Germany.

One of the key programs is the Triple Win Program, which is signed between the Kerala government through an institution called NORKA (Non-Resident Keralite Association) and the German government. It is a mobility agreement under which 200 nurses are recruited annually and deployed to Germany. G2G programs are important to study because there are many cases of recruitment cheating in India, so having a strong G2G model helps ensure that ethical recruitment standards are set.

My research topic under this fellowship for the next four years will focus on the Triple Win Program. I will study how the program works. I will closely follow the cohort of 200 nurses that the Kerala government will be recruiting this year through NORKA. I will also be in Germany at Bayfield University, where I will be conducting my doctoral research as part of the fellowship, and I have contacts in Germany as well, so I will also speak with German counterparts. The idea is to understand the India–Germany corridor from both sides, with a specific focus on nurses and the Triple Win Program.

I was selected into a research training group. In Germany, these are called RTGs, or Research Training Groups. Research Training Group 2951 focuses exclusively on cross-border labour markets. This RTG is spread across two main universities, Bayfield and the University of Duisburg, with another university in Germany also participating. So this is a multi-university research training group. The specialty of the fellowship lies in the RTG itself, rather than the university alone.

Through the Triple Win, what inference can we draw regarding creating a skilled population for the global workforce?

Triple Win is merely facilitating placement of a skilled work force, whose skilling was completed in origin country (India). The success of such programs is indicative of how similar programmes can be developed for other sectors as well to ensure placement of India’s skilled workforce through the best and ethical way possible. This is not to promote the idea of migration and push the narrative of brain drain, rather to ensure that there are safe channels of migration available for those who aspire to move. By the numbers we have, we are talking of millions of aspiring migrants

If you see the perspective of both this government, or previous government, one key element of their strategy for development was to supply skilled manpower to global market. Is this the right way in today’s circumstances where right-wing ideology is dominant and people are against immigrants? Should we still bank on that? It will definitely give more exposure and create opportunities for Indians, but is this sustainable or viable?

Across governments, migrants and migration have only increased. As we speak, Indians are the largest diaspora in most of the major destination countries. It is difficult to look at international migration from a governance lens in India as so much of the international migration happens in regional clusters like Kerala, Punjab, Telengana, and others with different migration patterns.

The movement of Indian labour to other countries precedes any formal ‘strategy for development by supplying manpower to the global market’ – if anything, currently, the G2G programs that I am studying are trying to see how these movements can be formalised to ensure minimum risk. In the case of nurse migration, so much of the motivation is economic well-being as they mostly come from vulnerable backgrounds.

The G2G programs like TripleWin, aim to ensure the migration journey for these nurses happens under the highest ethical standards. However, this also means bureaucratic delays and other challenges, which are not present in a private recruitment channel. On the other hand, private recruitment channels have their own ethical issues, including constant deception and false certifications.

With regard to the question of manpower migrating to countries with increasing anti-migrant sentiments, we should understand that these are destination countries with large labour needs, so being a migration forward country, Indians will explore these options. Now the question is how much of our migration governance as a major origin country needs to be stepped up to ensure the well-being of Indian migrants abroad. This needs to be done so the migrants are not just seen as labour supply, but also people with rights and a strong origin country backing those rights.

Have you examined any other migration corridors?

Over the last three years, I have been working on a project called Link for Skills, which is funded by Horizon Europe. Horizon Europe funds many projects related to migration and brings together multiple countries. This is a 14-country partner study, and India is one of them. My supervisor, S. L. Dayarajan, and I are working on this project. It examines migration corridors such as India–Germany, India–Netherlands, and India–Austria, focusing on emerging European corridors. My doctoral research is a follow-up to this project.

Are there any interesting findings from the Link for Skills project?

We are currently in the final year of the project, which will conclude by the end of this year. One key finding is that although there is a broader India–Europe focus, India’s migration and mobility relationships with different destination countries vary widely. The type of migrants going to the Netherlands differs significantly from those going to Austria, and the sectoral focus also varies.

Although German is spoken in both Austria and Germany, the presence of G2G programs in Germany makes a significant difference. Germany invests heavily in these programs due to greater resources, which allows for better regulation of recruitment, higher quality of migrants, and stronger ethical standards within the corridor. This is not the case for India–Netherlands or India–Austria corridors, where governance mechanisms are weaker. Comparing these corridors highlights differences in ethical standards and governance structures.

Published – February 16, 2026 02:40 pm IST