In presenting his lead paper, Dr Chandrakant thanked the Commonwealth Secretariat for inviting him to the seminar and for providing him with an opportunity to share his experiences in the area of technician education and industrial co-operation. Through conferences, the Commonwealth Secretariat had brought together distinguished educationists to cross-fertilize ideas and experiences, to present newly-acquired perspectives and to point new directions. The Huddersfield Conference of 1966 was in his view an important landmark in technician education and training, because it was the first to be concerned in depth with planning and developing technician education systems in relation to other socio-economic needs.