Unemployment in any country is a grave concern.
It can
be attributable to multiple factors like
-
Slow
economic growth,
-
Slow
industrial growth,
-
Lack
of investment opportunities etc.
There
is another important aspect which is often ignored.
While
Academia
is complaining for slow job market.
Industry
is complaining about non availability of quality resources.
It’s
quite common to witness a sharp individual doing excellent job in interviews
but fails miserably in practical scenarios. In short merely theoretical
knowledge copying products and business models is no more helping graduates
stand out of crowd. Even graduates aiming towards entrepreneurship, normally
settles for less creative ideas like franchising instead of opting for ideas
that can address the gaps with in the society.
Industry
has tried to bridge this gap with on job trainings, however it’s not a
permanent solution and it’s also killing the productivity.
While concern is severe
but can be addressed with mutual co-operation of academia and industry. Few
areas that shall be addressed are:
Revision
& Alignment of Curriculum with Industry requirements
It’s time to ascertain gaps in curriculum to make it more practical. This can be achieved through involvement of industry specialists while devising the curriculum. This shall not be a onetime activity but shall be continue brainstorming activity.
Workplace exposure through internships, live projects, and corporate interactions:
Well-timed and well-deliberated exposure to the
industry provides a much-needed experience to the students. They can take the
form of internships or part-time projects that students can work on, which
provide practical insights about how the industry operates and expose
students to the current realities of the workplace. While there is no guarantee
that these internships will fetch permanent jobs, it will equip the students to
adjust to the needs of the business once they actually join the industry.
Such opportunities boost students’ confidence as they learn a lot by
being present in the workplace.
Up-skilling the faculty:
Apart from only focusing on the curriculum structure,
it is also imperative to provide the right exposure and training to the
faculty. Most of the faculty do not possess requisite industry experience which
comes in the way of imparting practical knowledge about industries. It will be
great if the faculty can regularly undertake short industrial projects in
collaboration with industry experts. This will help ensure that the faculty is
in line with the current industrial trends.
It would be great to see employers coming forward and
working exclusively with the academicians to create and develop a shared model
for jobs and curriculum to address their specific industry requirements. The
successful model will ensure many benefits for everyone -the graduating
students will find their transition into industry roles smoother, employers
will be able to hire people who are skilled and job-ready and academic
institutes will take great pride in seeing their students getting placed with
good firms.
Industry
exposure
It
shall be mandatory for the graduates to have industry exposure for example
Internships etc. While academia can argue that internships are already in place
but in most of cases this model has failed miserably.
While
for academia it’s just a formality and for industry these interns are mostly
restrained to clerical activities ranging from filing of documents to setting
up racks at day end. In rare case scenarios they gain relevant practical
knowledge. This need to be addressed with more rigorous controls from academia
towards monitoring interns as well as setting key objectives for industry to be
delivered during internships.
Industry-experienced
teachers & professors
Gaining
industry experience shall not be restrained only to students, it shall be
compulsory for the teachers and professors to have relevant industry
experience. I belief theoretical model has its own worth but without practical
exposure it cannot be translated into real life scenarios. This shall not imply
that PHD professors are losing worth. They have own strengths with research
back ground that shall be topped up with industry knowledge and to be updated regularly.
In addition academia shall invite industry professionals with relevant subject
knowledge to share practical insights with students. This activity shall be
done regularly.
Incubation
centers
Each
university shall have its own startup incubators, whereby students shall be
given an opportunity to share and test ideas under supervision of not only
academia but also industry professional. They shall be provided with relevant
resources financial or otherwise. This can ultimately not only broadens
horizons of an individual but can improve Institutes ranking multifold.
Entrepreneurship
and Commercial Viability
Technical
knowledge shall be bridged with business knowledge. No technical project can be
successful without a business case and vice-versa no project can be successful
without analyzing its technical aspects.
Academia
shall devise courses in a way that this gap can be addressed. Business
graduates shall be able to understand technical aspects and vice versa.
Academic
Research
Academic
research shall be tuned towards bridge the gap between knowledge producers and
knowledge users. Academic researchers shall come up research papers that are
addressing core industry problems and shall be more practical. Research shall
not only focused on developing new ideas & products but also ensure its
practical worth.
"In short, both academia and industry has to work together to being in necessary synergies focused towards delivering quality graduates that can play effective role in economy progression."
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