It is a worrying anomaly that a country which has a very large number of institutions of higher learning, generates a mind-boggling number of graduates every year, has very favourable demographics in terms of the age of employable resources, is still grappling with a very serious problem of demand-supply gap for manpower. While the industry is deeply worried about the employability of fresh graduates, academic institutions are perennially trying to find ways of ensuring that the quality of its output does not get diluted on account of the need to focus on quantum. It is an issue that requires the serious and immediate attention of all stakeholders, otherwise we have to contend with the unpleasant reality of India continuing to remain a country with enormous potential – however with the potential never being tapped.
There have been several initiatives by various institutions and organizations, including the government to deal with this problem. These have included several organizations, coming forward to impart practical training to students, helping educational institutions with training resources and inputs to keep the teachers updated on latest technologies, providing opportunities for student projects etc. Other organizations have attempted to create evaluation and accreditation systems to ensure minimum acceptable knowledge and skill levels. Educational institutions on their part have tweaked their curriculum to include more project based work and interaction with industry. Industrial bodies and government departments have taken important steps to provide technological and infrastructural support in this mammoth task.
Despite all this however, the problem still remains. While most of these initiatives are extremely laudable and absolutely necessary, they are constrained primarily on account of two factors. The first issue is one of scalability. Organizational initiatives often remain as pockets of excellence but are unable to ramp-up to an all inclusive scale that can straddle all institutions in multiple geographies. The second issue is that of scope.
Institutional efforts that have managed to scale have largely been focused on just one or two of the many issues on hand – like faculty training, certification or soft skills. The crux of the matter is that the issue is a highly multi-dimensional one that needs to cover the gamut of issues from alignment of curriculum to industry needs and pedagogy to issues of nurturing innovation and creating strong IP within the country.
In this context Research Parks can be an important strategic tool. The IIT Madras Research Park is the country's first university research park of its kind. It attempts to take industry-academia interaction which has been restricted predominantly to a recruitment-centric phenomenon to a different trajectory altogether. Some of its highlights are:
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- Teaching by industry personnel to facilitate greater exposure to industry practices
- Use of students as project interns so that they are more industry-ready by the time they graduate
- Sponsoring employees for part-time programs to increase the quantum and quality of research within the educational institution
- Collaborative research and product development to be able to create a strong portfolio of IP
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It brings all the important stakeholders together – viz., the academic institution, the government and industry. This is extremely important if any initiative is to have a lasting impact.
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It does not rely on just one organization or a single sector but gets multiple organizations together to work on a common agenda. This is important to create critical mass and be able to scale the initiative.
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It does not wait for the students to graduate to impart the necessary skills but gets the industry to actively engage with the students throughout their tenure in the institution.
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It attempts to seamlessly blend industry initiatives with as many priorities of educational institutions as possible in order to have an all-pervasive impact. These include:
- Teaching by industry personnel to facilitate greater exposure to industry practices
- Use of students as project interns so that they are more industry-ready by the time they graduate
- Sponsoring employees for part-time programs to increase the quantum and quality of research within the educational institution
- Collaborative research and product development to be able to create a strong portfolio of IP
It is hoped that an initiative of this kind can be an important tool to significantly bridge the industry- academia divide.
About the Author
Sandhya Shekhar's career spans three decades, of which the last two decades have been in C-level positions. She has worked primarily in consulting and IT organisations, evolving strategy and solution architectures across multiple verticals. Sandhya has also set up innovation ecosystems, driving collaborative research, innovation and entrepreneurship. She currently works with both corporates and educational institutions in India and abroad, in strategy consulting, research and as a visiting faculty.