Seminar on Industry Academia Partnerships & Pathways in Kolkata

The industry and academia are working together to make India's youth employable but the partnership needs to be taken to the next level, was the essential takeaway from the panel discussion ‘Industry Academia Partnership & Pathways’, organised by Business Standard in association with the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

According to an Indian Chamber study, it is estimated that 75 per cent of the employment in India will be contributed by the services and manufacturing sectors which will require skilled professionals across various sectors. Also, the developed world is going to face a shortage of skilled talent shortage of around 56 million by 2030 and India has the potential to fill this gap. But the big question is around employability of Indian graduates.

Biju Paul Abraham, Dean (Academic) & Professor of Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, explained that for students who graduate from the premier institutes, finding jobs is not an issue. But after being placed, there may be an expectation mismatch as far as institutions and firms are concerned. "A significant part of the training will have to be provided by the firms. It's not a plug and play."

Saikat Maitra, Vice Chancellor, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, talked about how the education system was changing. "We have created windows of opportunity for the student to get first-hand experience from the industry and they can get academic compensation for it so that the student is employable immediately after certification."

Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director, East and Northeast India, British Council Division, British Deputy High Commission, said that there was a crisis in the techno-managerial mode of employment. "The academia and industry would need to reimagine the 21st century skills that beat around compassion, communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking, and there is leadership and resilience. In combination, these are the attitudes or aptitudes that make or break great employees," he said.

Kalyan Kar, Co-Founder and Director of InSkills, added that in the next five years, 47 per cent of traditional jobs would vanish, so adaptability was important. "Is the academia coming forward to address this, otherwise we are heading towards a jobless growth," he said.