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Information technology (IT) and information technology enabled services (ITeS) small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Punjab and Chandigarh are claiming skilled manpower shortage.
The industry is of the view that in majority of the engineering institutions, the course curriculum is, by and large, theoretical with students having limited exposure to practical knowledge. This leads to a failure in meeting the needs of the industry.
The industry says big companies have infrastructure to train manpower according to their needs but SMEs can't afford to do that and are dependent on colleges.
There are over 170 information technology SMEs in Chandigarh and Punjab. In the recent past, there has been a growth of engineering colleges in Punjab, giving a picture that there is no dearth of technically sound students. However, institutes are not training students according to the trend or demands of the IT industry.
Speaking to Business Standard, Abhishek Gupta, founder, Indian Mesh, said, "In 5-10 years, we have seen a significant growth in the number of colleges that offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in IT and computer engineering. But many institutes have failed to deliver the manpower required by the industry. We have witnessed a huge decline in the standards of education, therefore, the majority of these graduates are unemployable. Now these colleges are finding it hard to fill seats."
The company is into mobile application development.
Another entrepreneur said not many structural changes have taken place in the curriculum, though rapid developments are taking place continuously in science and technology. The assignments given are often routine and do not involve any new development.
Indian Mesh has set up iMesh Lab to train young graduates and give them research and innovation exposure.
Abhishek said, "Faculty has limited industry exposure so they are not able to empower students according to the needs of the industry. For example, though there has been phenomenal scope in mobile applications such as Android and iOS platforms, these are yet to find a place in many institutes' curriculums. We provide training in latest IT technologies such as Android and iOS, Java and PHP. We also make students work on live projects with our experts. After undergoing training they get expertise in their field. We also offer scholarships to students and job opportunities to bright candidates."
EDUCATED BUT NOT JOB-READY
- Most engineering and information technology courses are theoretical
- Students get limited exposure to practical knowledge
- Curriculums often fails to meet the needs of the industries
- SMEs don't have the infrastructure to train manpower according to their needs
