Dear Students,
LAST WEEK WE ASKED:
Do you think NSDC’s idea to work with engineering colleges to meet the skill gap in engineering graduates is good?
BEST RESPONSE
National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) found only one in four engineering graduates to be employable. NSDC, which aims to train 150 million people by 2020 would be instrumental in helping to meet the skill gap in engineering graduates. NSDC's partnering with engineering colleges would help impart the required skills to the engineering graduates which would increase their employability. As India progresses on its growth path, it is important that there is an increase in the investment in the education sector to meet the increasing demand for skilled labour to support the industrial development. According to the government, only 10 per cent of India's workforce is made up of highly skilled workers; the corresponding proportion is at least 50 per cent in developed countries. The central government has also increased the planned allocation for education to over Rs 52,000 crore for 2011-12, which is 24 per cent more than the previous fiscal.
—Sanket Agrawal,
Institute of Management, Nirma University (IMNU), Ahmedabad.
OTHER RESPONSES
Currently India produces over 4,50,000 engineering graduate every year. However, only a marginal percentage of them have the basic foundation required for employment. The industry expects a fresher to possess strong fundamental abilities and skills like verbal, analytical, apart from good communication skills. What is learnt in schools, college and even management or technical education institutes is not adequately related to business and corporate requirements. Thus there is a mismatch. The fast changing demands of the industry and the professional world has made it mandatory for all the professionals to hone their personality developments in addition to their hard skills. Ergo NSDC’s idea to work with engineering colleges to meet the skill gap in engineering graduates is welcome step.
—Nilaya Mitsah Shanker,
Shri Ram Swaroop Memorial College Of Engineering and Management (SRMCEM), Lucknow.
The number of employable graduates churned out from engineering colleges every year is quite low and this will be a small step to better the already grim situation. In the pursuit of providing education to everyone, quality has been compromised. And so the need for such tie-ups has arisen. Definitely this endeavor is a positive step but not enough to bring down the huge (80 per cent) unemployable number to a negligible one. It would be good if there are more such tie-ups and some conscious effort is put in finding and stemming the root cause behind this dubious phenomenon.
—Rahul Gautam, B.Tech,
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-D).
Students who pass out of professional courses like engineering, medicine or any stream for that matter, come out by cramming notes provided to them. The ultimate result is that there is no development of technical skill required of students passing out of such professional courses being brought out. Educational institutions, moreover, have to consider getting into the skills space to make students employable from day one. Never mind if the formal education system itself is creaking at the seams and not preparing students to meet the challenges of a new economy. The supposed 'stigma' associated with skill development has resulted in low enrolments in vocational education courses. This has led to a situation where we don't have enough people to build bridges, lay pipelines or work in factories and such jobs which requires the technical expertise or skill.
—A. Bhuvana Bhimaiah,
Alagappa University, Bangalore
With a major population of India being youth, the bracket needs to be knowledgeable and skilled to engage in profitable ventures. The mismatch between the existing personnel demand in terms of vacancies in the government and non-government sector and the people waiting for jobs can at best be minimised only by structured training. In this direction the role of NACDs is highly laudable as they have plans to train all the engineering graduates by going to their colleges. With a proliferation of private engineering colleges, the quality of skilled and employable professionals is a matter of concern and it is hardly 10-15 per cent. Unless they are trained for jobs the manpower resources will be become wasteful. The NACD will do well to train other sectors like diploma holders, ITI students and other drop-outs also particularly from rural and semi-urban areas so that they could also enter into mainstream. The government should make it mandatory for all graduate students to have compulsory appenticeship training for six months in industrial and service sector.
—B Venkatesh,
Rai Business School, Chennai
The efforts of students can be channelised to ensure that the training and learning that these under skilled engineering graduates have, should meet industry standards. The approach should be more towards incorporating these skills in the degree course rather than trying to bridge the gap rather than setting up external centers, like the ones by NSDC's. The current engineering courses cover majorly two aspect, theory and practical learning, and to make them employable, NSDC should try and emphasise on increasing the latter portion and ensuring the degree standards meet the industry requirements.
Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.
NSDC was one of the great initiations taken by the government, where the purpose was to nourish student skills and to give them practical knowledge on the corporate culture, specifically in a student's particular domain. Statistically speaking, out of the three million engineers passing out every year, 80 per cent are unemployable, this itself highlights the gap between; the quality of engineers present in the market and the actual corporate requirement. NSDC will provide a helping hand in the enhancing the soft skills and mould in the student in his skill requirements. Thus, it's a great initiative taken by NSDC to work with engineers, which would mold their personality and attitude to fulfill the requirement of the corporate world.
—Avadhoot.U.Revankar,
WLC College Mumbai.
Since the last decade, the software industry boom and the bulk recruitments by companies have provided students with enough motivation to take up engineering after high school. According to the survey carried out by a number of agencies, more than 70 percent of our engineering graduates are not employable. What India needs today is innovation in the learning process and improvements in curriculum with appropriate training. With such a public private partnership through NSDC, I believe that it can bring about a fresh change in the system and hopefully, we can hope that the tie-up would yield fruitful results in the future and narrow down the skill gap in engineering graduates.
—Sidharth Udani,
Institute of Management, Nirma University (IMNU), Ahmedabad.
Yes, it might help because the main reason why almost 40 per cent of the engineering graduates in India are unemployed today lies in the fact they don't have minimum 60 per cent in 10th or 12th or graduation to sit for campus placements. As we all know that mass recruitment are done in IT industry and around 200,000 jobs are forecasted in IT by 2012. So it's not about skill or lack of skill it's about a reform in IT industry so that everybody gets fair opportunity. As the saying goes "sometimes greatest change can bring about the greatest opportunity".
—Vishwajit Shahi,
Dayanand Sagar College, Varanasi.
Despite almost three million students in the country, passing out every year from the engineering colleges, 80 per cent are still unemployable", This move of NSDC will enhance the skills of engineering graduates and hence it is a good idea. Skill shortage is evident in every sector of the economy. A growing economy like India requires a large and skilled workforce. However, the lack of quality trainers and training institutes has created roadblocks to growth. NSDC seeks to fill the gap between the growing demand of the scarce supply of skilled personnel across sectors, by funding skill training programmes in the engineering colleges.
—Stuti K. Shah,
Idea Institute Of Management And Technology, Ahmedabad.
Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Tuesday evening every week. Please ensure that your response does not increase 150 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name institute's name, year, batch and complete mailing address for your entries to be accepted. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
Do you think it is good for students to spend a day training under CEOs ?
