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 toward 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 its 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. In fast paced global village nothing is constant.
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.
Published in Daily Times, May 6th 2018.