Industry Disruption & Reimagining the Role of Education

'National conference on 'Industry Disruption & Reimagining the Role of Education'

The digital landscape in India reflects a rising trend of technology in education through various startups and mobile applications. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research and ASSOCHAM organised a national conference on 'Industry Disruption & Reimagining the Role of Education'. TimesJobs spoke to Prof Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool to check on how the academia is catering to industry needs in terms of talent requirements. Here is goes: There is a rising debate about Indian graduates being unemployable. What is the ground reality like? Unemployment stems from an inability to apply what one has learned. Sadly, learning ability is measured through written examination only. This results in over or under estimating an individual's capability. The choice of career is solely made on the basis of academic achievements. Also, students tend to select careers that are trending with high salary packages. Students, educational institutions and organizations play a key role in making students employable. Educational institutions need to create an ecosystem which can enable the students to learn by application. Industry professionals need to step ahead and contribute in making curriculum more practical. What kind of skill based programs can help the students grab better job opportunities? Getting skills formally certified from an educational institution certainly adds credibility. Besides industry specific skills, one needs to learn the knack of problem identification and creativity to address challenges posed by demographic and technological shifts. Critical thinking and adaptability to swiftly manage more responsibilities in addition to core expertise have become imperative. Does your institute have any special programs which can help graduates become employable from Day One? We believe that our students are global leaders of tomorrow. WeSchool in association with Center for Creative Leadership offers a platform for corporate stalwarts to address industry issues and imparts leadership and innovation skills to students. It takes each participating student through the process of problem identification, solution framing and sustaining the recommended change. How has the campus placement trend been in recent years? Hiring for banking and finance sector has increased. Job roles in digital marketing and business analytics have become more relevant over the years. Present job market is sluggish, how do you plan to prepare your students to mitigate through this process? Skilling needs to be an amalgamation of knowledge, attitude, aptitude and right competences for the job. Overall if we see the current curriculum, 70 percent is theory and 30 percent is practical which leaves no scope for skill development. Corporate tie-ups and collaborations with international universities open new doors of opportunities to aspiring students. We recently collaborated with VHL University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands and ADT (Agricultural Development Trust), Baramati by adding business management perspective in the space of agriculture. With this alliance, students will benefit through exchange of educational resources and teaching pedagogy, providing Indian students an understanding of world class practices in agriculture as well as the rural- ground level perspective. What is that one advice that can help students become successful graduates? Passion should drive everything that they do. They must proactively pursue each endeavor and be meticulous planners by assessing their capabilities and becoming agile learners. Co-existence and co-creation is the name of the game for innovation. Students must keep up skilling themselves to remain relevant in the ever changing world of technological disruptions. Do you have tie ups with industry players for campus placements? How do you ensure that they recruit the right talent from your campus? The Career Management Cell at WeSchool has its ear to the ground, as the team scrutinises with due diligence and care, hiring trends across sectors. Linkages with prominent industry associations such as ASSOCHAM, CII, FICCI, Chambers of Commerce, TiE, NHRDN etc. alongside our alumni network, support WeSchool to remain in sync with emerging socio-economic developments. A very important step in this direction is our well designed and detailed Assessment Center - Development Center (AC-DC) approach that assesses performance of students post internship. Parameters such as skill, attitude, knowledge and aspirations are measured. A specially assigned faculty mentor works out plan for the students so they are able to create a pathway. This allows students to review, reflect and set goals for their career and life. Industry experts are also brought in as collaborators in this process