Questionnaire for Expert View

Your comments on present Indian technical education and its future…

Technical education in India has seen an upsurge over the last few decades. While only a few years ago, it was a privilege of a handful of students with access to resources, student community today is witnessing a turnaround change. Technical education is not only accessible & available, rather it’s a pre-requisite to the teeming lakhs & crores of students across the country & globe alike. 

Moving on from the simplest of smartphones to the complexities of AI & Big Data, technical education is here to stay. All it commands is logical thinking & intellectual analysis and last but not the least, well researched industry probing to develop the best industry fit. While there are no second thoughts regarding the upcoming demand for tech-savvy professionals, the only glitch that could arise would be in the form of academic preparedness to suit the industry requirement. Knowledge especially technical knowledge loses its essence if it is taught and not rehearsed. The need of the hour is to inculcate in our academic systems the practical aspects of the knowledge we impart. The institutions & universities must prioritize on industrial training and entrepreneurship development so as to churn out students who are not potential job seekers but are industry ready professionals or even job providers!

What policy changes from the government are required to promote the higher education in India?

The Government has already realized the need to support higher education and so has already initiated major reforms in the education sector to improve the quality and access to education. Aimed at expanding access to quality education, new premier higher education institutions have been opened across the country, marking the highest ever such expansion in the history after Independence.

SWAYAM MOOCs portal (Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is an indigenous MOOCs portal that provides high quality education – anyone, anytime, anywhere at no cost- has already been made operational. 

The initiative of National Digital Library (NDL) is a virtual repository of learning resources with a single window search facility.

However, apart from these initiatives major impetus has to come from the Government in the form of supporting Universities to be flexible in curriculum development, be allowed to impart interdisciplinary programs and ensure that courses carried out are in sync with the industry requirement.

Flexibility in planning & operationalizing can be the pivotal element to the next level of creating skill equipped students with minimal employability challenges on account of ready industry acceptability.

What is your view on incorporating some specialized subjects in the curriculum for project management and other soft skills?

The curriculum should have perfect balance of specialised subjects, interdepartmental subjects and skill based subjects so that the students have a choice to go both in depth as well as in breadth and can graduate as per their choice and mental inclination.

Advanced specialized subjects like Artificial Intelligence, Surface Mount Technology, Data Analytics, Genetic Engineering etc. need to be included in the curriculum. This will help the students to be abreast with the latest technical development in the different fields of engineering. The acquired knowledge can have proper application when the thinking is broad based.  Inter departmental subjects like Bioinformatics, Technology Management, Energy Management, Telecom Management, Mechatronics etc. are much on demand and this type of subjects give a holistic view and help the to cross the departmental barrier to the young mind sets. Also skill based subjects like entrepreneurship, professional communication, project management etc., will sharpen the students’ ability and acquiring skills and will make them a worthy catch for the industry.

What is the importance of diversified technical courses in new order employment scenario?

In India, despite adopting a progressive approach over the last few years, higher education is yet a long way to go since its far from achieving the optimum employability quotient. 

Certain clear attempts which I have stated earlier and would reinforce must be made at the earliest to bridge the academia –industry divide and increase student employability levels. These could be in the form of: 

  •  Increased Industry and academia collaborations at various teaching & non-teaching platforms. 
  • Faculty development to be imbibed as an ongoing continuous process at the University and Institution level. Further faculty & industry resource exchange programs should be encouraged
  • Encouraging people with industrial backgrounds to get into teaching as they would bring with them a first-hand view of the market trends & requirements. 
  • Encouraging live industry projects and real time cases from Industry
  • Finally, ensuring stringent norms of faculty to student ratio for focused efforts & undivided faculty attention.   

Why the students find it difficult to get employment after completing the education and have to go after additional qualifications?

As I mentioned in my previous reply, Industry & Academia till date face a huge employability gap. For now, while both the parties ae attempting to incorporate the most desirable skill set, the inputs offered & expected are not in sync.  Universities need to be more abreast with the industry requirements & need to be given the flexibility to create and introduce new courses as per the industry requirement 

How can we bridge the gap between college education and industry expectations?

Here I would just reiterate my previous reply. 

Let’s encourage real time live projects in the Universities, employ &
engage faculty with Industry exposure, expose our current faculty to the industry by multiple means & finally Industry and University collaboration for curriculum development.

Tell us something about Sanskriti University?

Sanskriti University has been set up as a private university in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh (India) spread over 40+ acres of land on NH2, 57 kms from Delhi NCR (India). The University, set up by the Uttar Pradesh Act No:20 of 2016, is located in a serene environment with state of the art infrastructure delivering 360-degree holistic development of students.

Sanskriti’s intellectual capital comprises highly qualified and experienced faculty drawn from Industry as well as from Academia.

 The university has been established with the motto to bring ” Excellence in Life ” of everyone associated with it in any capacity.

A variety of courses are being offered by the university to satisfy the growing appetite and interest areas of modern day students who want to pursue quality higher education in conventional & unconventional streams that have great potential and importance in the industry. Various Schools at the university are:

∙         SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

∙         SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE

∙         SCHOOL OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

∙         SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT & COMMERCE

∙         SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

∙         SCHOOL OF FASHION DESIGNING

∙         SCHOOL OF REHABILITATION

∙         SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCE

∙         SANSKRITI AYURVEDIC MEDICAL COLLEGE & HOSPITAL

∙         SANSKRITI UNANI MEDICAL COLLEGE & HOSPITAL

∙         SCHOOL OF PHARMACY & RESEARCH CENTRE

∙         INSTITUTE OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

∙         SCHOOL OF MEDICAL & ALLIED SCIENCES

∙         SCHOOL OF BASIC & APPLIED SCIENCES

∙         SCHOOL OF YOGA & NATUROPATHY

∙         UNIVERSITY POLYTECHNIC

We at Sanskriti well understand the challenge posed by the industry –academia divides and are proactive in doing the needful to overcome it. 

Keeping up with our mission of ‘… not just imparting education, but imparting value based education which helps students in life’ We aim at striking every possible alliance with R&D and otherwise techno driven organizations to impart to our students’ skill based, industry driven knowledge so that once they graduate and move into the competitive job market, they are not one but many up and above in terms of the industry driven parameters. 

The pedagogy, the ongoing Industry interface by way of live projects from industry, guest industry speakers, research based projects and access to the latest in industry equipment &software’s are just a few of our milestones covered to enable our students with the best.  We aim at not only training & polishing our students but also letting them face the rigorous industry grind right here in our protective simulated environment to enable to handle all and to able to achieve as we see it, ‘Excellence in life.’

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