Kaustubh
Member • Sep 30, 2013
The industry & education disconnect in India
It looks like the industry and education disconnect in India is hurting almost everyone involved. The industry seems to be constantly complaining about the general lack of high quality engineers and are reluctant to recruit engineers; while the engineers themselves find it very difficult to work in high-tech companies after they are recruited. The software product companies, while India's got very few of them, say hiring has become a bigger challenge for them in the recent years.
The result of this - the industry isn't producing high-tech innovations, products and services for the global markets from India and the unemployment is growing rapidly. Engineers are opting for call center jobs and some are happily doing marketing / sales jobs that require no technical knowledge. Can this situation be fixed?
I think yes!
The root cause of the issue seems to be the greater and widening industry & education disconnect. I mean, why should companies put a fresh engineer in a rigorous 3 - 6 months intense training program after he/she's completed 4 years of formal education? Someone needs to think about it. It turns out that the engineering education in India isn't preparing the engineers for the actual jobs they're expected to do.
How to fix it?
Currently, if I'm not mistaken, the course contents of engineering education is decided by the academicians; who base it all on theory. I'd suspect many of the curriculum setters have never worked in the industry - to know what the current industry demands. I personally was 'shocked' while interviewing a Computer Science candidate that he/she thought he'd be asked to write programs similar to 'Fibonacci Series' after he joins the company. It wasn't his fault; but it was an eye opener for me.
I think the industry should closely work with the academia to ensure that the engineers are exposed to the latest in engineering & technology. They should also get a chance to work in the real corporate environment before they graduate.
I'm not sure if this is the right way of fixing it - because it *may* make the engineers think in a particular way - the corporate way and may destroy their creativity.
What do you all think?
The result of this - the industry isn't producing high-tech innovations, products and services for the global markets from India and the unemployment is growing rapidly. Engineers are opting for call center jobs and some are happily doing marketing / sales jobs that require no technical knowledge. Can this situation be fixed?
I think yes!
The root cause of the issue seems to be the greater and widening industry & education disconnect. I mean, why should companies put a fresh engineer in a rigorous 3 - 6 months intense training program after he/she's completed 4 years of formal education? Someone needs to think about it. It turns out that the engineering education in India isn't preparing the engineers for the actual jobs they're expected to do.
How to fix it?
Currently, if I'm not mistaken, the course contents of engineering education is decided by the academicians; who base it all on theory. I'd suspect many of the curriculum setters have never worked in the industry - to know what the current industry demands. I personally was 'shocked' while interviewing a Computer Science candidate that he/she thought he'd be asked to write programs similar to 'Fibonacci Series' after he joins the company. It wasn't his fault; but it was an eye opener for me.
I think the industry should closely work with the academia to ensure that the engineers are exposed to the latest in engineering & technology. They should also get a chance to work in the real corporate environment before they graduate.
I'm not sure if this is the right way of fixing it - because it *may* make the engineers think in a particular way - the corporate way and may destroy their creativity.
What do you all think?
