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Speaking at the Aspire Education Summit 2012, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, painted a bleak picture of the standard of education imparted in institutions of higher learning.
The session 'Lesson One: Survival Tactics in the Corporate Jungle' endeavoured to ascertain why there is a chasm between what students are taught in schools and colleges and what the industry needs. Moderator Arun Kapur, executive director, Vasant Valley school, set the tone for the discussion by saying that "we are an overschooled but undereducated society", and the need was to produce students who could hit the ground running when they enter the corporate world. The mismatch between expectation and reality was explained by speakers in terms of a lag on the part of the education sector to keep up with the demands of the corporate world, among other things.
Suneel Galgotia, chancellor, Galgotias University, acknowledged that the education sector has rapidly expanded in the past decade and that this has brought about a scenario where only quality institutions would survive. He called for institutions to forge linkages with industry with the government playing facilitator. "There are millions of engineering graduates who can't even identify something as basic as a simple circuit," he said. His solution: "Insitutions must innovate from the first semester itself. Also, hands-on training in industries is a must for students." Galgotia added that schools and colleges must put a premium on continuous skill upgradation, a conducive research environment and not compromise on the quality of faculty it hires.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, painted a bleak picture of the standard of education imparted in institutions of higher learning. "We're training wrong, and training badly at that," he said. He said the problem, as it exists, is on the supply side. The fact that people rarely lose jobs in the education sector explains the complacency, he reasoned. "Education is stuck in a vicious cycle of mediocrity, and that's because teaching is not an 'aspirational' profession," he said. He specifically pointed out the licence-permit raj as being a bane for private education. "It only ends up encouraging unscrupulous operators," he signed off.
Ashok Reddy, co-founder, TeamLease Services, noted that there has been an inflation in the kind of qualifications companies expect from aspiring employees. Employment, employability and education need to be synergised. "Learning should not only focus on academic abilities but on the earning potential too," he said. "There are essential variables to becoming well-rounded employees, which is what industry seeks," he added.
Kapur summed up the discussion succinctly at the end by saying that what India desperately needs is "process-based learning-the ability to learn, whether one in an institution or on the job".
Speaking at the Aspire Education Summit 2012, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, painted a bleak picture of the standard of education imparted in institutions of higher learning.
The session 'Lesson One: Survival Tactics in the Corporate Jungle' endeavoured to ascertain why there is a chasm between what students are taught in schools and colleges and what the industry needs. Moderator Arun Kapur, executive director, Vasant Valley school, set the tone for the discussion by saying that "we are an overschooled but undereducated society", and the need was to produce students who could hit the ground running when they enter the corporate world. The mismatch between expectation and reality was explained by speakers in terms of a lag on the part of the education sector to keep up with the demands of the corporate world, among other things.
Suneel Galgotia, chancellor, Galgotias University, acknowledged that the education sector has rapidly expanded in the past decade and that this has brought about a scenario where only quality institutions would survive. He called for institutions to forge linkages with industry with the government playing facilitator. "There are millions of engineering graduates who can't even identify something as basic as a simple circuit," he said. His solution: "Insitutions must innovate from the first semester itself. Also, hands-on training in industries is a must for students." Galgotia added that schools and colleges must put a premium on continuous skill upgradation, a conducive research environment and not compromise on the quality of faculty it hires.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, painted a bleak picture of the standard of education imparted in institutions of higher learning. "We're training wrong, and training badly at that," he said. He said the problem, as it exists, is on the supply side. The fact that people rarely lose jobs in the education sector explains the complacency, he reasoned. "Education is stuck in a vicious cycle of mediocrity, and that's because teaching is not an 'aspirational' profession," he said. He specifically pointed out the licence-permit raj as being a bane for private education. "It only ends up encouraging unscrupulous operators," he signed off.
Ashok Reddy, co-founder, TeamLease Services, noted that there has been an inflation in the kind of qualifications companies expect from aspiring employees. Employment, employability and education need to be synergised. "Learning should not only focus on academic abilities but on the earning potential too," he said. "There are essential variables to becoming well-rounded employees, which is what industry seeks," he added.
Kapur summed up the discussion succinctly at the end by saying that what India desperately needs is "process-based learning-the ability to learn, whether one in an institution or on the job".
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