Today, India holds a vital place in the worldwide education industry. The country has more than 1.5 million schools with more than 260 million students enrolled and around 751 universities and 35,539 colleges around. Being a developing nation, quality education is of the paramount importance to emphasise on the need for quality skill development and training based approach to education to meet the demands of present-age employers. Hence, the implications for universities are clear - create swift graduates, have a solid understanding of how the industry functions and prepare them for constant change such as moving jobs and sectors. The way employability is currently measured puts too much emphasis on a university’s ability to get graduates employed in accordance with the discipline of their degree.
In a world rushing towards another industrial revolution that will be dominated by automation, artificial intelligence and robots, it has become imperative to train the young in the right skills, so they can adapt to new roles and professions
With India’s education landscape evolving at a rapid pace with the advent of technology, the educational institutions are also adopting experiential learning as a new trend to bridge the gaps between teachers and students and provide them with a new learning curve. The new technologies are playing the pivotal role in changing the education patterns. Thanks to the technological advancements, education is now available at the remotest areas of the world. Technology is enabling institutions and students to meet global standards of learning and thus bringing the world closer together. Digital platforms in education are also ensuring affordability of basic education and access to all levels of society. Development of educational infrastructure at both private and government levels with computational capacity, state of the art libraries, labs and ICT platforms is giving students the right global exposure. Along with that, skill India programme has been an instrumental in providing awareness regarding the need for skilling and employability of our youth.
In a world rushing towards another industrial revolution that will be dominated by automation, artificial intelligence and robots, it has become imperative to train the young in the right skills, so they can adapt to new roles and professions. India is also being positioned to become a global electric vehicle hub. This will provide significant opportunities for new age skills like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and 3D printing. The dynamics of college life are quite different from that of a professional life that one enters into after graduation.
With about 90 percent of employment opportunities requiring vocational skills, only 20 percent of graduates in India get employed, the rest are unable to get suitable employment due to the lack of employable skills. Employability is a very crucial challenge faced by youths after acquiring graduation. Therefore, the need of the hour is to take serious consideration of the career paths to inculcate the requisite skills such as analytical thinking, communication skills, presentation skills, working in teams and information technology. Students should focus on choosing a course or degree whose curriculum will be a judicious mix of skills relating to a particular profession and appropriate professional training. It is best to be prepared to face the storm than be caught in it unprepared!
