Unique Industry-Academia Interface Model ‘Aligning education with Employability’ Developed By

Baba Farid Group of Institutions (Estd. 1993) Summary: One of the premier educational institution of North India situated in Bathinda, Punjab Founder & Chairman: S. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal Courses Run: Engineering, Management , Commerce, IT, Agriculture ,Science, Humanities & many other Courses Major Industrial Associations: FICCI , CII, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce, AIMA, NASSCOM & many more Major Corporate Collaborations: Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, HP, HCL, Nokia & many more Major Academic Collaborations: University of British Columbia Canada, University of Oslo Norway, British Columbia Institute of Technology Canada, University of Fraser Valley Canada, Thompson Rivers University Canada, Singapore University of Technology & Design Singapore, IT Bombay, IIT Delhi & Many More Approved by: AICTE, NCTE and UGC Affiliated to: Punjab Technical University, Punjabi University and Punjab School Education Board Key Highlights: 50+ Courses 10,000+ Students 1000+ Employees 50+ PHD’s Other Details: 2

Indian Education System: Overview India has one of the largest Higher Education System in the World, with more than 700 Universities and 35,500+ colleges out of which 115 Universities and 5672 colleges teach various engineering disciplines. With more then 12 million students on their rolls, and half a million teachers teaching in all disciplines. More then 85% of these students are enrolled in bachelor’s degree programmes and about one sixth of all Indian Students are enrolled in Engineering\Technology degree programmes. Engineering colleges in the country have been growing at 20% and business schools growing at 60% ( Source of information: Mckenzy, MHRD)

Present Scenerio Even after Having 1000’s of Educational Institutions in place, Unemployment is a biggest threat for the Country 25% of technical graduates are considered employable 10-15% of other graduates are considered employable So the reason of ‘‘Unemployment’’ is not the lack of demand or lack of supply but the lack of ‘‘Quality Supply’’ ( Source of information: Mckenzy, MHRD) academia is unable to fulfill the demand of industry .

Reasons behind lack of ‘‘Quality Supply’’ leading to ‘‘Unemployment’’ Lack of regular industry academia interface Lack of Job oriented & Skill based Curriculum Lack of proper evaluation & Certification of practical skills Lack of internship/ apprenticeship opportunities in industry.

UNIQUE INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA INTERFACE MODEL

UNIQUE INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA INTERFACE MODEL ADOPT RESTRUCTURE EVALUATE ABSORB Keywords: phases, 4 phases, four phases, circles Long Term Collaboration & Mandatory adoption of Educational Institutions by Industry Restructuring & Designing of Curriculum, Duration & Nomenclature of courses to map it with industry requirements Evaluation & Certification of students to be done mutually by academia and industry Absorption of Certified students in Industry

STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED Academia Vocational Institutions, ITI’s, Polytechnics, Professional Institutions and Universities offering degree/diploma/certification Government & PPP Ministries of Human Resourse and Development, Corporate Affairs, Employment generation & training, Skill Development & Youth Affairs, Education, Skill Development agencies – NSDA, NSDC and Sector Skill Councils Industry All the employers from Private & Public Sector, Government Organizations, Micro, Small, Medium and Large Scale Enterprises

PROPOSED INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA INTERFACE MODEL Adoption / Long Term Collaborations: Adoption of Educational Institutions by Industry and vice versa, should be made mandatory by government. Industry should sign MOU with adopted Educational Institutions for long term\permanent collaborations. Industry should Communicate the expectations regarding Skills & future requirements and should share its short and long term bottom to top requirements with these adopted educational institutions Industry should share the new trends & technologies prevalent in the current market with the adopted educational institutions.

Adoption / Long Term Collaborations: Industry should Establish research & development platforms such as Research Labs, Incubation Centers, Center of Excellence & Skill Development Centers in the adopted educational institutions. Industry should assign live, technical & research projects to students and faculty. Industry should conduct expert lectures and workshops for the updation of technical & domain knowledge of students. Industry should conduct regular faculty development programs & train the trainer sessions to keep faculty updated. At the end of every semester industry should provide internship to the students of adopted institutions ranging from 4 to 8 weeks

2. Restructuring and Designing of Courses & Curriculum Curriculum should shift from input based approach to outcome based approach Academia must consult the industry to design/reconstruct the curicullum, nomenclature & duration of the courses for the required skills. Academia must consult NSDC, SSC’s and other industrial bodies while designing\restructuring the curriculum so that courses and curriculum should remain aligned to industry requirements. Skills should be given due importance and should be made a part of the curriculum. Equal weightage should be given to practical skills and theoratical knowledge.

2. Restructuring and Designing of Courses & Curriculum Review of curriculum should be done every Year. Internships and Apprenticeship should be made a part of the curriculum. Internship ranging from 4 to 8 weeks should be made compulsory at the end of every semester where as apprenticeships ranging from 3 months to 1 year must be there at the end of the course It should be mandatory for the students of pre final / final years to select the ‘JOB ROLES’ according to their interest. Completion of Degree/Diploma/Certication would be awarded to those students who will sucessfully complete their internships and apprenticeships.

3. Evaluation & Certification: Both industry & academia should evaluate and certify the students parallelly where: Academia should evaluate & certify students on the basis of theoratical knowledge and other skills at the end of every semester Industry should evaluate the practical & job oriented skills of the students of adopted educational institutions at the end of every semester It means would be eligible in the job market to opt for a job roles associated with that particular NSQF level. This ensure that there is no single point of Unemployment within the proposed system

3. Evaluation & Certification: NSDC and SSC’s should evaluate and certify the students every year on the basis of competencies acquired as per NSQF level and the corresponding job roles aligned with their competencies Certified students, even if drops out at any point of time before completing the degree, would still be absorbed by industry on the basis of the competency acquired for a particular job role and NSQF level There should be a mechanism in place to adopt these drop outs in the industry as per the certification achieved from NSDC & Sector Skill Councils for the particular NSQF level . The above mechanism will open a gateway for multiple entry and multiple exit for each course. Student can enter a job market leaving studies and should have the option of rejoining it at later stage. Completion of Degree/Diploma/Certication would be awarded to those students who will sucessfully complete their internships and apprenticeships. It means would be eligible in the job market to opt for a job roles associated with that particular NSQF level. This ensure that there is no single point of Unemployment within the proposed system

4. Absorption of Students: At the end of every course Industry should provide stipend based Apprenticeships to the students of its adopted institutions(ranging from 3 months to 1 Year depending upon course) Due to any reason if student doesn’t get apprenticeship in the adopting Industry then academia is bound to arrange for the apprenticeship of that student in the alternative Industry as per the job role and competency of the student. Service agreement can be signed between the student and the employer, which will be equally witnessed by academia provided the Industry offers the ‘letter of intent’ to the student at the beginning of the course. This will drastically improve the retention rate.

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

Role of Government Regulating bodies like CIHEC should be formed consisting of representatives from Government, Education, Skill Development and Industrial bodies to suggest & formulate the laws to execute this model under the supervision of Prime Minister’s Office. Government should make sure that every educational institution (Vocational Institutions, ITI’s & Professional Institutions/Universities providing diploma, degrees and Certificates) should be adopted by industry. Different Board of Studies should include experts from the Industry who will actively participate in redesigning the traditional courses/curicullum. Government should make it mandatory for the industry to invest major part of the CSR’s budget for the execution of this model.

An Integrated approach that creates WIN-WIN situation for all Benefits of this model To Industry - Skilled manpower will be available readily - Time, Efforts and Cost of Training will be reduced - Attrition rate will be controlled To Academia - Improvement in Placement rate(biggest threat in current scenerio) - Preparing students as per global standards To Government - Unemployment rate will reduce substantially - GDP will improve - Speeding up the process of making India a developed nation An Integrated approach that creates WIN-WIN situation for all

Aligning Education to Vision India 2020 “Skill Development is the need of the hour. Be it a cobbler, a plumber or an Engineer; the degree doesn’t matter but the skills a student acquires, does”

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