Industry-academia interaction, for whatever their worth, appeared to be one-way communication most of the times, with industry telling the academic institutions to re-orient their curriculum to suit the needs of corporate India. But, such an approach has not always been a problem-solving one.Corporate organisations tend to make projections of their HR needs on the basis of the ongoing business trends. And, by the time the academic curriculum are re-shaped to meet these requirements, the corporate profile itself undergoes vast changes, throwing newer HR requirements.
The real problem, it seemed was one of lack of communication from the academic institutions on how they perceived HRD vis-a-vis corporate India. The recent CII conference on `Training the Trainers, Educating the Educators', organised in New Delhi, was an exercise in making industry-academia interaction truly a two-way communication. The results were gratifying. Let us take a look at how the academic institutions perceive education andtraining in the new millennium.
Prof Neelamegham of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University, felt that the real problem was not in finding placement for the engineering and management graduates, but in providing suitable jobs for the 50 lakh students who graduate from universities. The university system, he said, was too rigid and introducing `job-oriented courses' in the curriculum, an uphill task.
He felt that business development in India was going ahead of the university system in the country. ``Ideally, it should have been the other way round,'' he said. University must provide the base for business development.
Universities are faced with several challenges, like that of overcoming the financial resources crunch, internationalising the curriculum, retaining good staff and enhancing overall efficiency of institutions, the professor remarked.
Neelamegham said that interaction between the education and productivity sectors must grow. ``Three key areas in the education sector thatdemand attention are training and education, consultancy, and research,'' he said.
``Training and education encompasses in-service training or vocational training, setting up of professional development centres and development of industrial training,'' he said.
``Consultancy need not be restricted to engineering alone. Areas like licensing, applied science etc. can also be taken up by the education sector,'' he said.
``In the realm of research, industry and academia could engage in joint research contracting, visiting assignments and sharing of equipment and facilities,'' he said.
In what way can the productivity sector contribute to the promotion of education? ``Industry can provide scholarships, apprenticeship, placements, internships, endowment, equipment, and help in setting up chairs and in organising conferences, workshops, special examinations, course development and so on,'' Neelamegham observed.
Dr R Govinda, senior fellow, National Institute for Education Planning and Administration(NIEPA), said that ``education is not a mere transmission of knowledge and skills.''
``The banking concept of education, wherein industry draws resources from the education pool at regular intervals, must change,'' he said.
As a matter of fact, the technology of teaching itself must change, Govinda felt. ``Today, as pressure mounts on education, its relevance tends to decrease.''
Govinda said ``there is need for a new interface between social and physical sciences, what with question like the ethics of cloning.''
``One of the biggest problems today is that teachers are lagging behind students in terms of learning methods. Moreover, teachers are also getting increasingly alienated from the workplace environment,'' he said.
Industry could step in to alleviate this problem by building teacher-business manager interface and by providing financial support for teachers to upgrade their instructional skills, it was observed.
``In the 21st century, the focus will be on learning to learn, competence inbasic skills, verbal and listening skills, personal management (not personnel management) with minimum supervision, adaptability and skills to break mental sets, group effectiveness (interpersonal and team skills), and contracting (contractual jobs that call for mutual trust),'' Govinda stated.
Vijay Sardana of the Aga Khan Foundation observed that ``quality education must not remain the privilege of the elite class.''
He said that the corporate sector's contribution to education must not be limited to financial help alone. ``Corporate bodies can help educational institutions improve their own management skills, financial management, vision and mission goals, quality assurance etc.''
With the academia taking a pro-active stance in evolving a relevant curriculum, it appears that the feedback loop from academia to industry is complete.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
