A set of proposals to encourage industry oriented technical education and training to improve and upgrade skills of students to make them employable was presented to State government by Tamilnadu Council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The proposals stressed on the need for industry – academic linkages and outlined a three-pronged model with structural changes in the realm of technical education and improvement in the skillsets of students. ‘Periodic revision of curriculum every two – three years and an intensive revision every four – five years based on the developments in the subject area is one of the proposals in the upgradation of skillsets of students,’ said P Murari, advisor to FICC president.

While ensuring that new frontiers of knowledge were included in the curriculum, the institutions of higher education could also ensure that such an exercise did not simultaneously lead to precluding other subjects of vital concern such as environmental, consumer, human rights, gender equality, disaster management and other topics as part of the UG courses, he said. Murari also called for setting up of an Internal Quality Assurance Cell with a view to continuously assess the performance of students on objective and predefined parameters. ‘Those with potential for school drop-outs but having inherent skills could be given formal training to bring them into mainstream. Students with entrepreneurial ability could be provided with soft and skills training for their enterprise,’ he explained.

FICCI also called for community colleges and students who have passed Plus Two, drop-outs, rural youth and women, existing workforce and those requiring skill-based education could be given training at an affordable price. ‘Industry bodies could jointly work with such colleges in designing the curriculum and take students for internship and helping them to find job placement,’ he said.

The increasing demand for PG education in management has resulted in steep rise in the number of institutions offering such courses. However, the quality of education in many of these institutes was seriously being debated by students and prospective employers.

As employers often faced the constraints of skill gaps associated with management and HR skills, the thrust could be on honing the inherent talent in career progression, besides skills in practical management.

The task force set up by FICCI for industry – institute linkages was hopeful that the State government would establish an university for business management as envisaged by the Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi. This step would fulfill the needs of the employers to impart the necessary training to middle-level employees to grow up the career lader, Murari said. Source: NewsToday