Huge Gap between Education and Industry needs

Huge Gap between Education and Industry needs

by

Manoj Kumar Trivedi

iGlobal Research and Analytics

Statistics and recent study on the future of jobs by Ernst and Young, Ficci, PwC & Nasscom reveal about 99 % of Engineers and almost all of MBA & Graduates are unemployable across globe.The yawning gap between what they learn and industrial need is widening by the passing days under changed global economy with invent of Fourth Industrial Revolution.

IR 4.0 has changed the way we do business. It has relaced all the conventional skills of 19th & 20 Century, be it technical and non-technical. Although global experts and UNIDO ( United Nations Industrial Development Organisation) has warned much earlier of changed economy, our education system is still following the curriculum of old centuries.

While there is no room for conventional skills, most paying jobs now are those in the field of artificial intelligence and data science, and these are avenues that barely existed four to five years ago. Economic Times dated 27th April'2018  has reported such skills that commensurate with IR 4.0 are available at premium, beyond reach of many industries.

The skills that thrive in IR 4.0 is mostly analytical in nature, both IT & Non-IT professionals require economic reasoning skill to capture and analyse relevant data for Through Engineering across Value Chain and economic development of organisation. 

Data Scientists too who are required to hack data, should also have the economic knowledge to identify relevant data for economic analysis beside business accumen.

Realising the importance of such knowledge and skill, Govt of India through its premium technical institute, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur has recently included in their curriculum Economic Science and Econometrics for productivity analysis and efficiency. But, this will again confine the knowledge within few costly talents that is beyond the affordable limit of many, particularly SMEs.

However, looking at the pace at which business economics and business practice is changing globally, there will be a huge gap between now and pass outs from relevant schools/technical institutes, even if curriculum is changed now to include skills pertaining to AI, IoT & Cloud Computing.

The situation is grim across globe.While Industries across globe are prepared to embrace the change, but they cannot do so given the poor availibility of skills.

It is therefore important for both educational institutes and industry to educate & develop prospective and existing talents with the only skill that has replaced all conventional skills. Such skill has to be practiced across organisation through heirarchy and functions for best results and cannot confine within few costly talents. It is their duty and to their own benefit to lower the employment cost and sustain in most competitive and VUCA world.

While industry and educational institutes have all through prioritised soft skill development, business skill like Economics has always been ignored. This has become relevant and unavoidable today for both IT and Non-IT talents.

Profiling white collar worker in the age of disruption is mandatory creating opportunity for both organisations and white collar workers embracing the revolution.

White-collar worker now require a different set of skills to succeed. Just as blue-collar workers needs better training and education, focusing particularly on rudimentary Science,Technology and IT space, white-collar workers will also need their own refresher courses on Economic Engineering, Mathematics and Statistic disciplines.

Being SECOND-TO-NONE in practical application of economic science through business mainstream of operation using econometrics measuring real time performance weighing decisions against real time cost, we, at iGlobal Research and Analytics, through four decades of industrial exposure across diverse industry, offer two days educative discourse to educational institutes and organisations at a much-much lesser cost than recurring expenditure, subject to their availibility.

Based out at India, we are available at trivedi.k.manoj@gmail.com, OR, (91) 9433013863, OR per skype at manojkumar.trivedi1.

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