For aeons, the employability of engineering students has been a concern considering the stagnant projections of the same over the past decade. Regardless of the revolutionised professional courses and their respective syllabi, the odds of getting employment are quite perturbing. This in consequence begs the question, what efforts would make this scenario better? Some of the top engineering colleges in Maharashtra are looking at unique solutions to this issue.
There are many possible solutions to this question and the most adaptable recourse being- the introduction of Value Addition Programs/Courses (VAPs). These courses are nothing but an enhancement and an additional reinforcement to prosper an individual’s skills and knowledge while they simultaneously pursue their education.
Disparity Between Qualified & Employable Professionals
In accordance with surveys conducted by the HRD involving around 150,000 students. The 6,214 engineering & technology institutions gain an enrolment of around 2.9 million students and only 1.5 million students are found to be competent enough to get employed. To bring to light, the core engineering branches consisted of only 7% of qualified students, making it the most appalling fact of the current times.
These statistical facts are the result of the lack of ‘employability skills. India’s workforce is expected to grow by 1.08 billion by the year 2050 taking in account that there 650 million youth in this nation under the age of 25 and 850 million people under the age of 35. As per the reports by The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, as of December 2021, one in five graduates are unemployed. India is a youth- driven country i.e., around 50 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 25, this makes India the bootstrapper.
Addressing these statistics, it is the need of the hour to implement programs or courses which inculcate the hands-on skills in students to make them industry ready. Introduction of VAPs in some of the best engineering courses in India will help the students to embrace their skills and excel in their specific disciplines and institutions would not be just mass-producing graduates who have no flair and the ones’ who had it, get subdued.
The Need for Focused Skill-Development
The introduction of ‘Skill India Program’ or PMKVY programs, has ameliorated this plight to a considerable extent, transforming 45.9 percent of the students into employable, industry-ready graduates. This beats the 33 percent mark of students’ employability which was recorded in 2014.
The survey “National Employability Report Engineers Annual Report 2019” included the data of more than 1.70 lakh engineering students from 750 engineering colleges. It claimed that in India nearly 90.92 percent of engineers did not possess the desired algorithm and programming skills which are crucial to be able to work in IT firms. It was also noted that even after engineering being an application- based (hands-on based) field, barely 40 percent of students did internships during their ongoing educational courses.
There are assuredly multiple candidates applying for the same position in most of the companies who can have similar academic credentials. However, in present times, the industries demand more than what is coached in the institutions. Value Addition Programs are the routes to make students meet these ancillary demands. The employers are sure to give due consideration to a ‘Value-added’ student who can offer stupendous contributions to the company by his extravagant skills, temperament, experience (training) accompanying his academic credentials.
The Role of Value Addition Programs in Engineering
The VAPs are specially tailored for the students to embellish their qualifications and to stand out from the multitude. To meet the requirements of industry, engineering graduates must have certain value addition certification awarded to them after being effectively trained by the institutions which will also prove helpful for increasing the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process of educational institutions and to link the industry and the academia. Some of the best engineering programs in Nashik now offer VAPs to students at no additional cost to help them gain the necessary skills to become employable professionals in the industry.
These courses will prepare students for jobs and may possibly inspire them to embark on start-ups. Like everything else, the market has been modernised, and so have the means to work on it. Traditional marketing has given its place to digital marketing just like Google provides a platform for businesses to market and sell their products.
To support the course, a number of organisations have launched their own, free of charge, courses. Google, for example, offers Digital Marketing Fundamentals certifications, certification in Analytics and other advertising courses. On the other hand, Facebook, a popular social networking site, offers a certification program called Facebook Blueprint and Hub Spot which provides comprehensive sales and content writing programs. Many top engineering colleges in Nashik have collaborated with such companies to provide their students with the best industrial exposure. As a result, the introduction of these programs at an undergraduate level, will expose students to the practical side of how marketing is performed today, allowing them to develop a talent that is in high demand in the industry.
Benefits for Students Interested in Finance
Furthermore, students who are passionate about finance or commerce may be offered a course in business and finance where they can learn about the banking sector, stocks and bond markets simultaneously. As far as the enterprises are concerned, they have observed the cruciality of having an effective investment manager. Investment is a necessity which has been called for, and the student(s) with skills to facilitate it will be able to function well in a financial environment with the correct theories and empirical guidance. They will have the ability to launch their own enterprises and continue to employ others, not being the employee but the employer.
Once the student has the necessary competence, industries will be open to them, offering extra possibilities that will help him advance in his career. Since market demands are continually evolving, they look for capabilities rather than certificates. Merely posting certifications to a profile won’t cut it because businesses care about their balance sheet and want to make a fortune, which can only happen if their employees have the essential competencies that can be honed with knowledge and experience. Numerous short-term courses have been established as a result of PMKVY to encourage students to develop their expertise. Along the same lines, institutions should prepare to launch specific skill-development programmes that align with the curriculum and the field in which students envision a career.
Conclusion
The industry has witnessed growth in all disciplines in every corner, starting with recruitment, which has already adopted digital formats as marketing channels. Even businesses are open to share technologies that help improve their workflows and production. Likewise, why shouldn’t our education policy be upgraded? Providing the pupils the resources they need to pursue their future goals. Many engineering colleges in India are waking up to the reality that they need to invest in providing their students with enhanced skill development opportunities.
After taking these value-added courses, apprenticeships should be available to students in order to assess the curriculum’s emphasis on exposure and expertise as well. This will effectively defend the purpose of these programmes. Additionally, it will advance the goal of providing students with the ideal combination of technical and employable abilities. Ergo, this implementation of VAPs is undisputable in my eyes and for our society, our nation to evolve to heights never dreamt of, I plead the institutions to train and educate students not for credentials but for their as well as their nations’ betterment.