Aligning the stakeholders

Today, the question brought to the table is, “Can a student be trained from the mother’s womb to cater to corporate needs?” The world is reeling under the pressure of producing for the corporate sector: the tech giants, the accounts executives, the smart programmers, and whatnot. The learning institutions, specifically the undergraduate and postgraduate ones, are predominantly responsible for disseminating adequate domain knowledge to aspirants who are spending their valuable three to five years grooming themselves for a sustainable future.

With the rise in demand for value-added and professional courses, students are invariably enrolling in the same and are blessed with opportunities to undergo extensive internships in firms or entities. In a few spectacular cases, they even land positions in some big companies. Looking at the scope of the general category of learners, quick internships, conservatively spanning only a few weeks, can at best justify the concept of internships for students without adding significant productivity to their academic bank or accelerating their career graph. These non-professionally qualified interns are at the mercy of their institutions and, therefore, cannot be strong contenders in the job market. Comparisons push such candidates to the back burner, and consequently, leveraging their qualifications becomes a steep proposition.

According to data from Worldometer, India’s total population as of today is 1.45 billion, with a median age of 28.4 years, essentially calling for active and continued employment. Corporations are setting stratified criteria for graduates to join the workforce. A student typically joins an undergraduate program at the age of 18, spending three years (or, with recent NEP amendments, four years) being moulded theoretically rather than practically for the job field. Corporate expectations have drastically changed over time; they are now hunting for tailor-made recruits who can immediately handle industry challenges without intrinsic “on-the-job” or “off-the-job” training.

This creates a stark disparity, as budding professionals gain an edge over the mass of non-professional graduates. challenges continue to exist for the learning temples in modifying the curriculum to make it fit for the working requirements. The Indian system of education which demonstrates vehemently in classroom approaches almost across all the disciplines will be finding slightly difficult to transform their pedagogies at 180 degree to suit the industrial demands. The attention is also to be given for the level of learners in the universe. For a slow learner the adoptability is way much behind in contrast with the average and advanced learners and this creates the stumble blocks for the learning partners to design differentiated learning models. The fundamental knowledge is the pillar for the working life to rest upon. Time on the other hand is the demon to cast a shadow on the acquisition of domain knowledge and employability skills. The core competency of the Institutions lies in the delivery of updated subject knowledge duly keeping in mind the dynamicity of the industry needs.

Just as banks are nationalised to promote national welfare, industries are meant to provide employment to graduates after scrutinising their candidatures. If recruitment focuses solely on trained and experienced candidates, the inexperienced will remain unemployed or need to find ways to align their educational achievements with corporate thresholds.

The Indian primary and secondary education system, irrespective of the board, typically rests on the quantum of learning with considerable trust in its inbuilt traditional quality. Enrolled learners are expected to be adequately equipped with knowledge streams before being prepared for job requirements. While the age-old shackles of learning styles have been modified by many institutions and universities to avoid obsolescence, corporate demands still necessitate a realistic approach.

Benchmarking NEP-centric syllabi with those of competent institutions and making significant modifications in pedagogies, assessment patterns, and examination structures compel institutions to adopt versatile program structures. However, whether these changes are reflected in course outcomes remains uncertain in the long run. Various value-added courses, micro-credential programs, and courses focused on employable and entrepreneurial skills are now being mapped by educational institutions to enhance the absorption of their students in the demanding corporate world.

It should be borne in mind that if all learners simultaneously seek hands-on opportunities in the corporate sector, provisions to accommodate all may fall short. Furthermore, educationists lack sufficient navigation into the knowledge pool and need to inculcate modern teaching skills. At this juncture, the corporate sector must invest its time, money, and resources to extract real talent.

Reality bites: organisations often remain conservative in their approach, believing that newly hired freshers are unable to yield results and instead incur costs. Significant savings in time, training, and supervision are areas where companies place their utmost trust and confidence. The onus lies on the government and organisations to rationalise their requirements to overcome fluctuations in the recruitment process. Institutions alone cannot be solely responsible for preparing learners for the job market.

The gap between book knowledge and practical exposure should be mitigated by an appropriate proportion of effort from the corporate sector, as the workplace emerges as the centre for future learning, development, and sustainability. It has been repeatedly observed that companies refuse to support learners seeking data for their research or case study-based assignments. Big Four firms and large-cap companies, standing at the helm of industrial hierarchy, often accomplish their stereotypical agendas by exploiting the intellectual capabilities of budding graduates.

In some cases, interns end up negotiating with small-scale entrepreneurs, compromising their expected learning needs. It is imperative to sketch a reasonable collaborative methodology for nurturing skilled youth under a Corporate-Academia hand-holding initiative.

The writer is Assistant Professor, Dept of Commerce, Christ University, Bangalore. Views expressed are personal