Theory and Curriculum are now Add-Ons to Talent
Graduating students today unearth opportunities to join big conglomerates or start-ups in various spaces including e-commerce, consumer services, mobile, digital, and graphics. With innumerous criteria for selection and along with the number of ways graduates prepare themselves to get hired; it would only be an ignominy of the ordeal of them not making the cut to get recruited. There is a career opportunity knocking at every graduate's doorstep and is ready to be grabbed. It only turns out to be stagnant than a progressive growth when the ones who grab it cannot live up to its demands. This is generally because there are craters in getting them job ready by organizations.
To assist and push the limitations of students to catch wings of their aspirations hence becomes an ordeal of the task. The current education structure is fairly short sighted as there is major emphasis on the curriculum and gaining theoretical knowledge. Although this is of extreme importance, universities must have the upper hand in widening their horizons on the overall development of students which would in turn make them job - ready as they step out of their comfort zone. However for a student, merely visiting a university would not suffice unless there is emphasis on utilization of the gained knowledge to do something worthwhile. The student community needs to be encouraged to be more action oriented and to engage with the corporate during their course work through internships, participating in trial weeks or writing research reports for corporate entities.
There is not one single best way to prepare students to be ready for the corporate world. The circumstances today call for an emphasis to be laid on work experience while studying at university to help students prepare for the increasingly complex working world. Collaboration between companies and universities will help students gain a stable perspective about the nature of work when they finish school. Companies today have evolved to only take a candidate's degree into consideration; the ability of an individual to take their business to the next level has lately become a criterion. Hence students should be encouraged to pursue what they are most passionate about as it eventually surfaces to be their forte. An industry’s perspective for recruiting at a particular institute is not based on only its ranking or reputation but also on an organization's present employee pool and its alma mater. The criteria for hiring graduates are towards candidates who would fit in with a company’s skill set requirement and its core culture.
Innumerous illustrations are found with relevance to the number of companies in the IT industry who work closely with academic institutions to align their curriculum to meet industry requirements. The current education structure needs to shift towards a model that would leverage technology in classrooms. Infusing technology into schools in innovative ways is one way to help break the education system from the century old model of theoretical learning. There are a handful institutions and companies that pursue these tracks currently. We need a committed effort across the country to foster an environment that would benefit the youth. Lately witnessed is a gradual shift in the mobile app world. Today, there is a surge in Smartphones and a boost in the time being spent on mobiles than any other digital media. A focus on a more mobile centric course in universities would enable students to understand where the digital and IT space is headed and in turn, preparing students to choose the right career path. Today, besides strengthening their IT infrastructure, Universities and Institutions need to encourage students to work on practical entrepreneurial projects that give them an opportunity to be more creative and think out-of-the-box and in-turn helping them become more corporate ready. (As told to Waheeb Ulla)
Upasana Nath:
Upasana Nath, Regional Director (South East Asia) and Chief Recruitment Officer at Zomato, says "We are where we are today because of the people we work with."
To assist and push the limitations of students to catch wings of their aspirations hence becomes an ordeal of the task. The current education structure is fairly short sighted as there is major emphasis on the curriculum and gaining theoretical knowledge. Although this is of extreme importance, universities must have the upper hand in widening their horizons on the overall development of students which would in turn make them job - ready as they step out of their comfort zone. However for a student, merely visiting a university would not suffice unless there is emphasis on utilization of the gained knowledge to do something worthwhile. The student community needs to be encouraged to be more action oriented and to engage with the corporate during their course work through internships, participating in trial weeks or writing research reports for corporate entities.
There is not one single best way to prepare students to be ready for the corporate world. The circumstances today call for an emphasis to be laid on work experience while studying at university to help students prepare for the increasingly complex working world. Collaboration between companies and universities will help students gain a stable perspective about the nature of work when they finish school. Companies today have evolved to only take a candidate's degree into consideration; the ability of an individual to take their business to the next level has lately become a criterion. Hence students should be encouraged to pursue what they are most passionate about as it eventually surfaces to be their forte. An industry’s perspective for recruiting at a particular institute is not based on only its ranking or reputation but also on an organization's present employee pool and its alma mater. The criteria for hiring graduates are towards candidates who would fit in with a company’s skill set requirement and its core culture.
Innumerous illustrations are found with relevance to the number of companies in the IT industry who work closely with academic institutions to align their curriculum to meet industry requirements. The current education structure needs to shift towards a model that would leverage technology in classrooms. Infusing technology into schools in innovative ways is one way to help break the education system from the century old model of theoretical learning. There are a handful institutions and companies that pursue these tracks currently. We need a committed effort across the country to foster an environment that would benefit the youth. Lately witnessed is a gradual shift in the mobile app world. Today, there is a surge in Smartphones and a boost in the time being spent on mobiles than any other digital media. A focus on a more mobile centric course in universities would enable students to understand where the digital and IT space is headed and in turn, preparing students to choose the right career path. Today, besides strengthening their IT infrastructure, Universities and Institutions need to encourage students to work on practical entrepreneurial projects that give them an opportunity to be more creative and think out-of-the-box and in-turn helping them become more corporate ready. (As told to Waheeb Ulla)
Upasana Nath:
Upasana Nath, Regional Director (South East Asia) and Chief Recruitment Officer at Zomato, says "We are where we are today because of the people we work with."
