5TH NATIONAL SUMMIT

5TH National Summit on Institutionalizing Academia - Industry Interface on Make in India, Smart Cities & Social Impact was held at PHD House, New Delhi on 9th December 2015.

Prof. H. S. Dua, HOD of ECE Department and Mrs. Bhanu Bhardwaj, Assistant Professor, CSE from Dronacharya Group Of Institutions, Greater Noida attended the summit.

Mr. M. M. Joshi MP and ex-Minister HRD ,Government Of India was the Chief Guest of the day. The other speakers at the summit included Prof. Furqan Qamar, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities. Mr. V. P. Singh, MP, Dr. Rubina Mittal, Co-Chairperson Education Committee, PHD Chamber, Mr. Pradeep Kapse Former CEO Eicher Motors, Rajiv Chawla CEO, Jairaj Group, Lt. Gen Rajendra Singh, CEO DLF Foundation & Mrs Vineeta Jha Sr.VP Max Health Care. The salient points covered by different speakers during the summit are appended in the succeeding paragraphs.

There has been a gap between the curriculum being followed in Universities/Colleges for higher education as the number of directly employable graduates passing out from such institutes is just 23% only as indicated by studies conducted by NASSCOM/FICC I/CII etc.  The Industry and Academia must work in tandem to bridge this gap, and give a push to the Govt. of India schemes, like Make in India, Digital India & Skill India  etc.

It was brought out that enough students are not going for Entrepreneurship. Further, there is a need for developing curriculum in consultation with Industry for UG/PG programs so that the students are employable on completion of their respective courses.

A number of speakers stated that we need to focus on Fundamental Research and Industry must fund the Research activities. Centre of Research has been set up in IIT Madras, which is doing very good work in the research area. The Govt. of India is emphasizing and is trying to operationalize a single window funding & clearing mechanism for Research activities. The areas suggested for Research are Computers/Energy/Nano Technology/Water Resources and Advanced manufacturing techniques.

The Govt of India Initiatives will have a high social impact, provided these initiatives are implemented in true spirit. There is a need to set up more Incubation Centers and more centers of Excellence. The Industry should be an active partner in this process.

The other measures suggested to increase employability have been to develop soft skills and life skills of the students in addition to their Technical Skills. Students should be given projects related to Industrial problems with Industry participation.

Dr. M. M. Joshi, stated that Education must be job creative. The GDP of the country must touch a figure of 9% against 6% at present. There is need for high quality cutting edge Technology in the country. The Government, Industry and Academia should work in tandem for proper harvesting of fruits of higher education. ‘Innovation’ should be the ‘motto’. There is need to develop Alternate Technology as well for long term sustainability.

Another point highlighted was, that the Alumni of the Institutes can render a big support to bridge the skill gap and help in enhancement of the employability of the students. This is not happening. It was also brought out that there is a need for faculty training as many faculty members are not able to inspire the students. There should be a training capsule designed for teachers so that they can inculcate an attitude of learning among their students.

The Engineering Colleges should be run on the similar lines as medical colleges, i. e. as medical college can only exist along with a hospital; similarly an Engineering College should have an Industry in its campus itself. The Industry should be encouraged to adopt Engineering students when they are in their final year.

The last session involved presentation of a few case studies by MDI, & Genpact . The Genpact study highlighted the focus on women empowerment. MDI is giving projects to students to uplift the social life of the people.

As regarding Smart Cities, it is expected that citizens should become e-citizens so that they can avail of the benefits of all the initiatives of the Government in the form of e-transaction, e-banking and other on-line facilities. It is expected that by 2050 the population in urban areas will be 70% & in rural areas 30% (exactly the reverse of present figures of 70% in rural & 30% in urban area). A smart city should be like a magnet for investment and it will have good infrastructure, transport, education system and grid system etc. where in water & electricity should be available 24X7. The Smart Cities will be utilizing IT facilities to a great extent.

The summit has been a good step towards increasing the Industry – Academia Interface through discussion on salient points needed for this interface.