Confederation of Indian Industry organized an ‘Education to Employment Summit on Fostering Employability and Entrepreneurship’ at Amity University, Noida on 17th October, 2014. The objective of the event to provide a forum for interaction amongst the key stakeholders and to create a holistic approach for higher education.

Ms. Shivani Arora Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering and Mr. Anurag Sharma Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida attended the event as a delegates.

The event began with the inaugural session followed by welcome address by Mr. Jayant Krishna, Co-Chairman, CII NR Special Task Force on Skills & Education & Principal Consultant & regional Head TCS. He emphasized on improving the employability of Indian students for the country to reap demographic dividends. He highlighted the widening gap between industry and academia and the low employment rate of the youth in India. He suggested that programmers in educational institutions should be in coordination with the industry needs and industry should also come forward to groom the youth of today to become the leaders of tomorrow.

In Inaugural session the resource persons were Dr. Saagarika Ghoshal, Director-HR, Metro Cash and Carry; Ms. Illham Punjani- Head Business Relations, Education, ACCA Global and Maj Gen K J Singh- Group Vice Chancellor, Amity inaugurated the Summit.

Maj Gen K J Singh- Group Vice Chancellor, Amity Universities discussed the need for creating a robust education system in the country which could not only educate the youth but also enlighten them. He emphasized that education should be based on the rich Indian culture, traditions and sanskaars and it should lay stress on character building.

Addressing the gathering, Ms. Illham Punjani- Head Business Relations, Education, ACCA Global said that India is a very young country with largest workforce. She remarked that there are very few educational institutions in India which are providing education based on competency framework of concerned sectors. She stressed that the time has come when Indian colleges should start benchmarking themselves with the best in the world and the education framework should take into consideration the skill sets required by various sectors, making education skill oriented.

Dr. Saagarika Ghoshal, during her address, stressed that 50% of India’s population is below the age of 25 and 65% of the population is below the age of35 and now it is on India to either reap the benefit of this demographic dividend or turn it into a disaster.

The inauguration was followed by plenary sessions on interesting topics such as “Enabling Macro Environment”, “Outcome based learning”, “Delivery mechanism” and “Industry Institute Network” wherein eminent speakers including Mr. A K Jha- Director General, NIESBUD, Mr.Nirmal Singh- CEO, Wheebox, Prof. K K Aggarwal- Chancellor, K R Mangalam University; Mr. Ajay Goel- Director, Skill Network, Wadhwani Foundation and others participated.

The first plenary sessions was followed on interesting topic “Enabling Macro Environment”, In this panel the resource persons Mr. S. S Mantha, Chairman AICTE, Mr. A K Jha- Director General, NIESBUD , Prof (DR) Upinder Dhar, Gp Addl Vice Chancellor, Amity and Pro Vice Chancellor(A) Amity University UP discussed the changing Indian and Global economic and social scenario. They focused on Developing Entrepreneurship spirit and capabilities need to be honed in the students.

The second plenary sessions was followed on interesting topic “Outcome based learning”. In this panel the resource persons Prof. (DR.)Balvinder Shukla Vice Chancellor Amity University UP, Dr. Amit Kapoor, Chairman ,Institute for Competitiveness, Mr. Solaikutty Dhanabal ,Academic Programme Manager ,SAARC Academic Programme, Mr.Nirmal Singh- CEO, Wheebox shared views on student -centered learning philosophy that focus on empirically measuring student performance and the desired changes within the learners by increasing knowledge, developing skills and positively influencing attitudes, values and judgement.

The third plenary sessions was followed on interesting topic “Delievery Mechanism”. In this panel the resource persons Prof. H.P Khincha, Chairman- NAAC, Former VC,VTU-Belgaum, Prof K.K.Aggarwal Chancellor, K.R. mangalam University and Former Vice Chancellor,GGSIP University Delhi, Dr. R.K Agarwal, Director, Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Mr. Saji Joseph-Head Initial Learning, TCS. They focused on different aspects of course delievery which should be analyzed in detail to ensure that education becomes more industry relevant with its Content Development and Pedagogy.

The fourth plenary sessions was followed on interesting topic “Industry Institute Network”. In this panel the resource persons Dr. Abad Ahmed, Former Pro- Vice Chancellor Delhi University, Mr. Ajay Goel and Director Skill Network. Wadhwani Foundation, Mr. Ravi Aggarwal Director,Pepperi Fuchs discussed that Education needs to move in tandem with Industry requirements and both industry and academia should explore mutually beneficial collaborative models.

The session concluded with the round table discussion leading to constructive ideas and suggestions for the smooth functioning of Public Private Patnership,Industry- Education Institute Partnership and Partnership between Education Institutes.

Mr. Raman Kalyanakrishnan, Practice Head Education TCS Group summed up the session and rendered vote of thanks.

The event was highly successful as it equipped the participants with the greater sense of employability and Entrepreneurship.