Engineers’ talent deficit tripping IT Inc
Good news. Nasscom says IT Inc needs 7.5 million engineers in next 10 years for India to retain its competitive edge. Indian Semiconductor Association sees demand for workforce in design industry expected to grow at annual growth rate of 20 per cent to touch 2,30,000 by 2012.
Bad news. Painting bleak picture is World Bank’s latest Employability & Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers India study, which says, nearly 65 per cent of prospective employers are not happy with skills that fresh graduates bring to the table. Nasscom says that though the country produces around 7,00,000 graduates annually majority lack right skill sets to be employed.
Reflective of sector’s serious concerns, World Bank’s South Asian Region Education Team’s Senior Education Economist Adreas Blom & Human Development Department Operations Analyst Hiroshi Saeki, in their study, observe that skills gap are quite severe in higher-order thinking such as core employability, communcations and also analysis and problem solving.
Further, they note that, though English communication skills is most desired by employers, it still remains most deficient among graduating engineers. Observing that insufficient supply of quality skills remains major impediment to India’s economic growth, they say, though engineers play pivotal role in sectors like IT, in difficult situations, however, there exists huge demand-supply gap for skills sought.
Decline in quality
Nasscom Executive Council Committee Member B V R Mohan Reddy notes unless industry gets required skilled manpower it will be difficult to face up to competition and survive with higher salary and attrition. The World Bank study says due to lack of skills and shortage of qualified workforce, the IT sector witnessed over 15-20 per cent rise in salary. Though country’s higher education system responded to increasing demand for engineers by massively expanding enrolments, it, however, led to average decline in not only quality of students entering the course but also graduating engineers.
