Alignment between academia and industry is important: IIMB’s Krishnan

The Confederation of Indian Industry’s Karnataka arm has decided to throw its might behind retraining the faculty members of educational institutions across the state in a bid to make them more familiar with emerging technologies and the industry’s expectations from outgoing graduates.

Skill development was needed for faculty too, not just for students, the new office bearers of the industry body said, highlighting how the new training initiative would cover the faculty of institutes that are part of CII’s network.

Out of the 60 institutes that are already members of CII Karnataka, 20 are from outside Bengaluru.

Some of these institutes include MS Ramaiah institute and SDM College.

Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director and Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, will spearhead this initiative. In an exclusive conversation with DH’s Prathik
Desai, he shed light on his expectations from it. Edited excerpts:

Why was there a need for an initiative like this?

In the fast-changing economic, technological and geopolitical environment, the industry faces several new challenges.

As a consequence of this, the skillsets industry requires from the people it hires are changing rapidly.

Alignment between academia and industry is important to ensure that these needs are met.

On the other side, graduating students need to be prepared for industry expectations and get jobs suited to their talents and expertise.

I often find that there are people looking for jobs and jobs looking for people - how do we minimise this mismatch? Clearly, a better mutual understanding of each others’ needs and constraints will help.

In some cases, the industry may have to step in to train and acquaint the teachers with emerging technologies and methods. Further, as we move towards being more atmanirbhar, academic R&D has an important role to play in supporting the industry.

What exactly do you plan to do in this role?

As the Chair of this initiative, I will work with the co-chair Ms Jyoti Pradhan of Kurlon to create an active dialogue and cooperation between academia and industry in Karnataka.

What will academia specifically gain from this programme?

a) A better understanding of industry needs; b) specialised training for academic faculty in emerging areas; c) appropriate internships for students and d) improved placement outcomes.

What do you think is key for this effort to be successful?

This initiative will need a serious commitment of time and effort from both industry and academia if it is to be successful.