AICTE chief calls for making graduates employable

There is a need for concerted effort to belie the notion that the graduates in India are unemployable, said Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education.

He was delivering the address at the 99th convocation of the University of Mysore here on Sunday.

"Industry reports reveal that the Indian graduates lack soft skills such as effective communication skills, teamwork, discipline, problem-solving ability, professional and ethical practice among others. Because of which many graduates remain unemployed or underemployed. Hence, the colleges and the universities have to undertake a few important initiatives such as making syllabus an industry-oriented, industry exchanges, research, and innovation, national and international networks, enhanced involvement of alumni, incentives among others," the AICTE chief said.

"The technology is changing rapidly. What is taught in colleges and universities become outdated very soon, especially in the disciplines of natural sciences, engineering and medicine. New discoveries keep emerging and the interdependence between the disciplines is more relevant today. Hence, interdisciplinary research is gaining importance. It is often said that students are to be prepared for solving problems which are not even known today using tools and techniques yet to be invented," he said.

Sahasrabudhe said that learning should never stop. Today, through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the internet, knowledge is available on your laptops and mobile devices. Make the best use of this revolution.

"The Ministry of Human Research Development and AICTE are associated in building a grand indigenous national MOOCs platform SWAYAM which has more than 1,800 courses from all domains of knowledge. As many as three million users are on board from India and about 140 countries," he said.

UoM Vice Chancellor G Hemantha Kumar, Registrar Lingaraj Gandhi, and others were present.