The session opened on the note of several challenges in one of the fastest growing sectors of our country. It brought into light the fact that employability is the biggest challenge in the technical education sector in our country. It pointed out some of the phobias and assumptions made by the industry, academia, parents and students
Dr Mukesh Pandey, Dean-Industrial Technology, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya
The principal challenge with the massive expansion of technical education is maintaining the quality. The premier institutes in our country like the IITs, NITs and even the RGPV, have failed to inspire or nurture innovation, entrepreneurial skills, and path breaking technological ideas as generated in foreign universities like the MIT or Stanford. We need to reposition our institutions and universities in response to the global changes that are happening on a day-to-day basis.
Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Vice Chancellor, Baddi University
The major challenge in technical education is getting a good job. Factors like employability, quality of teachers, and less practical exposure are associative. The need of the hour is to think out-of-the-box. We need to define the box today and the rest will be done. The society has already taken in the privatisation in school education and senior secondary education. Most of us send our kids to private schools. But still, the society has not gulped in the privatisation of the higher education sector.
Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Vice President – Strategies and Alliances, Mosaic
Network, India
Twenty five percent of the population of India is still illiterate. Only 15 percent of Indian students actually go to high school. Out of those 15 percent, only seven percent are able to make it to the graduate level. Population is not a challenge for us; it is an opportunity. Even though about 3.5 lakh engineering students graduate in our country every year, we are unable to optimise on the existing talent pool that we have.
