Faculty 4.0 Can Make Education 4.0 Successful

India needs a high quality of education to be able to tap into the potential of Industry 4.0. Educational institutions were mostly started by business-oriented people and politicians rather than real academicians willing to play a part in the development of education in India.

In the introductory address at the BW Education Higher Education Conference, Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman, BW Businessworld spoke about the skill development and employability which have always been the talking point, however, no substantial improvement has been noticed.”

He also opined about the lack of quality in B-schools which are not creating employable students, apart from the top cream. If we really want India to progress, we need to improve the education standards throughout, particularly higher education.

Employability of engineering students is also going down, and they need to step up with the changing technology scenario which will change things unexpectedly.

In his keynote address, IAS Mangat Ram Sharma, Principal Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Government of Tamil Nadu said this is an appropriate time to discuss the issues in the education sector and find solutions for that.

He also talked about initiatives taken by the Tamil Nadu government which include providing scholarships, laptops, providing grants for improving the quality of academicians, improving the infrastructure to build up an environment for better education in Tamil Nadu.

Sharma added, “There are questions pertaining to the quality of education, educational issues at the regional level and R&D for changing academic curriculum with time. We can only provide funds, grants, and schemes but the academicians need to implement better teaching pedagogy for better placements and literacy rate.”

Education has to be affordable and accountable, however, quality is important. Unless the research is relevant to education and society, it is of no use without coming into practice. Education and industry meet during the placement season, but they need to sit together often and decide on the demands for education to be industry-ready.

Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE said, “Learning in the new age technologies is very important, and unless the teachers are trained, the students will be left far behind. Industry leaders need to be Faculty 4.0 for Education 4.0 to be successful.”

“Academic institutes will teach the required generic skills, but students will have to pick the domain-specific skill," he added.

Sahasrabudhe also talked about the curriculum to be liberal. Versatility in education and students must be allowed to pick up and learn different domains.

Transformation is on cards for the development of new India, and we must be ready for it.

Rajguru Tandon

BW Reporters The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.