Pune: The CII Higher Education Summit was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai focusing on the role that institutes of higher education play in creating a future-ready human resource.
Naushad Forbes, former CII president and co-chairman of Forbes Marshall Ltd, said, “Over a period of 30 years, number of students who did their bachelors in engineering has grown 40 times. During the same period, students doing their doctorates and masters from the same stream has grown by just 3 per cent. This obviously resulted in a shortage of guides, mentors and teachers needed to ensure academics could handle the new challenges that came up.”
The summit brought together stakeholders from industry, academia and policy-making to lead discussions on ways to make higher education more effective and rewarding. A knowledge-sharing platform for key stakeholders, it discussed ways to identify policy impetus required to produce the desirable ‘global human capital’.
The panel also included Rajiv Vaishnav, Head of Ecosystems and Partnerships, Gennext Hub - A Reliance Enterprise, Keshav Murugesh, Chairman of CII WR Sub-Committee on Higher Education and Group CEO of WNS Global Services, Indu Shahani, Chair and Founding Dean of the Indian School of Management and Entrepreneurship (ISME), Harish Mehta, Co-founder of Onward Technologies, and Ganesh Natarajan, Executive Chairman & Founder of 5F World.
“With 15 million youngsters entering the workforce each year, over 75 per cent are not job-ready. We aim to correct this anomaly with concrete measures. The new technology disruptor such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in the mainstream mandate the need for new skills set, education to help create new job opportunities. We must put together a cohesive programme for industry, educators to work in tandem enabling job-ready youth such as CEO connect, educate the educators, which would only foster better learning between the industry and academia,” said Murugesh.
A first-of-its-kind leadership panel, with CEOs and industry stalwarts, it focused on the importance of a connect between academia and industry to ensure not just creation of future-ready human resources, but also for encouraging entrepreneurship.
Other panels included that of women achievers, young achievers, innovators and entrepreneurs and a focused discussion on corporate social responsibility playing a key role in shaping young minds.
