Tech industry says there exists ‘employability gap’ in engineering graduates, want education system to build professional skills

Mumbai, March 1

The USD 245-billion Indian technology industry on Wednesday flagged the “employability gap” in engineering graduates, saying that the education system is not focusing on building strong foundational and professional skills.

Debjani Ghosh, the president of the technology industry lobby Nasscom, told reporters that the gap in skillsets forces IT companies to spend more time in training the freshers before they are deployed, which results in significant costs.

Over the last two decades, Indian IT companies have been rendering services for the world courtesy of cost arbitrage and the number of engineering graduates which the country puts out into the market every year. But the changing nature of requirements seems to have led to disappointments.

Ghosh said that today’s engineers are not working in back office any more, but sitting with the customers as the industry shifts from service provider to digital transformation partner.

“… our current educational system does not focus on building good communication skills, building design thinking (capabilities), out of box thinking, problem solving,” she said.

Typically, the industry wants foundational skills in aspects like skilling in artificial intelligence and cyber security, deep technology skills and professional skills like the power to communicate ideas, collaborate with others and design thinking.

Of these three, it counts on the education system to deliver graduates with foundational and professional skill sets, Ghosh said, adding that the same seems to be lacking at present.

Ghosh said she “hoped” that the newly-launched New Education Policy will correct this shortcoming but asked the authorities to implement the initiative “really fast”.

Speaking at the event earlier in the day, Hotmail creator and entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia also went public with his disappointment.

He said the education system lacks critical thinking and prevents a kid from asking question. It should not be only about fetching marks and landing a job for the kid, he said.