BRIDGING SKILL GAP IN HIGHER EDUCATION : CAN TECHNOLOGY HELP ?

Skill Gap is the difference in the skills required on the job and the actual skills possessed by the employees. The skills gap is a complex issue, with lots of disagreement about causes and solutions. As the world of work is rapidly growing in terms of the advancement of science and technology, unprecedented demand for better graduates has been created. However, the world of work often criticizes that existing university curricula fall short to tackle the practical issues in the work field. With 15 million youngsters entering the workforce each year, more than 75 per cent are not job-ready. India will need 700 million skilled workers by 2022 to meet the demands of a growing economy. This glaring imbalance, due to lack of technical and soft skills, points towards the urgent and growing need to make young Indians job-ready, focusing on young graduates to augment their employability. Technical education plays a vital role in the development of the country’s human resource by creating skilled manpower, enhancing industrial productivity and improving the quality of life. This will help increase the availability of better talent in the job market to be absorbed, as, in the current scenario, of the seven lakh engineering students that graduate annually, merely seven per cent are fit for core engineering jobs. What would also help is providing training in not just technical skills but also soft skills or communication skills, preparing them to transform into workers from students. Revamping the education system can help bridge the talent gap staring at us, especially at the college level, as it forms the first step into the professional world