CHENNAI: In India, the unemployability of engineering graduates has been a concern for a long time. “On an average 1.5 million students complete engineering every year. But 4/5th of them are not employed,” rues Vaishnavi Jayaraman, founder EQuad Engineering Services. “Many students don’t know basic formulas and concepts by the end of their curriculum, as they are theory driven,” explains the gold medalist from SSN College of Engineering.
During her MBA in entrepreneurship (part of Global Module at Google and Harvard Business School), Vaishnavi developed the business idea further. “Since minimal industry exposure was leading to unemployability of the students, I decided to give fresh graduates and engineering students practical and application-oriented training that focused on enhancing their technical skills. Industry visits are not taken seriously and are seen as a just a way to score marks. Same with mini projects — a lot of students buy these projects outside and present them. Then how will they get the needed hands on experience?” she points out.
Tapping the potential of these engineers in different branches, EQuad has so far trained several students. “Initially, we paid the students a stipend and trained them because it was an ‘I am an engineer why do I need training’ situation. Later, when they were turned down by companies because of lack of technical skills, there knew! We have recently started charging a modest fee, which goes into buying components and equipment for prototypes that students work on,” she shares.
Students are trained by internal engineers with industry experience, for three months, focusing on specific skills and also current industry trends. With players such as TATA Motors, Reliance Power and Parry Agro in their list of industry partners, Vaishnavi also wants to tie up with educational institutions that are interested in teaching their students from the grassroots level. “Real time exposure to industry problems can make them the best version of themselves. And this is the change that we are trying to bring about,” she adds.
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