CHENNAI: Firing a volley at the rote system of learning that exists in the country, Vice Consul General of Russia in South India Mikhail J Gorbachev said that there was a “gap that needed to be bridged” in students, between simply studying and learning to apply themselves. Speaking at the inauguration of a faculty development programme on Android mobile application development and deployment, he said, “Russian companies are searching for young specialists in South India and in many ways we see that there is not enough structural thinking. They mechanically have a good education when they pass out of top universities, but there is not enough application. It takes time to prepare them to develop mobile apps, and that is costly. I don’t know where the gap is between education and application, but that is your responsibility. And I hope we can find a good solution for this,” he said.
Speaking about the amount of potential that existed with android applications and mobile software, he explained, “Try and develop an IT club near our centre which aims to help Russian companies find knowledge, skill and human resources in India. You also have to improve marketing. Compared to computer apps, mobile apps have to marketed differently. The tech is different, as websites try to include more possibilities for their users - mobile apps are for a narrower market and users get used to that interface.” He added, “Analytics in Russia show that android and iOS are both popular but apple users are spending more. So we need to study which apps are being downloaded more and why people like them. Apply them, be modern.”
Addressing students and faculty at the Loyola College on Friday, he went on, “We need to improve our economic turnover. We need to do that and so we can see some infra projects like the KKNPP that is going to start really soon. Brahmos missile and other Russian tech is also here. We have some widescale projects, but we feel there is not enough co-op for middle and smaller business - which is why India is underused for IT outsourcing.”