Former vice-chancellor of Madras University and former chairman of National Assessment and Accreditation Council, professor A Gnanam called upon technical educational institutions offering higher education to bundle job-related skills as part of the technical education, in a bid to make students industry ready.
Delivering the 28th convocation address at VIT University on Saturday, he said students were forced to receive such skills through external agencies. In this era, knowledge-related skills were the need of the hour. Unfortunately this was not part of the traditional educational system, he lamented.
In order to meet the emerging demand of soft skills required for employment, the traditional higher education system that focused on knowledge transfer and generation should be fine-tuned to incorporate skill development to integrate employability with education.
He suggested that universities devise plans to impart necessary skills to the students through the constituent community colleges to improve their employability. Lamenting on the lack of quality research, he said, India should gear up technical institutions to focus on technology innovation to improve the indigenous content in the industry.
VIT University chancellor G Viswanathan, in his presidential address, appealed to the government to reduce the cost of higher education that was burdening students. The recent levy on service and educational institutions had come as a big burden for the students. Indian students spent more money on higher education than their counterparts in other countries, he pointed out.
Raghavan T Iyer, managing director Accenture India, in his special address, pointed out that learning did not stop with obtaining a degree. He advised the outgoing graduates to keep pace with the development and the changing technological and economic scenario around them.
He also stressed on the importance of acquiring soft skills, presentation skills an interpersonal skills. “Go in for specialisation,” he advised them.
As many as 5,237 undergraduate and postgraduate, and 102 research scholars received their degrees and doctorates on the occasion.