Engineering sector in our country is going in a big pathetic situation as per the employability concern. Reports of different government and private agencies argued that more than 60 percent pass-outs from different engineering institutes are struggling to find a job with industry. The core reason behind this is lack of quality teaching and employable skills among students.
IITs are the pioneer institutes in providing engineering education in our country. More than ten lakh students appear every year for Joint Engineering Entrance examination (JEE), out of which about 15-20 thousand managed to get admissions in IITs, IIITs, NITS, IISER, NISER and other prestigious institutes. Remaining students who got admission in institutes other than these High quality institutes were assessed and considered unemployable for software development jobs (Report by Aspiring Minds).
The prestigious institutes managed fully by government provide challenging curriculum with reasonably better employment prospectus. This is because they emphasise quality education with high end infrastructure and innovative start-ups by the faculties and students. They welcome industries and inculcate soft skills which are core to get employment. An industry needs people not with A+ degrees but those who can accommodate with the company’s environment and prove beneficial for the growth of the industry. That’s why All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which governs and manages engineering institutes throughout the country, has announced some amendments in the existing rules for technical education in India. This is likely to rectify the curriculum, role of faculty and research programmes in technical institutes across the country.
We blame curriculum responsible for this situation, as the technology is upgrading continuously but the syllabus is not updating as per industry demands. Not matching up with running technological advancement, AICTE has been forced to close down about 150 engineering colleges. This is really an alarming situation and the complete change of system is required.
AICTE is not blind to the current situation and suggested many positive changes to tackle the problem. It has decided to allocate separate budget for research and innovation in all affiliated institutes. As most of the contribution is from some elite institutions like IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs but the lower grade institutes also have potential to excel. Allocation of research fund will inspire faculty and students from affiliated colleges, autonomous institutes and state universities to contribute towards research and innovation. This will help create more jobs and try to bring some relief to the pass-out engineering students to cope with the changing environment.
One more factor which we should consider is the growth of IT industry. The boom of IT era passed away in 90’s and 2000, now we should look into the post IT world which has grown thousand times compared with that in the last two decades. Many new avenues have developed for students and they can choose from 100 different courses in IT itself.
IT students can choose from various courses at undergraduate or postgraduate level to improve their employability options.
Data Analytics: It is a science of examining raw data and reaching a reasonable conclusion from the information we get from it. A data analyst is a person who is expert in collecting and organising data in a particular manner. Demand for this profession is rising when companies are collecting data from social media sites and advertising their products. Many software professionals are shifting their jobs from software to data sciences. It is a process of identifying the choices of people when they search internet for different purposes. In coming days companies will find more solutions to find out relevant customers for selling their products. Many filter software already exist in open domain to help data analysts to search for a particular customer.
Software Designing: It’s all time an evergreen job for a person who is keen in coding and networking with software. Designing software requires a professional B TECH or BCA but more it needs is logic which can help you to find out common sense conclusion from a problem. It demands more but competitive market facilitates only extraordinary talents to make career in this field. Most mediocre students also get the job of software testing in different national or multinational companies.
Blockchain Technology: A blockchain is a growing list of records which are linked, using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. It is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
By allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology created the backbone of a new type of internet. Originally devised for the digital currency, Bitcoin, the tech community has now found other potential uses for the technology. This is new to the software companies and in future more jobs will be available for managing digital currency which will be the future of economy.
Machine Learning: Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programmes that can access data and use it learn for themselves. This will open a new era of future technology when machines will become more intelligent than humans and machines will take decisions on behalf of humans. Social and Technological scientists are debating on the future of artificial intelligence because in future machines will take over humans and we will completely depend upon computers for our survival.
Internet of Things: It is one of the most advanced and dynamic technology in the field of information and communication. It is actually networking of various devices like desktop, laptop, smartphones and tablets. Not only these but other devices like medical, household appliances, traffic control devices, all will be networked with the central system. Industry experts estimate that billions of devices are connected to the network and this will expand more in future. Internet of things (IoT) may generate 13-trillion revenue by 2025. It will create lakhs of jobs for network engineers with hardware support.
Digital marketing: It started ten years ago but now the future of marketing is now digitalised. Marketing on internet is now very common. Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba, all selling products ranging from home appliances to computers to medicine and everything we can imagine. Physical marketing by executives are gone away and the whole business depends upon your presence on internet. Common public in general and youth in particular are changing habits and moving towards marketing sites to buy products.
To solve the problem of job market, we should focus on technical and soft skills with improved quality of engineering education as well as find new avenues in technological field to improve better job prospects.