Varsities working hard, so that you get a job

Some universities in Maharashtra are active in attempting to reorganise the higher education system in order to increase employ-ability of students once they pass out.

Educationists feel this is the need of the hour as traditional courses do not equip students with requisite skills to become employable.”

The academia is either busy seeking industry inputs or joining hands with foreign collaborators to design new and relevant courses. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU) for instance, is reorganising its degree curriculum and SNDT Women’s University (SNDTWU) is adding new courses to its repertoire. SNDT has also signed MOUs with leading foreign universities for creating new career channels for students.

Making them  employable seems to be the mantra. Universities are seeking to create more number of adequately skilled workers only after various reputed organisations like NASSCOM pressed the panic button on the utter “unemployability” of Indian students.

NASSCOM said that of the 400,000-odd engineering graduates who pass out every year, only 20 per cent meet the requirements of Indian industry. The rest have to go through rigorous training before industries can put them to work.

Dr. Vijay Pandharipande, vice chancellor (VC), BAMU says, “From this academic year, we will have vocational courses instead of traditional courses.”

With inputs from the Marathwada Chamber of Commerce, BAMU has planned six degree courses in the field of:

Banking, Finance and Insurance

Travel and Tourism

Industry Automation

Information and Communication Technology

Automobile Industry

Pharma industry

BAMU has designed a five-year integrated course after standard XII leading to a Master’s.
The system is flexible. This means students get a Diploma if they drop out after two years, a Degree if they take a break after three years; a PG Diploma after four years and if they complete the five year course, they get a Master’s degree. Students from any stream can enrol for Banking, Finance and Insurance or Travel & Tourism courses. However, for the rest, it is mandatory to have Science and Mathematics at the plus-two level.

The six new age courses will have only 12 students per batch. BAMU is reorganising the course structure. Students will first go through all the basic courses. In subsequent years, the component of vocational specialisation will increase progressively. A student will spend three months in a designated industry for hands on knowledge and earn credits depending on the work done. A typical week will have theory lessons on four days.

Student can work for the remaining two days. “It is an earn while you learn model,” says Pandharipande. “We are endeavouring to create an enabling environment.”

Moreover, students will learn at their own pace and have a choice of earning more credits.
They may even drop out to take up a job and may rejoin the course at a later date, when they will be evaluated on the basis of a report they submit regarding their work experience.

But they will have to face a viva, do a literature survey, a case study and a case analysis to be eligible for the course. The student’s industry supervisor and a university professor will do the evaluation. “The UGC definition of a credit is 15 hours of learning. But in the new system that “learning” has to happen. Only then a student will earn credits.”

Funding is a huge issue, says Pandharipande. BAMU plans to utilise the services of its existing faculty and industry experts to cut costs. “The industry has promised to give our students internship and half scholarships and provide gap funding till the courses stabilise.”

SNDTWU has signed MOUs with reputed foreign brands such as Rutgers State University, USA, University of British Columbia, Canada, among others, for student exposure and exchange, credit sharing, faculty exchange, student internship and collaborative research.

SNDTWU also has a new course called “Leadership for Local Self Government” for women representatives of local self governments.