CII-Academicians prepare strategy to make Tamil Nadu knowledge capital

Chennai:

In a bid to realize state government’s Vision 2023 for education sector, Confederation of Indian Industry along with academicians are planning a strategy to make the state innovation hub and knowledge capital of the world.

Addressing the ‘Round Table on Higher education: Relevance of Higher Education in Today’s Industry and Economic Growth Scenario’ organized by CII, state higher education secretary Apurva Varma stressed the need for the think tank to focus on on the kind of curriculum required to making the instititutes center of execellence.

He said the government’s vision is to have world class institutions in various fields and stressed on the need for industry friendly curriculm. He said the focus of 12^th five-year plan is to improve and achieve accessibility, equity, affordability, flexibility and quality in education.

Speaking on the occasion R Nandini, chairperson of education sub-committee in Confederation of India Southern Region stressed the need to build human capital across all levels of education and skill development.

She said the round table envisages understanding the institute, industry requirements  and bridge the gap which is hampering the employability skills of graduates and post graduates. “We want to work closely with the government towards policy intervention and facilitate best practices,” she added. According to CII, the state government has an outlay of Rs 892 crore to maintain the quality of education.

Interestingly, CII has outlined various challenges that include high drop out rates and low throughput rates, an insufficient number of post graduate graduations, skills gap between higher education graduates and the world of work and inability of the system to replace its academic work force.

B Santhanam, deputy chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry southern region and chairman skill development and membership sub-committees said the roundtable will seek to revisit the notion of transformation holistically, focusing on core higher education issues pertaining to access, equity and equality besides role of higher education in state’s development.

Madhavan Vilvarayanallur, partner management consulting, KPMG Advisory Services said that focus is on education catering to various industrial sector. “The focus is not creating post graduates but working closely with industry,” he added