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‘Indian Higher Education System
Expanding at a Fast Pace’
In an exclusive interview with EduMantra, Mr. RCM Reddy, Managing
Director & CEO, IL&FS Education & Technology Services Limited,
speaks on the Indian education system, Digital India, Skill India,
academia-corporates collaboration, etc. Excerpts...
Q) Thank you Mr. Reddy for being with
us. You have rightly maintained that to
make India, it is important to skill India.
Please share your thoughts on this.
For a country like ours, where
approximately 65 percent of the population
is below 35 years of age, human resources
is a vital component of the economy. It is
because of this reason that tapping this rich
potential through gainful employment is
crucial, which is why adequate education
and skilling are essential. As per the skill
gap study conducted by the National
Skill Development Cooperation (NSDC)
over 2010 - 2014, there is an additional
net requirement of 109.73 million skilled
manpower by 2022 across 24 key sectors. As
India strengthens its base as a knowledge
economy, there would be additional
requirements to the highly skilled workforce
in sectors such as financial services, IT/
ITeS, Biotechnology, Health-care and
Pharmaceuticals. Further, with value added
industries being given a policy push under
the ‘Make in India’ initiative, highly skilled
workforce would also be required in high-
end industries.
Q) In your opinion, which are the steps
that are imperative to ensure that skills
get linked to jobs?
Skill interventions should be based on
some key principles that ensure scalability
and replicability; for example our network
of 1000 plus placement partners across
sectors and locations links each trainee
to a job. These are secured before the
commencement of the programme. Our
content is designed in consultation with
industry partners, and is mapped to the
National Skills Qualification Framework in
order to make trainees industry ready. In
addition, technology intervention, holistic
development and on the job training ensure
an all-round development. Besides this, All these factors
certification by the Sector Skill Councils,
international awarding bodies and globally
have ensured
recognised assessment agencies raises the a 75 percent
employability of students. All these factors placement
have ensured a 75 percent placement record since
record since inception, with the remaining
not taking up jobs due to personal reasons inception, with
or embarking on an entrepreneurship the remaining not
mode. Most importantly, our role does not taking up jobs
end with placement, but post placement
tracking and career counselling are an due to personal
integral part of our skills value chain. reasons or
embarking on an
Q) Do you think that the industry now
puts a premium on skilled manpower, or
entrepreneurship
is there still a long way to go? mode.
The trend of valuing skilled manpower is
seeing an upward curve, thanks to enhanced
outputs from skilled human resources,
which make it clear that skilling is not only
essential for the all-round development
of the individual, but also for increased
efficiency, productivity, cost-effectiveness,
and a healthier work environment; it
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 empowers a symbiotic relationship between
employer and employee.
Q) Tell us about your association with
the development of industrial clusters in
India.
Il&FS Clusters has been set up with
an objective to provide commercially
sustainable integrated solutions for the
development of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises, through a cluster based
Public Private Partnership approach that
would enable them to become globally
competitive, in both farm and non-farm
sectors, linking them to technology, finance
and markets, in order to propel the creation
of 1 million jobs. The IL&FS Clusters’ service
framework includes an array of services
for cluster enterprises with emphasis
on infrastructure creation/upgradation,
The wide local/regional economic development,
skill development, livelihood generation/
disconnect enhancement, and policy advisory services.
between industry IL&FS Clusters work in two major divisions
and academia – infrastructure and skill development.
continues to Our impact includes footprints in 130 plus
clusters, with around 10,000 MSMEs being
spin-out less impacted, around 1 million jobs created
than trained across 10 plus sectors, and approximately
employees for USD 650 million contributions being
leveraged.
jobs. Since
India had not Q) In order to capitalise on our
focused on Skill demographic dividend, investments
are needed in education and skills
Development development. What are your suggestions
before the 11th for the policymakers?
Five Year Plan,
the large gap of It is important to focus not only on the
existing, but also the immediate future
skilled learners trends of the economy, and the industry,
is evident. which is part thereof. Education and skilling
should be flexible to change; constant
adaptation and creativity are required to
meet dynamic market trends and demands.
The earlier these changes are incorporated,
the easier it is to benefit from them,
especially as far as the students of today
or the decision makers of tomorrow are
concerned. Both these sectors have to focus
on employability and employment, and
the trends they encompass, not only in the
present, but also as proposed for the future.
Possibility of learning by doing, creative
and interactive teaching-learning solutions,
practical application of learning, and a
scope and environment that encourages
unlearning and re-learning need special
attention.
Q) Explain the role played by
academia-corporate collaboration in the
course correction that the job market
needs.
While about 13 million youngsters join
the workforce in India every year, the Labour
Ministry reports that less than one out of
four MBAs, one out of five engineers and
one out of ten graduates are employable.
The wide disconnect between industry and
academia continues to spin-out less than
trained employees for jobs. Since India had
not focused on Skill Development before
the 11th Five Year Plan, the large gap of
skilled learners is evident. At the same time,
India’s vast unorganised sector continues to
employ unskilled labour, costing companies
very heavily. The industry plays a pivotal
role in boosting the skill development
mission as an employer, a knowledge
partner, and sponsor. In addition to this,
the industry can also play an active role
in encouraging vocational training by
providing opportunities for on-the-job-
training, guest lectures, industry visits,
projects and assignments etc.
With the formation of 36+ Sector Skills
Councils (SSC) under the aegis of Ministry
of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship,
Government of India, the industry is gearing
up to support the skill development mission
of the country. The SSCs are represented by
respective sectors industry players, who
defines the need for skilled manpower in
their respective sectors and also the skills
required for the identified job role/s. The
curriculum for the training is prepared
as per this requirement by SSCs, and the
assessment of the trainee, post-training,
is also conducted by SSCs, mapped to the
requirement of the industry. Thus, work
in direction of bridging the gap between
industry requirement and availability of
skilled manpower has already begun. This
needs to be, however, taken to next level,
whereby industry starts recruiting only a
skilled and certified candidate and/or pays
premium to a skilled candidate.
Q) Is a Public Private Partnership (PPP)
model an effective response to address
the issues that the education sector
faces?
The PPP model serves as an amalgamation
of the ‘best of both worlds’ – of the private
and public sectors. Both sectors bring their
own competencies, USPs, and high-points,
which when applied in a partnership serve
as a catalyst to trigger effective solutions for
common problems, while maintaining high
levels of quality and time management.
Besides this, expertise and experience from
both sectors enables smoother and more
cost-effective implementation of projects;
the reach of networks, when consolidated,
is advantageous without a doubt.
Q) Technology is India’s forte in the
world market. How can Indian education
system benefit from it?
As the world moves towards AI, machine-
based learning and big data driven decision
support systems, many of the current job
roles will become non-existent in the not-so-
distant-future. In short, we need to evolve
a curriculum that hones 21st century skills
among young adults so that they can adapt
and excel in an increasingly ambiguous
and unpredictable world. Building this new
economy workforce is a joint responsibility
of the academia and industry. Enabling
organisations like us can aggregate relevant
good practices from both, ensuring hand-
holding support in the form of employment
and career outcomes for job-seeking
youth through sustained and personalised
capacity-building initiatives, by applying
the principles of life-long learning.
Q) With classroom-learning moving
beyond textbooks and blackboards,
it seems that the use of digital media,
mobiles, multimedia, audio-visuals, and
experiential-based study materials is
the way forward. The question is - are we
prepared?
Digitalisation is already playing a vital role
in the Indian economy. It is also imperative
to change with the changing times. Though
the role of a teacher can never be replaced as
the people-to people connect established
through the teacher-student relationship is
vital for the all-around development of the
student, the need to upgrade the teaching-
learning experience is crucial. This includes
the effective introduction of technology in
order to enhance the interactive and creative
components of teaching methodologies.
This not only empowers teachers, but also
encourages better attendance, effective
learning, and long-term recall. Our objective,
as an institution, is to focus on K12 education
and VET, and to create significant impact
through technology-led innovations. We
will continue in our endeavour to scale the
current initiatives, as well as keep on adding
newer ones that would help in serving the
end user’s needs.
Q) Are you confident of India building
a globally competitive education system
in the next five years?
As per the latest 2011 Census, about
8.15 percent (68 millions) of Indians
are graduates. Indian higher education
system is expanding at a fast pace. This is
just the beginning of an era that ushers
in the need for not only better education,
but also better infrastructure to support
it. In addition, the human resources
that will train the students would need
training themselves. With globalisation
and enhanced exposures to the newest
teaching trends, tools, and methodologies,
the scenario is set to bring about a
paradigm shift in the face and outlook of
the education system. With this kind of
momentum, a well-planned approach,
and an open mind, the scene is all set to
undergo further change towards an ever
more enhanced quality system.
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