Huge gap between the requirements of the Industry and the engineers produced in the Universities says expert

KALABURAGI;  Chairman and Managing Director of the CADMAXX Group Mr Arunkumar C Patil has said there is an urgent need for bridging the gap in the quality of the engineers produced by the Universities and the requirement of the Industry.

Speaking at the inaugural function of the two day technical event “Innovation Centre for Education (ICE) day” as part of the four-day Jnanotsava organized by the Sharnbasva University in the main campus of the University on Saturday, Mr Patil said that particularly in the fast emerging field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and Cyber Security, the quality of the engineers coming out of the Universities is far below the expectations of the Industry.

Pleading for the closer cooperation and collaborative education programmes between the Industry and the Engineering colleges and the centres of higher education, Mr Patil said that the curriculum and the syllabus thought in the engineering colleges would become irrelevant by the year 2030 as far as the Industry requirements were concerned. “I do not say that the curriculum and syllabus thought in the engineering colleges were irrelevant, but they fell short and do not match the requirements of the Industry”.

He said that the software major IBM has been doing a yeoman service to bridge this gap through its IBM Innovation Centre for Education and its collaborative programmes with the Engineering colleges and the Universities offering the technical courses. The major aim of the ICE project was to imbibe the industry requirements in different fields of engineering education the requirements of the Industry and providing windows of opportunities for the students in these institutions in furthering their knowledge in the latest technology by offering internship programmes, organizing competitive technical events to further the knowledge of the students.

Mr Patil said that the ICE programme were in line with the future technological changes and requirements of the Industry and has been designed to give an edge to the students in furthering the technical knowledge of the students.  Already thousands of students in different colleges and universities were benefitted by the programme and the certificates provided by the IBM ICE programme were a ticket to a bright future in the placement market.

Mr Vaqaruddin Surki, Delivery head of the IBM ICE in his address said that the students gained confidence and knowledge by participating in the technical events of competitive nature.  “Participating in such technical events were considered as an added qualification at the time of placements”

He said that such competitive technical events were breeding grounds for the budding engineers to become professionals.  In piece of advise to the students to use the social media platforms like Instagrams and others to project their success stories and participation in such technical events which would help them to gain knowledge and confidence.

Registrar of the University Dr Anilkumar Bidave presided over.  Dr Shivaleela Patil, Chairperson of the Computer Science Department welcomed and Prof Nandini Patil proposed vote of thanks.