Mumbai: While the country has a comprehensive educational system, certain steps are being attempted to close the gap between education and employment. The National Education Policy of India 2020 seeks to change and skill-orient India's educational system. It is being implemented in the city and state as of this academic year. On this World Youth Skill Day It is fitting to welcome this initiative.
Ravindra Deshmukh, Vice Chancellor, Mumbai University addressed the cause on Thursday. He reiterated on mandating internships in the last semester of each degree offered in the country.
“The varsities in the state are partnering with industries and skill providers to provide pre-employment skills opportunities to students according to their area of study” he added.
While professional courses have adapted this mandate for years now, non professional courses too will hold credits for internships taken.
Vinod Mohitkar, State Director for Technical Education, said “Engineering students will be able to pursue internships as part of their curriculum. "We have had the experience of providing internships to around 60,000 diploma students across 10,000 industries, including government and privately-run establishments. The 51 autonomous engineering colleges that are implementing NEP this year already have industrial tie-ups and have been providing internships to 30-40% of their students."
While professional internships have always known to be paid, in a welcoming change Non Professional courses too are said to have stipend in the range of 4000 to 10,000 rupees.
A firm in Mumbai, VMentor.ai, co-founded by Meenu Bhatia, who leads YUGMA - A vertical within VMentor.ai that works with Business and Graduate schools helping enhance employability and building a pipeline of talent for organisations.
Students from across the country here have been groomed through their graduating years being readied for the industry along with academics. While popular colleges have enough recruiting firms offering placements, students from remote areas were guided at VMentor.ai.
Rhythm Sharma, 23, a fresh MBA finance graduate from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra(J&K) has recently been placed at Mahindra Finance as a management trainee.
She said “This is a small place, not many students aspire to do MBA hence not many firms come for recruitment. It helped that we were guided throughout our college understanding what companies expect out of us and what we should keep in mind while giving interviews.”
Bipra Jain, 31 another student from Indira Institute in Pune said “It was immensely helpful to understand my job profile before even being recruited. It built my confidence to learn the nitty gritties faster as my basic idea about my work profile was groomed beforehand. No one taught me to give interviews, research in a focused manner or build communication skills to adapt to a corporate job before. My time at Deloitte is very fruitful because of the guidance I received.”
