Why Are Corporates Not More Involved in Education?

Why Are Corporates Not More Involved in Education

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I do believe that if we would like to see transformational changes in Higher Educational systems in India, we need involvement of the stakeholders who are the most impacted by this, the Corporates. This questions begs for an answer, we all know that Corporates are the ones who will benefit the most if we have a transformation in the higher education process, then why are they not more involved? How come we don't see more Corporate-Educational Tie-ups? Why don't see more centers of excellence setup by corporates within universities? Why don't we see more sponsored courses? More importantly why is there is such limited visibility on this if any work is being done?

I think way too much blame is being placed on the bureaucratic nature of our colleges and universities. The first complain we hear is that things really don't change in colleges and universities, the course are out dated, faculty is untrained, facilities are poor among other issues. I think this is really the wrong approach in addressing this problem. Indian universities and colleges are just a reflection of overall political and bureaucratic system and expecting them to change overnight is really expecting too much. Does this mean nothing can be done? No I feel a lot can be done within the current framework and the systems we have in place and really that is what we should focus on. Corporates are really not leveraging the options they have within the current systems to effect change and instead focusing way too much on more bureaucratic aspects like a complete overhaul of the Syllabus or Better Faculty and Facilities.

If we stop thinking of an all or nothing solution we have various aspects where we can have incremental changes in the current systems. Here are some thoughts:

Corporates having designated guest faculty with identified colleges. Today this seems to be an unplanned exercise. Having a target group of colleges where the company commits to a specific number of hours of guest lectures could have a huge impact.

Student exchange programs. Where entire groups of students from a batch can be closely involved with a group of Industry professionals through visits/meetings and interactions to understand the way the company works.

Career Counseling Sessions. Corporates conducting career counseling sessions for students within the campus or the company offices and assisting students make a career choice.

Project Mentoring Sessions: Both group and individual sessions with students to advice them on projects, ideation, execution techniques. Given the importance given to projects this can have a significant value for students.

BarCamp Events: Core Technical Barcamps on Academic Subjects and on topic relevant to Industry with active discussion oriented sessions with active participation from both students and Industry.

Faculty-Industry Seminars: Discussion and seminars with active involvement between industry and faculty from colleges with mutual exchange of information and thoughts from both sides.

All of this really need not be treated as a philanthropic exercise. We need to be clear that there is a significant benefit in dollar terms for Corporates by getting involvement in such activities directly impacting their daily business and by tying up with Universities and Colleges and applying incremental transformation they can actually build a clear differentiator for a business. Peepaal Campus is an initiative on the lines of the above process.

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