Galaxy of leaders make IndiGlobal Career Conclave & Fair a success

Eminent personalities from the industry, academia and educational consultancy space shared their views

IndiGlobal Bureau

“Uncertainty can be productive and enlightening if used properly. Parents, most of the time coax their children to go for the bread option which is to embark on a safe and sure career, while children want the butter option. Interest and passion has to be sustained during difficult years for success,” said Shri Ajay Misra, IAS (Retd), Former Special Chief Secretary, Telangana. Addressing the audience at the IndiGlobal Career Conclave & Fair 2023, he further added, “One must not get sucked by information overflow.”

Mr Misra said that there would be 1 lakh jobs coming up in the Renewable Energy sector in the next 10 years but there isn’t a graduation and Post Graduate program for RE. He however added, “Many students are pursuing PhD in RE space.”

Dr B Kalyan Chakravarthy, IAS, Principal Secretary, Skill, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Labour Welfare Departments, Government of Assam drew the attention of the gathering to focus on services around agriculture and industry. He said, “Our common thread would be digital skills and people skills. To develop the skills to hit the ground and running, one needs to focus on vocational education especially from Grade 8 onwards. Education is being institutionalised and should look into skill ecosystem.”

Shri Shrikant Sinha, CEO, Telangana Academy for Skill & Knowledge (TASK) said that emerging courses should be novel, new and technology should be able to disrupt the industry. Citing the example of Chat GPT he added, “1.75 million data sets was fed into Chat 4.0.” He also spoke about the effectiveness of multidisciplinary approach. Core engineering subjects are neglected. “Today, one may write code for a robot but what if we do not have mechanical engineers to design a robot?” He questioned.

The next thing is optical computing, quantum computing and cryptography. Also, Internet of Behaviors, he said all data has to be analysed such as your punctuality, behavior and breathing behaviour.

Shri Kartikeya A, OSD to Minister of Finance & Skill, Government of Andhra Pradesh speaking the initiatives in Andhra Pradesh said that in every MLA constituency there will be Virtual Reality Labs in Andhra Pradesh. He advised students to make use of ChatGPT and added that new technologies will only create more jobs and there should not be any fears of jobs fading away. “Become entrepreneurs and do not just look for jobs. The future lies in entrepreneurship and makes use of emerging technologies.”

“Emancipate yourself; identify the creative component within you,” said Prof Nageshwar, eminent journalist, academician and ex MLC. He added, “In today’s world there is a lot of opportunity and explained how when technology is leveraged, one can turn a one’s passion into a viable career- passion economy is making inroads. He exhorted students to follow their passion and it could be cooking, painting, singing.

Prof Nageshwar also cautioned the gathering of not getting influenced by traditional boundaries of knowledge. Knowledge is inter-dependent.

Vedant Ahluwalia, Founder & CEO, Dataviv Technologies spoke on the endless possibilities of technology. He said, “In the past it was unthinkable of things being done through touch screen, now it is a reality. The future should focus on creating technology. We can copy and run codes but the need is to create pathways to transform the industry sectors for the better. All curriculums should incorporate Artificial Intelligence. There is a need for mindset shift.”

Prof Subhashree Natarajan, Dean, School of Business, RV University said while choosing an institution to study, one should make sure that the college or university is strong in creating a space for creativity and not curbing cramping it. Secondly, is the university creating thought leaders? She advised the students to opt for multidisciplinary courses, compartmentalizing in a particular area is outdated.

Panel: Skilling & Jobs

It is said that graduating students, quite a many of them are not employable. Speaking on the issue, Dr K Sriharsha Reddy, Director & professor, Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Hyderabad said, “Skills cannot be imparted only by Professors but also by experts from industry. There should be domain knowledge and experience. Industry interaction should come into play. We need to prepare students for careers and not just jobs.” He further added, “At IMT, we partnered with HCL, Wipro to name a few who help students right from admission stage till absorption. We adopted a huge value proposition to students.”

Prof Abhirama Krishna, Director General, Badruka Group of institutions explained how Badruka mentors students in spite of being affiliated to Osmania University as non-autonomous colleges have to strictly conform to the mandate. He said that the association with industry resulted in signing of MoUs and Chartered Accountants help the faculty as well as the students. 80% of students who opted for placements managed to get jobs and the 200 hours program in which 140 hours is managed by the faculty and remaining by experts from the industry.

Concurring with the view that industry is important in skilling students, Shri Kartikeya A, OSD to Minister of Finance & Skill, Government of Andhra Pradesh said, “The Government of Andhra Pradesh partnered with industry in Indupuram. KIA plant has associated with ITI College and now it is called KIA ITI College. He added, “The Government is keen on doing the same by aligning with industry in all the 84 it is in the state.”

Prof Subhashree Natarajan, Dean, School of Business, RV University said that the entrepreneurship cell at RV University is arming students and collaborate with other departments. For instance, the students from engineering stream collaborate with Business School. Space is provided for hackathons. Social entrepreneurship is also given a lot of importance with 2 month compulsory work in a social project. We facilitate work with CXOs and MSME.”

Prof Sarbesh Misra, Dean, School of Executive Education, Placements, and Industry Relations, NICMAR stated that there is a huge disruption in the construction industry. There is 3D printing and is possible for ground floor at the moment. There is a need for automation and the industry is changing at breakneck speed.

Shri Karun Dube, Head Business, Intercell-Career Mentoring opined, “Educational institutions are doing well but there is a need for constant measures to tie-up with corporate. After identifying students we focus on Upskilling. Just a few years ago there was no AI. We need to tell students to use ChatGPT and implement it.” Prof Abhirama Krishna, Director General, Badruka Group of institutions said that in India all students are born intelligent but it is killed once they join a school.

Panel: Multi-Disciplinary approach and Employment Opportunities

There has been a decline in the importance of mechanical, civil and electrical engineering streams in the past few years but according to a TCS report, it is the students from these streams are doing better than CSE students. One of the reasons for the decline is mechanical and civil need huge investment said Prof V Uma Maheshwar, Director, Research Development & Consultancy Centre (RDCC), Osmania University. He further added, “In public sector companies, the starting salaries for mechanical and civil engineering graduates are Rs 12-16 lakh. Only 3% of the CSE students get top jobs in big firms. There is a need for right balance.

Dr P Ananda Raman, Mentor & Director, FIIT JEE, Hyderabad said, “A student who secured a top rank in IIT chose to study Chemistry. He developed a fluorescent paper that can detect explosives. One who follows his heart and passion will excel.” He explained how certain courses come into limelight due to extraordinary individuals. Important brands emerge due to individuals.

In the next few years, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will roll out. The government when it launched the programme had set a deadline of 2029. It is a path-breaking policy and will usher in multi-disciplinary courses which are the need. The idea of NEP 2020 is to excel in research temperament.

Dr Daya Shankar, Dean, School of Sciences, Woxsen University said that the university is initiating future courses and 25 courses have been launched. We launched B Sc Computer Science (Hons) with Neuro Computing and Brain Interference. There is a need to identify a job seeker and job provider and tailor the courses accordingly. Dr A Raja Reddy, Dean of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Sciences, Malla Reddy University said, “A student of Agricultural Science studies Economics, Math, Agri-business, Statistics, Microbing. We prepared course curriculum for agronomy, plant breeding. We also have internship with seed, fertilizer and pesticide companies and our students spend three months with farmers and acquaint themselves. In choosing a career, one should closely look for the right course, institution and faculty. Prof Uma Maheshwar said that during the course, students should work towards leadership skills, take part in debates, work in teams, create out-of-the-box ideas.

Shri Praveen Rao, Public Sector advisor and Founder of Capturing Life Foundation said, “Students from Arts and Commerce background too are doing well in technology. AT the same time, it is surprising that quite a few with technology background are not interested with their jobs.” The times are changing and in the last three years there is a lot of opportunity in content creation. One should think beyond technology. One should identify his or her growth journey not based on the degree certificate. For instance, people without any background in drone technology are entering this space.

Shri Burra Venkatesham, IAS, Principal Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Telangana said that a student should carefully weigh the pros and cons before taking up a career. One should understand what one wishes to do. He also said that an individual should look at work-life balance. Speaking about technology, he said that one needs to embrace technology and at the same time ensure the common good of the larger population. He noted that life is not just about success alone but to find happiness in what you do. Shri B Venkatesham also gave away the IndiGlobal awards.

Shri Sudheer Goutham, CEO & Founder, IndiGlobal Media Network thanked the dignitaries, sponsors, students, parents, the team from TASK for gracing the occasion and all the team members and the volunteers for making a IndiGlobal Career Conclave and Fair 2023 a success.