“Need for Collaboration between Industry and Academia” [June 2012]

By admin June 19, 2012 9:50 am IST

Collaboration of academia and industry will not only help the engineering students to understand the way the industry works but also set the industry expectations in terms of quality- Rajesh Jalnekar, Director, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology
Manufacturing sector is a thriving industry in India. With the expected share of manufacturing sector in the country’s GDP rising from 16 per cent to 25 per cent over the period of ten years, slowly but steadily the people from the foreign shores have also started taking interest in the sector and looking at it as a potential avenue to invest in. Now it is just a matter of time before manufacturing industry weather automobile or automation thrives. But for that to happen, these industries need brilliant and innovative minds.

With every growing international manufacturing unit’s setting base in India the overall demand of well rounded talent with innovative skill sets is also surging in the industry. There has been a gap from the perspective of the way the students have been groomed for the industry and feel that today’s engineer’s are well trained but not well coached. Keeping this in mind Vishwakarma Institute of Technology has partnered with Binghamton University (State University of New York) in order to equip their students with diverse skill sets through practical knowledge. The industry has highlighted that most of the graduates are raw and do not have the expertise to handle crisis situation independently. The onus of coaching them then comes on to the industries. With the pressure of deadlines ticking it is difficult for industry experts to actually spend time and coach them on various nuances of engineering. To become a successful engineer they have to learn the art of connecting theory with practical knowledge. This is possible by providing students with an enhanced academic experience which can be best acquired in universities such as wherein the study environment is influenced by industries with a global perspective.
In has been known that Taiwan and Singapore attribute their success in the sector to the collaboration of academia and industry. Such collaborations give students the opportunity to work on cutting edge projects from industries in US and UK. It will not only help them to understand the way the industry works but also set the industry expectations in terms of quality. The students with practical knowledge will surely have a competitive edge while starting their careers.
Hence with the introduction of research labs in the institutes which provides first-hand practical experience to a student in relation to the technical knowledge which could be on subjects like development of a product, problem solving or using innovative raw materials to reduce cost of production makes it. Hence, research labs initiative such as these need to be introduced in the Indian educational system which has been promoted by Vishwakarma Institute of Technology and Binghamton University to provide industry and academia a platform to collaborate.