Towards a Sustainable Growth In Higher Education Through Soft Skills

The citizens are the most valuable asset of the country. Development of human capital and mind shift of the citizens is one big challenge. If we want a move towards a knowledgeable-based economy and be a sustainable first world country, the development of human capital should be a priori. In the context of a global world, a high human capital is a necessity and not a luxury. Sustainable development in higher education signals a commitment to produce an integrated human capital, educated individuals who contribute to the development of a quality living of society and also to a harmonious nation’s environment. In this era of modernization and globalization, higher education has a responsibility to produce a human capital that is not only professionals of the future but also responsible citizens. Higher education need to foster the human capital with the skills and attitudes that will allow all people, present and future, to have a decent quality of life, fair and equitable access to the earth’s resources and preserve the biological diverse ecosystems on which we all depend. Helping to create a sustainable society is a social responsibility both for the educators of future leaders in society and for our graduates in their professional and personal lives. One aspect that can assist in promoting the quality of education is to upgrade the teaching and learning system. As such the Institution of higher learning should be able to play the role of an information disseminator or human capital that are not only knowledgeable but also possess all the characteristics of a holistic individual.

Sustainable development in higher education will enable students to develop a personal critique of society and produce graduates who are ideologically aware and socially critical. It also facilitates ‘deep learning’ in other areas. For instance, active learning strategies can help develop generic skills such as critical thinking, ‘systems’ thinking, teamwork, ability to manage change, oral and written communication, negotiation or time management. These skills as can be observed are desired by most employer groups. Thus Reorienting education is necessary at every level starting from nursery schools through university and educators. Reorienting education is something that should happen continuously throughout the formal education system such as universities, professional schools (e.g. law and medicine), and technical schools in addition to primary and secondary education. The world needs a literate and environmentally aware citizenry and work force to help guide nations in implementing their sustainability plans. Education is a socially transforming process that gives people knowledge, skills, perspectives, and values through which they can participate in and contribute to their own well-being and that of their community and nation.

 It is important to note that India Produces 2 Million English speaking Graduates, 15000 Law Graduates, 9000 PHD’s   and 3 00000 engineers added Every Year to the existing Pool of 2.1 Million Engineers (Source : Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani).  More Than 70% engineers Fail to get a Job Because of poor English Language Skill, More than 90% Graduates are non IT /ITES employment ready Because of Poor English Language skill. (Nasscom AICTE survey finding) . The current study has found that employability with regard to IT product companies is as low as 4.22 % (amongst computer/electronics related branches), whereas employability with regard to IT services companies is 17.84% (wherein the company gives 3-6 months of in-house training) which is lower than the advertised figure of 25%. To be at the forefront of innovation and achieve higher growth, it is necessary that higher-order work with regard to product development and research grows in India apart from the services industry. To facilitate the same, the product engineering employability needs to be improved from the current figure of 4.22%. This requires greater focus on part of institutions of higher education to impart quality education in Computer Science and Programming. KPOs will find only 9.47% technical graduates employable. Employability with regard to BPOs and Technical Support Jobs (TSJ) is 38.23% and 25.88% respectively. This leaves a total of 61.77% students who require training in both soft-skills and problem-solving skills to be eligible for any job in the IT or ITeS sector.   The gap in skills for students in Top 100 vs. other campuses is not only in Computer Programming, but equally in English and Logical Ability. The gap in Quantitative Ability is the highest. This indicates that the Top 100 campuses have not done a spectacular job in transforming the skills of the admitted candidates, but simply attract better students at the intake. As APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India said,  "It is not unemployment that is the major problem; it is the question of unemployability that is the major crisis in this competitive arena…"

With such issues in the recruitment scenario, the challenge now lies in answering the following questions and bridging the skills gap that exists today:

Ø What are those critical skill sets that are rendering large chunks of the talent pool unemployable?

Ø How do we identify those skill gaps across our colleges/universities?

Ø What are the training initiatives we need to roll out to make the remaining 80% of the talent pool employable?

Ø What is the role of the various stakeholders in achieving this?

Ø How do we continuously measure and track progress?

The need to find answers to these questions is as important for the industry as it is for the academia and the talent pool.  The National Knowledge Commission has emphasized the importance of an inclusive society as the foundation for a knowledge society. NKC has also recognized the significance of language, not only as a medium of instruction or a means of communication but also as a determinant of access. An understanding and command of over the English language is a most important determinant of access to higher education, employment possibilities and social opportunities. School-leavers who are not adequately trained in English as a language are always at a handicap in the world of higher education. More often than not, teaching is in English. Even if it is not, in most subjects, books and journals are available only in English. And those who do not know English well enough find it exceedingly difficult to compete for a place in our premier educational institutions. This disadvantage is accentuated further in the world of work, not only in professional occupations but also in white-collar occupations overall. NKC recommends that the teaching of English as a language should be introduced, along with the first language (either the mother-tongue or the regional language) of the child, starting from Class I in school. This phase of language learning should focus on using both languages to create meaningful learning experiences for the child without disproportionate emphasis on grammar and rules. In order to meet the requirement for a large pool of English language teachers, graduates with high proficiency in English and good communication skills should be inducted without formal teacher training qualifications. They could be selected through an appropriate procedure developed by the National Testing Service and then given a short– term orientation. The nearly four million school teachers all over the country, regardless of their subject expertise, especially teachers at the primary level, should be trained to improve their proficiency in English through vacation training programmes or other short-term courses.

Both National Knowledge Commision and an Yashpal Committee have suggested a Number of changes in the way University and school Education is provided today. Both these Reports have suggested the major infrastructure changes.

1.    The Students despite Passing with Flying Colors in their Degree Exams ,lack subject matter and General Awareness about their subject. For Ex. If you ask the Full Form of NASSCOM , ERP etc to IT Graduates majority would not be in  a position to Give it correct.

2.    Quanitative and Analytical Ability: A Majority of the students fail to clear the basic aptitude tests for Numerical and Analytical ability. The reasons behind this are primarily a) Poor Schooling  b) Poor Comprehension due to lack of Good Language Skills

3.    Lack of English Skills:  Majority of the new age employment and Global employment needs Good English Communication Skills, which is lacking despite India Being Worlds Second Largest English Speaking Nation. A Lot of Efforts are needed to Improve the Language Skill of the individual from the school level itself and for a few years at the college level so that this skillgap in a major Lifeskill could be fulfilled.

4.    Critical Thinking skills: Indian Education system has been primarily Rote oriented which does not help develop the critical thinking skills of the students and hence when faced with any problem students find it difficult to think about the problem and analyse the issue. Infusion of Creative Thinking skills along with Science and technical education is a must in order to create a globally recognized knowledge force.

5.    Presentation Skills: Students need to be trained in the art of conversation and Presentation so as to create excellent presenters in each and every field.


6.    Bridging the Digital Divide: If we observe the facilities available in Tier 1 , tier 2 , and Tier 3 Campuses we would find that Tier 1 Campuses use a lot of IT Infrastructure and have better trained manpower to use these facilities. The Institutions across the country whether in Urban , Semi Urban or Rural sector should use IT Infrastructure , E Content , and E Learning in Big Way to Bridge the Digital Divide.

7.    Lack of Trained Faculties : although the number of institutions have grown Phenominally across the country , at the same time institutions are facing acute shortage of Trained faculties. A specific measure has to be taken to improve our existing teaching talent and create further Trained Faculty pool.

The immediate remedies would be to create a Centralised talent Pool at Each District which would be giving deliveries from a central location and is broadcasted to all the Institutions which lack the teachers in the semi urban and rural areas. The Problem of electricity can be addressed by providing generator Backup systems for electrical Failure. Apart from these Standardised Lecture Delivery mechanism with minimum content to be delivered should be made available in the form of Powerpoint sessions and Flashcards for the teachers.  The Core issues which needs to be addressed for resolving the problem on the long are 

a.    Teaching As a Profession has to be glorified.
b.    The Gaps in the Salary of the teaching community need to be worked out
c.    The focus on recruiting teachers today is , if anyone has done research on a topic he would be in a position to explain the concept in an excellent way … but the same can be achieved if and only if the teacher has excellent communication skills which are rarely tested while recruiting Teachers.

Apart from these, vast research and expert opinions were sought in the effort to determine the specific soft skills to be implemented and used in higher institutions of learning in India.  Based on the research findings obtained, seven soft skills have been identified and chosen to be implemented to all institutions of higher learning here. They are:

i.    Communicative skills.
ii.    Thinking skills and Problem solving skills.
iii.    Team work force
iv.    Life-long learning and Information Management
v.    Entrepreneur skill
vi.    Ethics, moral and professionalism
vii.    Leadership skills

To live to the challenge of globalization which is in line with the era of information economy, the strength of a nation is strongly dependent of the ability of its citizen to highly intellectual and skillful. The development of human capital is thus important and necessary since it drives the nation to the envision vision and mission. Without a quality human capital, a nation will be weak as there is no human factor that is capable to embark on new initiatives and perspectives. A quality human capital comes from a quality education process. A carefully designed and well planned education system is critical to developing such human capital. Thus, institution of higher learning plays a very important role to produce a human capital that is highly knowledgeable and skillful to meet the demand and expectations of many people. The teaching and learning processes in institutions of higher learning should be capable to provide such knowledge and skills to future graduates. Although the notion of sustainability was not imposed in the embedding of the above soft skills in the curriculum of higher education, it emerged as an essential skill during the implementation stage and the essence of sustainability is well reflected in the wishes of the government to develop a quality human capital. Therefore, it is hoped that instilling soft skills into the lives of future generation is also aimed at developing their knowledge, understanding, values and skills which are the essence of education for sustainable development.