What the Government is doing to Make Engineers Employable in India: MHRD

Employability and education have been two of the top issues for the citizens of the country. The fact that the Government is taking these issues reflected in this year’s budget as well. Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India, recently in a written reply to the Lok Sabha gave a list of Government Schemes that are helping engineers and other graduates in gaining employability. Here are some of the initiatives by the government.

How Government is Increasing Employability of Engineers in India

AICTE in association with various organisations carries out an employability Skill Test of pre-final and final year graduate students of AICTE approved institutions annually. The results have indicated that there has been a constant rise in the employability of engineering graduates in India over the last 5 years, says a PIB release.

To increase the employability of graduates in the country, Ministry of Human Resource Development is working along with Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) under National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to undertake Apprenticeship/Internship embedded degree programmes with the core focus on the development of knowledge, skills, aptitude and on-job training.

Furthermore, the government has also recommended that courses on nine emerging technologies like AI, data science, IoT, cyber security, robotics, design, quantum computing, AR/VR, Blockchain and 3d printing and should be introduced in UG engineering courses.

Apart from that, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is taking the following measures to increase the employability of graduates in the country, particularly engineering graduates:

• Preparation of outcome-based model curriculum for Diploma, Undergraduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) courses in Engineering and PGDM/MBA Courses.
• Introduction of 3 week induction program for students to be offered right at the commencement of the 1st year at UG level in Engineering.
• Setting up of Induction Cell at AICTE to monitor the induction activities and National Level Coordination Committee to coordinate training of Faculty members on the ‘Student induction Program’.
• Exam reforms and formulation of comprehensive teacher’s training. 8 modules are proposed for the incumbent as well as in-service teachers.
• Mandatory internship, Revision of model curriculum, and Industry readiness accreditation.
• Wheebox Employability Skill Test (WEST) being held for all pre-final and final year graduates of AICTE approved institutions to identify the core strengths of students and certify the same.