NIET, Gr. Noida Conducts Annual HR Conclave focusing Student Employability

Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology, Gr. Noida organized its annual HR Conclave – “Improving Employability Skills in Students to Create Future Ready Professionals”.

Introducing the theme of the conclave, Mr. Ashish Gakrey, Founder, HR Shapers, highlighted how rapid changes in technology are influencing both the people and their workplaces. He mentioned how the field of HR has substantially evolved with time and has embraced technology for day-to-day activities of recruiting, skill development of employees and performance reviews. He further talked about the rising role of analytics in HR and how an overwhelming amount of effort goes into collation of data. He emphasized on the importance of utilization of this data for arriving at useful insights.

Mr. Raman Batra, Executive Vice President, NIET, in his inaugural address, mentioned that “NIET has taken various steps to amalgamate classroom experience with modern technology so as to evolve a blended learning model. We have tied-up with more than 20 MNCs and established many innovation labs to ensure that our students get the best of knowledge and are ready to work in corporate environment from Day 1”.

Mr. Sandeep Tyagi, Director HR – Samsung Electronics, in his keynote address highlighted the evolving nature of industry and changes in the labor market. He mentioned that it has become imperative to ascertain how best the academic curriculum can address various requirements and demands of the dynamic industry. He said, “So far there has been immense reliance on the classroom methodology and a theory-heavy approach, however, the need is to make the entire approach more practical case studies; regularly calling guest speakers from different industries and letting students interact with them can prove to be extremely beneficial for everyone. Furthermore, there are a number of fantastic, industry relevant courses available which can be merged with the syllabus to give students more insights about the industry.”

The first panel discussion titled “Skills Development for new generation talent – Role of Institute and corporate” was chaired by Mr. Gakrey with panel members consisting Mr. Rajiv Naithani (HR Head – Infogain), Mr. Manuel Pardhe (HR Head - Thomson Digital), Mr. Saurabh Sharma (TA Lead – Ericsson), Mr. Vikas Singh Baghel (HR - HCL Delhi), Mr. Agniwesh Thakur (HCM – Accenture), Mr. S N Rao (Campus Manager – British Telecom).

The panel discussion focused on understanding the need for the role of the facilitator, the intrinsic motivation of the student, the need for blended learning to leverage the advantages and best of both the learning experiences while forming a community of the stakeholders consisting of the learners, designers and facilitators to work together to create a learning experience par excellence in the changing times. The participants also deliberated and discussed on how India can reap the advantage of being a young nation with the largest pool of educated English speaking youth in the World and how to quickly bridge the skill gap for reaping benefits of skilled employee deficit in the World till 2040.

The second panel discussion titled “Demand and Supply Gap Issues and Challenges for Non-IT New Generation Talent” also chaired by Mr. Gakrey had a panel consisting of Mr. Sahil Chopra (HRBP – Cipla), Mr. Atma Godara (HRBP - Greyorange Pte Ltd), Ms. Jayanthi J (HR Head - Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co), Mr. Manish Rastogi (Head Circle Mgt Devt - Idea Cellular), Mr. Rajesh Tripathi (HR Head - NSIC Delhi), Mr. Amrit Sarkar (GM HR – Abdos Group). The panel discussion focused on the adaptability of the Organization and Institute to digitization, the future of technology, and technology as an enabler, not a complete solution for training.

The discussion revolved on the need to reinvent people, places and practices at both Institute level and in Companies to embrace digitization and prepare professionals for a future world. The panel members discussed the belief that both Industry and Academia need to work together to prepare for the future age with clear strategy, clarity of the leadership team for embracing technology and enabling stakeholders with right skills, maturity and strategy. The participants also discussed on how the corporate could take the responsibility for syllabus up gradation in education right from primary school level and could stay invested in training the trainers. The institutions especially the professional institutions which create employees for the corporate would definitely benefit a lot with this intervention from the corporate. There was a consensus regarding the urgent necessity to achieve dignity of labour in India by practice, for resolving the paradox of having enough jobs and enough job-seekers but not skilled enough to fit into those vacant roles. 

The discussions comprised many relevant examples and real situations that HR professionals have to face while recruiting the fresh graduates. It was explained as to how technology is making rapid strides and the up-skilling students have to go through to stay competent in the market. The students of NIET also joined in the discussion and participated with a lot of enthusiasm. 

The emerging idea in the conclave was that up-skilling the students beyond the University curriculum is an irreversible reality and can benefits the organization and people. But for the transformational process to be successful, it is necessary for both the Industry and Academia to join hands together to embrace the idea and accept the change in totality rather than in bits and pieces.

Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology:

NIET is one of the premier Engineering and Management institutes of India’s National Capital Region (NCR). It was established by eminent visionaries, responsible for setting up City Educational & Social Welfare Society of Meerut, with a Vision to provide value driven education of global dimensions. It has been accredited by NAAC with A Grade, 3.23 CGPA which is highest in entire U.P. The Institute is also accredited by NBA (CSE, ECE, ME and B.Pharm. for 2017-2020) and ranked 99th across India by National Institutional ranking framework (NIRF) - 2016, MHRD, Govt. of India.  This has been achieved due to the sleepless efforts of the Institute ranging from establishment of Pyramid Finishing School, 10+ Industry tie-ups, 9+ Innovation Labs, Technology Business Incubator (approved by MSME & Startup India), etc. NIET has also been ranked 1st in Engineering Institutes in U.P. by Dataquest (Overall & in Placements) in 2017, 7th across India in Private Engineering Institutes by Times Engineering Survey 2017, 43rd across India in Private B-Schools by Times B-School Survey 2017, to name a few. It has also been recognized for Best Placements in North India at various occasions offering a highest package of INR 1.75 cr pa in 2017.