What Is Action Learning? Courses Best Suited For Current Job Market Demands

The NEP 2020 emphasises skill development, urging universities to provide long-term practical experiences for students across fields, from traditional engineering to paramedics and specialized engineering branches.

By Supriya Pattanayak

The National Education Policy 2020 lays down guidelines for education in the modern scenario, where the focus is on hands-on training and skill development for students. While some may argue that universities have always had compulsory internships in relevant industries, the students returned with an optic view as these exposures were for merely a few weeks. In tune with changing times, there is a need for education system to revolutionize itself and create opportunities for students that can give them long term experiences of the practical aspects of the courses they have opted for.

Even as courses in the field of engineering and medical have been popular over the years, students now understand the demand for paramedics or support staff in hospitals or even engineering field in not just traditional branches but in Aerospace, Fisheries Navigation, Agricultural and Bio Engineering.

Such courses give the students a chance to anticipate the fact that they will be in high demand in the future and the right university can ensure that the students are ready for what the future shall unfold. Thus, these courses with right education with Action learning shall create students who are job ready immediately after they pass out instead of looking for trainings or internships.

Action Learning is seen in very few universities since it requires creation of resources where students can get hands on training of their opted course throughout the year. For this manufacturing units have to be set up inside the universities. Such set ups will create the foundation for Action Learning where students will get hands on training on a regular basis to run a manufacturing unit or serve at hospitals as part of their education to become a paramedic.

The foundation for providing skill-integrated education will need to be laid down by the universities of the nation. Only some universities have stepped up to the occasion and have changed according to the changing times, while there is a need to have more such universities.

Universities must foster both employment and entrepreneurship by developing on-campus manufacturing units and labs sponsored by leading industry firms across verticals such as Yamaha, Dassault Systems, Schneider Electric, and others. A parallel model encompassing fundamental processes such as product design, development, patent, publication, production, and commercialization must coexist with theory.

It is imperative that an engineering graduate must have hands-on experience of designing a car or manufacturing an e-rickshaws. Likewise, a student studying agriculture must know how to use technology and once they pass, they are not just job seekers but entrepreneurs who can create industries themselves.

Previously, most colleges in the country focused primarily on conveying theoretical knowledge and clarity, however now the emphasis is on Applied Learning through on-campus labs, hands-on Action Learning through LIVE production, and practice-based training. Furthermore, partnership between academia and industry to proceed in this path would assist students better grasp the learning gaps.

Moreover, universities today have lateral entry programmes as well, where they can collect credits for the years they attend college, and join back to finish their incomplete education. This will help them to not just get relevant education when they can, but also upskill at any point of time in their career.

The India Skills Report 2021 claims that almost half of graduates that Indian universities produce are unemployable, as they lack skills as well as exposure to the industry they intend to enter. This makes them a liability on the company hiring as they need more training, even as the salaries offered to such individuals are usually low.

In the years to come there will be an increased need for skilled manpower not just in industries and manufacturing but in farming and non-farming sector as well. The need of the hour is to create industry-ready workforce that is skilled, and those with experience need to upskill themselves in order to stay relevant in changing times. Through action learning and skill-based education, it is possible to change this saddening data in no time at all.

(The Author is the Vice Chancellor of Centurion University, Odisha)

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