The Future of Education

A growing economy like India requires a large and skilled workforce. However, the lack of quality trainers and training institutes has created roadblocks to growth.  The skills shortage is evident in every sector of the economy. Higher Education must support skill development efforts, especially in the unorganized sector in India by funding skill training and development programs. It also should engage in advocacy and training programs, in-depth research to discover skill gaps in the Indian workforce. Skills development is possible by catalyzing the creation of large, quality, for-profit vocational institutions. There is also a growing need to increase employability through skill development programs as evidenced by strong market linkages, institute industry coordination, specialized skill development, a continuation of learning, etc. This is applicable to all sections of the workforce right from operators/workers to college-qualified students to junior-mid-and senior level executives. Additionally, there is a growing need for special focus on vocational training and skill development.

Students of the University of Calicut in Kerala, India fail in achievement tests for professions at national level due to failures of performance, or more accurately, they did not have adequately acquired soft skills and other required personality traits, goals, motivations, and preferences that are valued in the labour market and in many other domains of life, as compulsory items of higher education they had received. The larger message of this observation is that one of the reputed universities in India still pretends ignorance of the real fact that soft skills predict and shape success in practical life. Since that efficient soft skills and interpersonal abilities decide professional success, restructuring curricular experience which enhances soft skills must be given an important place in an effective portfolio of public policies, educational goals, and professional realms.

Keywords: Soft skills Curricular experience Interpersonal skills Higher education