WHAT ARE THE GAPS BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY?

Education is an important part of our lives. It not only makes students better citizens of the world by teaching them values and good habits, but it also helps them to be technically sound so they can compete with the outside world. Teachers play a vital role in imparting knowledge to the society and so their teaching methods need to be as effective as possible.

It's well known that those working in academia and those working in industries have different cultures and environments. This disconnect is the root of various problems, so it's important to understand the various gaps between the two sectors in order to begin filling them. The following are some of the different gaps between academia and industry:

(1) Curriculum of Universities are not as per the Industry Standards??

Curriculum of Universities is more theory based rather than application based. Some courses offered by the university are often out-dated.?

(2) Interns not getting Proper Working Environment in some Company??

The primary purpose of short-term training programs, which are a part of many higher education systems' curriculums, is to give students good practical knowledge. Many students prefer to choose big branded companies over startups because they believe they will gain more experience. However, the reality is that startups provide much more opportunity for creativity and live projects, leading to greater practical knowledge than what students would gain from working in a big branded company. In some cases, big branded companies don't offer live projects to their employees, resulting in poor practical knowledge or no knowledge at all.

(3) Faculties lacking? industrial exposure??

Faculties across the board are failing to provide students with the skills they will need in order to succeed in real-world scenarios. Many professors are research-oriented and lack the ability to take their findings and turn them into a commercial product - something that is essential in today's market. Professors need to be able to show their students how to make money out of their research so that they are prepared for the real world.

(4) Process of Evaluations

The? process? of? evaluating? the? student? in? academic? is? based? on? grades? obtained? in examination but in corporate, the evaluation is based on performance of the students as per type of projects he has handled and challenges he has faced and overcome.??

(5) Skill Gap or Performance Gap or Employability Gap?

Students lack technical skills or soft skills or both. Skill gap can be measured as the difference? between? what is expected from? students? and what? they? perform.? It is? also sometimes called the Performance Gap or Employability gap.?

(6) Absence of Industry – University Interaction Cells??

Most of? the Universities don’t frequently interact with the Industries. So Universities are deprived of advanced and up-to-date knowledge in different fields.?

(7) Unrealistic expectation of Students from Industry

Students? have high? expectations from? Industry in? terms of? salary,? position and timing. Moreover students have a mindset that getting a degree is sufficient to get them a job.?

(8) Industry? people? are? not? seriously? involved? in? updating? the? curriculum? of Academics.???

Industry people are very busy in meeting their own deadlines of various projects in the company and? so? they? don’t? get? enough time to? invest? on? updating? the? curriculum? of Academics.?

There are areas where academia falls short, and companies have taken note. It is the responsibility of universities to surmount the deficiencies in education and provide new methods to fill the gaps. A collaborative body comprising representatives of both industry and academia can be formed to continually monitor for gaps and make ongoing efforts to close them.??

It falls on both Academia and Industry to form strong relationships with one another and serve the needs of society at large. Such collaborations may also help to reduce unemployment rates in India.

What are your thoughts about the same? Let us know in the comment section.