What is the issue?

• The government is putting in place an education ecosystem to boost advanced learning in new-age technologies.
• With the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR) in the making, it is essential that India’s higher education sector capitalise on this.

What is the 4th IR about?

• The Third Industrial Revolution was of personal computers and internet.
• The next wave of global progress and growth is being driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
• This involves the emerging technologies that merge together to change the dynamics of how industries operate.
• These include artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, biotechnology and 5G.

What is the challenge before India?

• India has the world’s largest population of young people.
• In any case, India needs more jobs for its 50-crore youth that will be in the labour market by 2030.
• To capitalise on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, India has to align the higher education sector with the demands of the new age.
• But India already faces structural and regulatory challenges in the higher education sector.
• So the path to create a market for higher education in emerging technologies has multiple limitations ahead.
• Some of the biggest obstacles include the inadequacy of curriculum and trained faculty since the technology itself is evolving rapidly.
• So, the only way for students to gain knowledge in emerging technologies is to learn directly from an industry practitioner or join online resources.
• The groundwork to gravitate the youth towards a career in such technologies has already been laid by the government.

What are the government initiatives in this regard?

• There are three pillars that have been created for the needed structural change.
• Autonomy - The Graded Autonomy status was granted by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• This has given the freedom to higher education institutions to launch new courses, off-campus centres, skill development courses, and foster other academic collaborations with industry.
• So new-age courses in emerging technologies can be easily launched by universities without being delayed by the regulator’s approval.
• Ranking - India's academic institutes largely lack a performance-based public ranking system.
• The gap is set to be filled after the Human Resource Development Ministry launched the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation and Achievements (ARIIA).
• Under this, by April 2019, over 800 higher education institutes will be ranked on parameters related to innovation and entrepreneurship development.
• E.g. universities facilitating students to launch market-ready products, launch start-ups etc., through new courses, will be highly rewarded under the rankings
• Technical education - The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has reduced the minimum credits needed for a degree from 180 to 160.
• This effectively reduces a full semester of academic load for students and faculty.
• The AICTE also formulated the National Student Start-up Policy.
• This enables bright students to take up courses in emerging technologies.
• They can learn practical engineering skills by working on prototypes and gain a “minor degree”.
• If the student continues to build the prototype into a start-up, the knowledge and experience acquired by the entrepreneur will be recognised as an MBA in Entrepreneurship Programme.
• This is possible under the new AICTE guidelines.

What do these initiatives imply?

• The interlinking of these there pillars will let the institutes adopt new technology courses (elective and minor) with industry partnerships.
• The potential students will gravitate towards these institutions, which have higher flexibility and a modern outlook to the industry.
• These students will acquire better skills and drive up new job openings in emerging technologies.
• They could build up a new generation of products and start-ups from India.

What lies before India?

• The advent of the fourth industrial revolution is already being seen as transforming skill-based sectors in developed countries.
• It is facilitating increased investments in Research and Development (R&D) measures in countries like US, China and Japan.
• In such a scenario, India needs to catch up with the anticipated changes in its own labour market.
• The need of the hour is a plan of action to create a model for higher education that addresses these shifts.