Digital education for a strong recovery: A forward look

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

CII’s work in education spans both school and higher education. The overall aim is promoting industry-academia linkages so that the output of academia improves in quality and industry benefits from a steady supply of high-calibre human resource. The CII Education Council, which has about 50 members, also submits policy recommendations to the Government on the subject regularly. CII has been driving change in Indian education and has actively contributed to the education landscape in the country. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 released by the Ministry of Education was a very important milestone in the Indian education space. CII had provided several inputs for this very detailed policy document, most of which found place in the policy released by the ministry. Over the years, CII has created several successful projects on ground to increase linkages between the two sides. These include Prime Minister’s Fellowship for Doctoral Research (www.primeministerfellowshipscheme.in) which was started in 2012 with the Department of Science and Technology and is now co-implemented by the Science and Engineering Research Board, along with CII. This highest paid Fellowship in India, is aimed at encouraging industry-relevant R&D at PhD level. There are now more than 225 projects under this Fellowship. With AICTE, there has been a prestigious survey which CII has been doing since 2012, called the AICTE-CII Survey of Industry Linked Technical Institutes (https://www.aicte-india.org/education/collaborations/moucii/AICTE_CII_2020). The survey maps the work institutes do with industry and encourages them to forge deeper and more widespread ties with industry. Recently, CII created an Industrial Proficiency Aptitude Test for Engineers (iPATE) with the aim of streamlining hiring of technical talent by industry (www.ipate.in). The test assesses to what extend the engineering graduates are able to apply concepts to industry setting. i.e. how industry-ready they are. The first exam of iPATE was conducted in November 2020 and several companies will be using iPATE scores for their hiring processes. iPATE 2.0 will be held in the latter half of 2021. CII has also been working extensively in the school education space, especially with regard to technology in education and early childhood education. To ensure that learning is continuous and to sensitise educators on the learning losses due to the pandemic, CII launched a ‘Catch-up Campaign’ in March this year. CII will continue its work on its existing initiatives as well as several new ones this year as well with our focus on continuity and resilience in education.

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