How Industry Can Help Improve IT Education in India
India is on the move. While, a number of other sectors are growing quickly, the IT sector the main driver of growth for past decade or more, continues to retain the potential to lead India for another couple of decades at the very least. However, there is just one small hitch. Facing a talent crunch, India does not have enough trained manpower.
Indeed, though difficult it may be to believe a country with a billion-plus population people, faces a future of stunted growth due to a manpower shortage, nonetheless it is true. While, the higher education sector i.e. BTech, BE, MCA, MSc, etc., and not the training industry like NIIT, produces almost 3-lakh graduates each year, only 1-lakh are employable by IT-industry. And even the 1-lakh employed by the IT industry, need to be imparted additional training. With no other option, the IT industry does hire beyond this 1-lakh; however the training costs are huge.
As a result of this huge mismatch between demand and supply of good quality engineers, the salary costs have gone through the roof, steadily eroding the country's lower cost advantage. Continuing to grow on the basis of quality work, however, if we still retained lower cost advantage, the growth would continue to be spectacular, as in the past.
An in-depth analysis throws up a question we need to ask of ourselves: "Why is the quality of our graduates so poor?" Quite simple, good-quality graduates are produced due to three factors and they are:
1. Good faculty.
2. Good students.
3. Good infrastructure.
Very few if any of our colleges provide decent infrastructure for IT education, even though one needs very little compared to other engineering streams. While, the quality of students produced by our school system may not be very poor, most certainly, it could be better. This mean, the blame for poor graduate quality is due to a lack of good quality faculty in most IT/CS departments across the country.
Again, we need to ask why we do not have enough good quality faculty in IT / CS departments in our engineering colleges. One could argue that we are not producing enough Ph.Ds, or even MTechs, and hence the pool is small. However, the truth is most colleges end up hiring BTechs, or MCAs, which is not a bad idea, as one batch of graduates could be hired to teach the next batch, till such time they find a suitable job in the IT industry. Again, one could ask whether there are insufficient research students. But, to come back the main point, the reason our faculty is not top grade is because:
End the Licence Raj. Paying faculty peanuts means we only get the monkeys.
One only has to compare the salary levels of industry and academia to notice that even in the IITs, inarguably the best institutions in the country, the salary of a faculty member is some times lower than the salary the IT industry offers its graduates. Highly demoralizing, little wonder then many faculty members leave their teaching posts for greener pastures. In any case, only a few people who really value the academic freedom, or have a keen interest in teaching and research, join the faculty.
Thus, it is obvious that the biggest obstacle to growth of quality education in IT / CSE is the compensation package given to faculty members. The government will not do anything in this regard, as surviving on the crutches provided by communists, it cannot even think of providing a differential (market-linked) compensation package in the education sector. Increasing salaries of all college faculty members would be just too expensive, and would lead to others demanding higher wages, as well.
While, we have been talking about government run colleges, even the wages offered in private colleges, are effectively controlled by the government indirectly. Theoretically, the government may only determine the lower ceiling on salaries, in reality it tightly controls the number of seats the tuition a college can charge from each student, which means the government has ensured the private sector is also unable to pay lucrative salary packages to their faculty.
A prime example of government interference is The Indian School of Business (ISB). For the first time, a prestigious foreign business daily ranked an Indian institution amongst the top 20 in a list of the world’s top 100-business schools. Considered illegal, the ISB has not taken accreditation from All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) because ISB officials fear interference, saying “they will decide our courses, our student intake, and even the size of our buildings.” But, ISB is being punished for rebelling against the Licence Raj. Admitting 120-students in 1992, it got approval for only 45. In 2001, it applied for 180, but didn’t get approval for six years. In 2004, AICTE rejected its unique dual degree programme with a reputed foreign university, whereby the latter would have flown its faculty to India. Its innovative programme for family-run businesses was also rejected. Last year, it seriously contemplated closing down. Instead, it has started campuses in Dubai and Singapore - far beyond AICTE's reach.
Coming back to the main issue of good faculty, it is interesting to note 2000 engineering colleges in the country are in sore need of about 25,000 IT / CSE faculty members. The number of PhDs in these colleges is not even five percent of it. In any economy sector, a 95% shortage would spell disaster. It would mean a massive crisis, salaries would go through the roof, there would be talk of hiring people from abroad. But, because of the tight control the government has on the education sector, nothing of the sort is happening.
How the Indian IT Industry Can Help Improve Education Quality
In such a scenario, the IT industry can help improve the quality of education by giving software at very low cost, offer more discounts on hardware, other organize training sessions for teachers, provide course material, etc. No doubt, all this will help.
What is really needed at this time is to find ways to improve the compensation packages of faculty members in these areas. The government isn't going to do it in the government colleges, and it won't deregulate education sector to let market forces play a role in salary. So, to some extent, the it is up to the industry to solve this problem.
Perhaps, the industry should plough back some of its profits into colleges to increase faculty compensation packages. Question remains which college out of the 2000-to support? It’s quite simple, support a college in proportion to the benefit a company gets from a college. For example:
• Pay back for every student hired. For every student hired, send a thank you note, and a cheque equivalent to one month salary of your new employee to the college the employee graduated from. Specify a good percentage of the amount should be distributed to faculty of IT / CSE department(s). This will also encourage the colleges to teach their students the importance of stability and not changing jobs frequently, since they get some cash only for graduates who stay in their first job for at least a year.
• Match donations by employees. Match the donation an employee makes to his / her alma mater. Usually there are limits on the matching grant, since no company would want an unlimited liability on this count.
• Set up Chairs and Awards. You may simply want to support good-quality departments or good-quality faculty members only. Setting up chairs involves giving large sums of money upfront (say, Rs. 50 lakhs). You could provide certain guidelines on selection of a faculty member who will benefit from such a chair.
In summary, to beat the talent crunch, it is important for the government to stop running universities and colleges. All institutions should be autonomous. The money the government saves should be ploughed back in the form of scholarships. Competition will take care of the rest. Students will be able to make informed choices. Good institutions will thrive and poor ones will close.
There should be no promotion of learning by rote, incompetent faculty and mediocrity, as is the case at present. Original thinking should be encouraged not punished, so that employable graduates can be created. Institutional courses should be intensified and meritocracy based. Equal emphasis should be placed on practical and theoretical learning. Companies should hire students for the summer to give them exposure to corporate culture. Last but not least, while Hindi is our mother tongue and it is important we are equally proficient in it as we are in English, all students should be taught English, stressing on correct pronunciation and grammar, whether it is a child studying in a government school or one attending a convent school.
Then and then only, will India beat the shortage of talent that has begun to loom over its head. Drastic measures will need to be taken, if we are to hang on to our outsourcing crown.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Game To Work From Home
There was a time when the workplace comprised of only one thing i.e. work, work and work! You signed in at a particular time and left at a given time. Coming late to work was a major faux pas, taking half a day off was like committing a grave sin, and taking a whole day off during the week could was even worse.
That was in the dark ages, however today things have changed with workplaces becoming relatively chilled out places. Employers have turned relatively humane giving up their Neanderthal personalities and way of thinking. No longer do they believe that work can only supposed be done at the office, or that flexi-timings are a curse and fun and workplaces do not go together.
Times are a changing and working from home is considered to be one of the best concepts to be implemented, as the workplace becomes more virtual than ever before.
However, the question is, is a virtual workplace better than a personal workspace?
Disappearing act?
Workplaces have become more virtual than one could imagine. Organisations are incorporating new trends like tele-commuting, flexi-hours, work from home etc. etc. to make their employees feel more comfortable with work.
While, physical presence at work is always considered to be a positive sign, according to experts employees are becoming more ‘virtual’ to the workplace.
Vineet Aggarwal, Executive Director, Transport Corporation of India, says, “The virtual workplace is a reality today, owing to the Internet and high-speed, instant access to messaging and information. More and more employees are working from home, as companies downsize the work area and cut overheads. Employees benefit by being able to avoid the daily commute to work and the time and trouble it takes to prepare for work, too.”
While, the idea of working from home is till in a nascent stage, organisations are opening up to the idea of incorporating these methods to help their employees. Experts are of the opinion that giving an employee his / her own space helps him / her get comfortable with their job.
Subodh Mishra, HR- Head, Department-Asian Heart Institute adds: "If, an employee is working in his / her own surrounding either from home or is tele-commuting, it helps him / her work in a relaxed environment with the family. Also, there are possibilities that an employee working from home could be more effective in his / her performance due to external distractions”.
Sanjay Khendry, Vice President Marketing & Business Development Sierra Atlantic adds, allowing employees to tele-commute helps reduce employee stress levels, including allowing them to have a life outside work.
“It also allows employers to make more space in an office for their new employees,” he states.
Against The Tide?
While, experts and organisations are accepting the concept of a virtual workplace, most of them believe employees work better in an office environment, since it offers them more ‘contact’ with work and business clients.
Concurring, experts prefer employees to work from office, as they believe tele-communting only works for a short span of time.
“A virtual workplace may lead to a sense of isolation, especially from corporate culture and you have a danger of being forgotten when it comes to some of the juicy assignments. The lack of inter-action with colleagues, not taking coffee breaks with them and not getting involved in office gossip can all become serious impediments to integrating with a team.
The most obvious fall out of such a situation is that your ability to work with a team gets reduced, and you are critically never invited to celebrate team achievements,” explains Sharad Heda, COO, Microland.
Apart from missing out on the corporate culture, an employee’s presence in office helps him / her clear any doubts he / she may have with immediate managers or other team members.
As well, the physical presence of an employee in a workplace acts a psychological comfort to the employer / team head rather than a necessity and most of the employer’s say that they prefer having their employees in the office rather than have them sign in at work virtually.
Debasis Chatterji, Director, NetXcell explains: “A personalised workplace is always preferred as all the employees can work together as a team by helping each other.
It also helps with communication with the team members and helps the employee to clear questions that run through his/her mind during various projects. Employees will be more disciplined, as they would be accountable about their work and time in office.”
Unequal Equation
While, the debate regarding a virtual workplace or a personalised workplace rages on, experts believe in the long run, neither of them will go out of fashion, with more and more organizations becoming virtual in the in the near future.
They add that even if an employee is not at his / her desk during work hours, work would carry on without getting affected.
“We are going to see an ‘in-between’ model of work that offers a balance between the two extremes of virtual workplace and formal office. Work will be farmed out (out-sourced) to clusters of people working from remote locations.
I believe that ‘clustering’ is one model that works well, small teams or clusters typically tend to perform better and stay more motivated, they easily produce a sense of camaraderie and a cluster is in a flexible, self-correcting environment, so work does not suffer,” says Heda.
While it’s obvious what works for one industry might not work for another, both formats have been accepted. Employers feel comfortable allowing their employees to be non- existent from the work place, as they feel giving them their space is important so they feel comfortable with their work and deliver on the trust reposed in them.
On the other hand, they prefer nothing better than having their employees present in office, right under their nose where they can keep an eye on them.
So, while employers are prepared to pamper their employees to extract the best out of them, it is possible that those employees, who have opted for working from home, may soon miss the daily routine of getting dressed to go to work, gossiping at the water fountain or catching up for coffee. It may feel good to work from home for a while, but sooner or later, coming to office on a regular basis is what 98% will opt for. It is women with young children, who will benefit the most from being able to work from home.
This option comes at an opportune time for India, as it too could have found itself in the same dilemma many western countries are beginning to face i.e. an aging population and not enough youngsters to replace them. This is a situation that is the direct outcome of women joining the workforce, only to sacrifice marriage and children for a career and higher incomes. Though India could do without adding to its population, yet if outsourcing to India continues to grow, it is these same numbers who will ensure India remains the favourite outsourcing destination.
That was in the dark ages, however today things have changed with workplaces becoming relatively chilled out places. Employers have turned relatively humane giving up their Neanderthal personalities and way of thinking. No longer do they believe that work can only supposed be done at the office, or that flexi-timings are a curse and fun and workplaces do not go together.
Times are a changing and working from home is considered to be one of the best concepts to be implemented, as the workplace becomes more virtual than ever before.
However, the question is, is a virtual workplace better than a personal workspace?
Disappearing act?
Workplaces have become more virtual than one could imagine. Organisations are incorporating new trends like tele-commuting, flexi-hours, work from home etc. etc. to make their employees feel more comfortable with work.
While, physical presence at work is always considered to be a positive sign, according to experts employees are becoming more ‘virtual’ to the workplace.
Vineet Aggarwal, Executive Director, Transport Corporation of India, says, “The virtual workplace is a reality today, owing to the Internet and high-speed, instant access to messaging and information. More and more employees are working from home, as companies downsize the work area and cut overheads. Employees benefit by being able to avoid the daily commute to work and the time and trouble it takes to prepare for work, too.”
While, the idea of working from home is till in a nascent stage, organisations are opening up to the idea of incorporating these methods to help their employees. Experts are of the opinion that giving an employee his / her own space helps him / her get comfortable with their job.
Subodh Mishra, HR- Head, Department-Asian Heart Institute adds: "If, an employee is working in his / her own surrounding either from home or is tele-commuting, it helps him / her work in a relaxed environment with the family. Also, there are possibilities that an employee working from home could be more effective in his / her performance due to external distractions”.
Sanjay Khendry, Vice President Marketing & Business Development Sierra Atlantic adds, allowing employees to tele-commute helps reduce employee stress levels, including allowing them to have a life outside work.
“It also allows employers to make more space in an office for their new employees,” he states.
Against The Tide?
While, experts and organisations are accepting the concept of a virtual workplace, most of them believe employees work better in an office environment, since it offers them more ‘contact’ with work and business clients.
Concurring, experts prefer employees to work from office, as they believe tele-communting only works for a short span of time.
“A virtual workplace may lead to a sense of isolation, especially from corporate culture and you have a danger of being forgotten when it comes to some of the juicy assignments. The lack of inter-action with colleagues, not taking coffee breaks with them and not getting involved in office gossip can all become serious impediments to integrating with a team.
The most obvious fall out of such a situation is that your ability to work with a team gets reduced, and you are critically never invited to celebrate team achievements,” explains Sharad Heda, COO, Microland.
Apart from missing out on the corporate culture, an employee’s presence in office helps him / her clear any doubts he / she may have with immediate managers or other team members.
As well, the physical presence of an employee in a workplace acts a psychological comfort to the employer / team head rather than a necessity and most of the employer’s say that they prefer having their employees in the office rather than have them sign in at work virtually.
Debasis Chatterji, Director, NetXcell explains: “A personalised workplace is always preferred as all the employees can work together as a team by helping each other.
It also helps with communication with the team members and helps the employee to clear questions that run through his/her mind during various projects. Employees will be more disciplined, as they would be accountable about their work and time in office.”
Unequal Equation
While, the debate regarding a virtual workplace or a personalised workplace rages on, experts believe in the long run, neither of them will go out of fashion, with more and more organizations becoming virtual in the in the near future.
They add that even if an employee is not at his / her desk during work hours, work would carry on without getting affected.
“We are going to see an ‘in-between’ model of work that offers a balance between the two extremes of virtual workplace and formal office. Work will be farmed out (out-sourced) to clusters of people working from remote locations.
I believe that ‘clustering’ is one model that works well, small teams or clusters typically tend to perform better and stay more motivated, they easily produce a sense of camaraderie and a cluster is in a flexible, self-correcting environment, so work does not suffer,” says Heda.
While it’s obvious what works for one industry might not work for another, both formats have been accepted. Employers feel comfortable allowing their employees to be non- existent from the work place, as they feel giving them their space is important so they feel comfortable with their work and deliver on the trust reposed in them.
On the other hand, they prefer nothing better than having their employees present in office, right under their nose where they can keep an eye on them.
So, while employers are prepared to pamper their employees to extract the best out of them, it is possible that those employees, who have opted for working from home, may soon miss the daily routine of getting dressed to go to work, gossiping at the water fountain or catching up for coffee. It may feel good to work from home for a while, but sooner or later, coming to office on a regular basis is what 98% will opt for. It is women with young children, who will benefit the most from being able to work from home.
This option comes at an opportune time for India, as it too could have found itself in the same dilemma many western countries are beginning to face i.e. an aging population and not enough youngsters to replace them. This is a situation that is the direct outcome of women joining the workforce, only to sacrifice marriage and children for a career and higher incomes. Though India could do without adding to its population, yet if outsourcing to India continues to grow, it is these same numbers who will ensure India remains the favourite outsourcing destination.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Agile State of Mind
These days everyone seems to be blogging and writing up a storm about Agile methodology in software development. While that maybe, it is doubtful if any of them have ever thought of applying the Agile principles of supporting change, rapidly adapting and learning from it, leaving all communication doors open, being accountable and collaborating closely as a life philosophy to live by? Some may find it unnerving, but they shouldn’t? Agile in life is as applicable as in software development, since ‘Agile’ is not a discipline, but a life philosophy. Nothing but a set of principles and values, it is a broad approach and like all things in life, it means rapid adaptation to changes, learning, open communication, accountability, and close collaboration.
But, many people find responding to change requires a major mental shift that is difficult and takes time and environmental support. Society often penalizes people for being flexible or adaptable, as rigid traditionalists seem to think this translates to being uncertain, indecisive, uncommitted or even rebellious, as confirmed by the various blogs and comments reviling Agile. However, dip your toes in it and find that as a philosophy, Agile adapts itself pretty well to living life by it. After all, Agile philosophy emphasising a set of values, principles and practices can be applied outside of software... in business management, family and household, or... in agile classroom management.
For example, the easiest way to get a child to eat healthy is doing it one bite at a time, starting off with the best and tastiest bits first. This makes your goal of getting him to finish a healthy meal more manageable. That is to say, when faced with a life issue, as in Agile software development iteration by small iteration helps solve any problem, allows you to assess the situation and then proceed to the next step, and so on until you ultimately achieve your goal. However, always keep the big picture in mind when starting out on a goal achievement mission.
Basically, Agile methods are quite similar to 12-year olds, high on IQ, low on patience, with enough time on his hands to sit in front of the TV, frantically pushing every button of his Nintendo until he figures out how to do it, all without once bothering to touch the manual. It’s all about trying something else until you get the desired effect and then moving on to the next thing.
Using Agile methods in the classroom is easy. Simply start out by:
1. Carefully studying the syllabus.
2. Next, setting up one’s teaching goals.
3. Then, assigning a goal to be achieved within each sprint or iteration. Students have to be taught and they must understand what has been taught.
4. After completing a sprint or iteration, a test should be assigned to assess whether your goal has been achieved.
5. If, a majority of students do not pass the test, assess your teaching methods, selecting the successful ones, while junking those that fail to catch the students attention.
6. Simultaneously, the areas the students failed in should be evaluated and subjects put together, with the more interesting one’s first, trailed by the least interesting lessons.
7. Now, you start afresh with a new sprint or iteration.
Congratulations! At the end, you will find that your students have learnt and been able to retain, which means you have met your goal of teaching your class well enough to pass a difficult evaluation exam! And, you will find adapting Agile principles and values to life helps up your success rate!
But, many people find responding to change requires a major mental shift that is difficult and takes time and environmental support. Society often penalizes people for being flexible or adaptable, as rigid traditionalists seem to think this translates to being uncertain, indecisive, uncommitted or even rebellious, as confirmed by the various blogs and comments reviling Agile. However, dip your toes in it and find that as a philosophy, Agile adapts itself pretty well to living life by it. After all, Agile philosophy emphasising a set of values, principles and practices can be applied outside of software... in business management, family and household, or... in agile classroom management.
For example, the easiest way to get a child to eat healthy is doing it one bite at a time, starting off with the best and tastiest bits first. This makes your goal of getting him to finish a healthy meal more manageable. That is to say, when faced with a life issue, as in Agile software development iteration by small iteration helps solve any problem, allows you to assess the situation and then proceed to the next step, and so on until you ultimately achieve your goal. However, always keep the big picture in mind when starting out on a goal achievement mission.
Basically, Agile methods are quite similar to 12-year olds, high on IQ, low on patience, with enough time on his hands to sit in front of the TV, frantically pushing every button of his Nintendo until he figures out how to do it, all without once bothering to touch the manual. It’s all about trying something else until you get the desired effect and then moving on to the next thing.
Using Agile methods in the classroom is easy. Simply start out by:
1. Carefully studying the syllabus.
2. Next, setting up one’s teaching goals.
3. Then, assigning a goal to be achieved within each sprint or iteration. Students have to be taught and they must understand what has been taught.
4. After completing a sprint or iteration, a test should be assigned to assess whether your goal has been achieved.
5. If, a majority of students do not pass the test, assess your teaching methods, selecting the successful ones, while junking those that fail to catch the students attention.
6. Simultaneously, the areas the students failed in should be evaluated and subjects put together, with the more interesting one’s first, trailed by the least interesting lessons.
7. Now, you start afresh with a new sprint or iteration.
Congratulations! At the end, you will find that your students have learnt and been able to retain, which means you have met your goal of teaching your class well enough to pass a difficult evaluation exam! And, you will find adapting Agile principles and values to life helps up your success rate!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)