Enhancing Readiness of Kerala’s Human Resources: The Role of Institutional Interventions

PR Log (Press Release) – Jun 28, 2007 – The meeting had the twin objectives of bringing together academicians and experts from the IT and ITES industries for brainstorming on the role of institutional involvement in making fresh graduates industry-ready, as well as to elicit information from the participants about the strengths and weaknesses of the current engineering education, so as to design a programme to help institutions achieve 100% placement of their fresh graduates in IT organizations.  Such a programme could ensure that soft skills and technical skills of students were sufficiently enhanced to meet industry standards.

Among the dignitaries who attended was Mr. K. R. Jyothilal I.A.S, IT Secretary, Government of Kerala; Mr. K. Remesh Kumar, Director, STPI-Trivandrum; Mr. Radhakrishnan Nair, CEO, Technopark, Trivandrum; Dr. Achuthsankar S. Nair, Director, Centre for Bioinformatics, University of Kerala; Mr. N. T. Nair, Chairman, IEEE India Council; Prof. Sunny Tharappan, Director, CLHRD, Mangalore; Mr. Jayakrishnan, Chairman, CSI-Trivandrum Chapter; and Mr. Sreekanth P. Krishnan, VP, InApp. Eminent academicians, heads of technical institutions, placement officers from engineering colleges, and other experts also took active participation in the workshop.

Mr. K. Remesh Kumar delivered the welcome address. He explained the current scenario and trends prevailing in the IT industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jyothilal lauded STPI’s efforts to organize the workshop in giving clarity and shape to the thought process of training fresh graduates in soft and technical skills making them industry-ready.

Mr. Radhakrishnan Nair reiterated the need for creating a tailor-made program to help institutions achieve 100% placement.

Mr. Sreekanth P. Krishnan, VP, InApp made a presentation on ‘HR Finishing Programs at Institutional Level - A Kerala perspective’.

Prof. Sunny Tharappan spoke about the Karnataka Model, which was kicked off in the early ‘90s. He also spoke about the State Government’s initiative in improving the quality of manpower at the institutional level itself by introducing a Total Quality Management Program (TQM). Under this program, the entire teaching community, including Principals, Professors, staff, and students were trained in record time to cater to the ever-increasing local IT opportunities. He also suggested that it may be appropriate for Kerala to consider adoption of suitable elements of the Karnataka Model.

Felicitations were delivered by Mr. N. T. Nair, Dr. Achutsankar S. Nair and Mr. Jayakrishnan. The inaugural session was followed by three sessions by Prof. Sunny Tharappan with the participants.