A new Government, a new Education movement in the country and the signs of revival in global economies – it wont be long before the old refrain of the war for talent starts all over again ! The ICT industry itself will need close to 250,000 professionals every year to sustain and accelerate its pace of growth and with normal acceptance standards this would call for a minimum of 600,000 students to be trained each year and possibly another 100,000 to go through reskilling from different vocations. Add to that the need for providing advanced skills every year to at least a million professionals currently employed in the industry and it is evident that nearly two million trainees will have to go through skills development processes every year.

There are good models that are worthy of emulation all over the world. The US Community college system which enables continuing education and the opportunity to pick up relevant skills has deteriorated through the years through inadequate focus on quality but is still one initiative that could work in many parts of the country. The German dual system of education which engages the corporate sector industry associations and young aspiring job seekers in a sandwich model with active participation from industry in providing internships for students in the system is a system which has succeeded in controlling unemployment levels in the country and is now aspiring to be the model for the future for the European Union.

The alternative is the Chinese way where hundreds of new Universities are being opened every year with strong support from the Communist party as well as the provincial Governments to convert millions of aspirants to world class professionals. While this scale of investment may be neither feasible nor appropriate for India and other parts of Asia and Africa, the involvement of the private sector in a more formal manner and the opening up of higher education to high quality foreign universities prepared to invest in significant campuses and educational facilities may enable more capacity building in all participating countries and states.

A future model of resource creation for the ICT industry in India and in every emerging nation may well be on the lines of the following four part model.

1. Talent assessment of all young people in their early teens followed by awareness on possible career options that are in line with their aptitude. This could be provided by Government funded agencies like the Maharashtra and Rajasthan Knowledge Corporations which have been set up for this purpose with some participation by the private sector.

2. Employability skills imparted in all universities and colleges so that the conceptual education provided in engineering liberal arts and science and other formal university programs with continually updated content relevant to the needs of the corporate sector so that graduates are able to hit the ground running when they join companies.

3. Employment training, aimed at graduates from the relevant and other disciplines conducted full time at centres near the employment zones and fully supported by the corporate sector. These would serve as finishing schools which may become unnecessary in the medium term once the employability movement takes firm root in the educational processes of the country.

4. Functional and Technical update programs provided through programs ranging in duration from a few days to a year or more that provides advanced technical and management skills to industry professionals on a “just in time” rather than “just in case” basis and prepares them to assume higher responsibilities in the industry.

There is a lot to be done in India to enable a model like this to be conceptualised and implemented but early realisation and robust design of the new model can ensure that the country begins to see the benefits in a few years! The corporate sector can play a major role by extending a hand to academia through the provision of industry projects, faculty development programs for IT teachers and the participation of some senior and experienced professionals for building training content on new topics of relevance to the industry. With the new blended learning models that are increasingly being adopted by training providers like GTT and NIIT, it would be possible to adapt the same content into multiple formats for delivery through video, internet and even mobile devices and build a truly learner centric delivery model for the future.

The days of everybody blaming somebody and nobody making the effort to collaborate are hopefully over and the new season of hope for the industry can and should result in a determined effort to increase the skills pools in our country!