The Hindu Business Line : `Academic curriculum does not meet industry expectations'

Mr N. Ram Subramani, Chariman & CEO of Maples ESM Technologies Ltd, lights the lamp. (From left) Dr R. Venkataswami, Principal; Mr S. Sridhar, Asst Regional GM, The Hindu; and Prof C. Joseph Callistus, HoD, MCA, Madha Engineering College, look on.

Chennai , Dec. 27

INDIAN universities churn out more than half-a-million engineers every year. Are all of them employable? No, because "academic curriculum does not match industry expectations," said Mr N. Ram Subramani, Chairman and CEO of Maples ESM Technologies Ltd, Chennai.

He was talking to the students of computer applications and management in a seminar organised recently under the aegis of BL club by the MCA department of Madha Engineering College, Kundrathur, Chennai.

Mr Subramani listed the following as the broad categories of opportunities: PC computing application development (front end), enterprise computing, BPO, CAD/CAM and multimedia /animation.

"By the time you study Unix & C, the requirement from the industry will move to C, C++. Similarly, by the time you complete, C, C++, the requirement will be VB, Oracle, then to VB, ASP, XMC and so on," he said, listing the problems in PC computing application development.

He added that this technology is used predominantly in the small office home office (soho) or the lower mid-segment. It is highly overcrowded, offers low salary and no job stability.

Mr Subramani also drew the attention of the participants to the organisational issues in PC computing technology: It changes every six months, creates instability, organisations do not get any return on investment, change management is expensive, there is no scalability and frequent virus attacks hamper business.

Operating system, database and network are key to the health of any IT-driven organisation. They are like the brain, heart and nervous systems of the human beings. If any one of the above fails, it brings down the whole user community. Here, Enterprise Systems Management (ESM) plays an important role. ESM is a critical technology. It also helps in remote management of the organisations at different locations, said Mr Subramani.

On the trends in outsourcing from India, he said, "Post 9/11, only 20 per cent of the jobs are carried out on site, while the rest are outsourced; $43/hour is the cost of labour for on-shore work whereas $11/hour is the cost of work that is outsourced, resulting in 300 per cent profit to the outsourcing organisations." Therefore, the opportunity for outsourcing from India is huge.

Mr Subramani said emphatically that BPO jobs are not for engineers/MCA and MBA degree-holders but for under-graduates. Americans or foreigners do not give CAD/CAM jobs to Indians, as intellectual property rights are not respected and the designs can be copied.

On the multimedia/animation front, he said Indians do not have the resources to invest in multimedia films like Hollywood does. Tom & Jerry's 5-minute episodes cost $5 million (Rs 25 crore). For this, nearly 45,000 frames are shot at kindergarten schools by doctoral degree holders in psychology.

In his final remarks, Mr Subramani said, "Even if you are Bill Gates, Indian companies will not take you if you are not good at communications. Here, technology comes after communications."

Many graduates and post-graduates today are not "industry-ready". Students have to take up additional training in IT skills as well as improve soft skills, he said.

Earlier, the college Principal, Dr R. Venkataswami, in his inaugural address, drew the students' attention to the need for improving communication skills. He encouraged them to read business newspapers, as it would help them improve communication skills, besides imparting business knowledge.

The Head of the Department (MCA), Prof C. Joseph Callistus, and faculty from both departments were also present.