Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union’s finance and business affairs minister, said on Saturday that India needs to understand what the industry needs and that educational institutions should produce students capable of entering the industry to serve the country’s development goals. Sitharaman said at an event here that India’s higher education was no less compared to global universities and that people who studied in Indian universities were the second largest contingent when it comes to managing the best companies around the world.
Referring to Saint-Gobain India’s representation on the board of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, she said that once industries have come into the board of research institutes, they know the industry, especially those futuristic ones, especially those areas where the sun rises so that India becomes the country for the production of some of those critical things for which we are completely dependent on other countries today and when there is a disruption of the supply chain our production suffers. “What we need to do now is make sure we understand what the industry needs and are able to produce for ourselves and for the world. in the best skills and ability and who have rigorous learning experiences are very important,” she said at the 10th meeting of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, near here.
“We need to produce students who are able to enter and enter the industry that serves India’s development goals. I think this synergy is now being achieved by most institutions because the government speaks to them and they give input to the government and as a result you (students) are able to get institutions that are absolutely important,” she said. Referring to data from the United Nations’ 2019 population statistics, she said India’s working-age population would overtake China by 2028 and that by 2036 the working-age population would make up 65 percent of the country’s total population. . “Productivity, contribution to GDP (of the country) will all be much higher (with the 65 percent of the workforce). And it will only happen if the working population is given equal opportunities regardless of gender, social class or whatever,” she warned.
Sitharaman also rejected comments that India has yet to improve its education system, saying some people still say it needs to do more with its education system. “I just want to underline that the higher education system has contributed the best executives elsewhere. Globally, 58 CEOs of top companies are of Indian descent and 11 of them are large corporations with over $1 trillion in revenue and $4 trillion in revenue…” she said.
“Had 58 people of Indian descent run these companies of this size, they could not have received less education than any other. They have even had better education from our higher education institutions,” she added. She pointed to the report of the rating agency S&P Global that there were more Indian CEOs in addition to a CEO from the United States of America. “Americans can be the first. I repeat that our higher education system is no less…’, she said.
On the total number of patents filed by Indians, the finance minister said it rose to 66,400 from 2021-22, compared to 42,000 in 2014-15. “As many as 42,000 patents were filed in 2014-15 and are now becoming 66,400 in a matter of 7-8 years. I’m sure some of your patents are also awaited there before getting your patent rights,” she told the recent graduates. Sitharaman said the national education policy rolled out by the center places great emphasis on higher education and even in the union budget she presented this year, the government has announced 750 virtual science and math labs, 75 skills e-labs for simulation learning environment on the occasion of 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
Read all Latest education news and Important news here