The Hindu Business Line : `Engg syllabus not tuned to industry needs'

THOUGH there are a good number of engineering graduates in the country, they are not `industry-ready' in the kind of process discipline and real-work environment, Mr K. Subramaniam, CEO and President of Covansys (India) Private Ltd observed.

The CEO, who was in the city recently to sign up with the Pollachi-based Dr Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology (MCET) for establishment of the `MCET - Covansys - Mainframe Excellence Centre@MCET' said that non-technical skills like soft skills were not part of the curriculum.

"The syllabus is not oriented towards industry needs and this gap, in my perception, can never be bridged," he told Business Line.

In its effort at bridging this gap and gearing students to take on the challenges of the work environment, such job-oriented training was being imparted, he said and added that the company would not, at this point in time look for similar tie-up with other institutes.

While this effort would help Covansys source students with some basic understanding of the mainframe architecture, "this would not be sufficient. At present, we recruit freshers and put them on training. It is time consuming and a costly exercise. The Centre of Excellence serves as an enabling platform for the student."

When asked why MCET and not the likes of IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) or REC (Regional Engineering College), he said that the facilities at MCET like the 2 mbps Internet leased line and the fact that the management was keen on extending its hand for offering such a facility to its students forced him to take the decision.

He indicated that Covansys was contemplating adding 1000 more people to its rolls in the next 12 months. Sixty per cent of the addition would be absorbed off-campus and the rest through lateral recruitment.

The company would try and add people on a quarterly basis, he said and pointed out that the course-span was just about three-months.

While there was a huge demand for skilled hands in Mainframe computers, he said that there was no compulsion on the part of the people who underwent training in the MCET - Covansys Mainframe Excellence Centre to join his company. "They are free to join anywhere, but Covansys would definitely look at placing such of those who qualify and are interested in joining our company," he added.

On whether Covansys was exploring the possibility of establishing an office here, Mr Subramaniam said, "it may take a couple of years, but not at the moment. We are a fast growing company, growing at over 20 per cent in the last two years, but that is not enough for a company of our size to penetrate into tier 2 cities."

To another query, he said "the Internet bandwidth is still not sufficient in our country. We still do not have widespread broadband facility. This has to happen, and when it does, it will bring about revolutionary changes. Neither the industry nor the Government can do this independently, although the Government policies must favour such a change.

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