Colleges should prepare students for jobs: President

NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Patil Tuesday urged educational institutions to prepare students as skilled workers as there was often a mismatch between the talents that graduates possess and the needs of employers.

Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebration of Delhi University’s Sri Venkateswara College, Patil said: “The mismatch of skills leads to low employability ratio of our higher education graduates. This needs to be corrected and a broad based system of education that caters to all subjects is needed.”

She said there was a massive requirement in the country for a skilled workforce in sectors like information technology, infrastructure, tourism, media and health care.

The president also asked the management of educational institutions to constantly upgrade their training methodologies and curriculum.

“Interaction between the industry, business and academic institutions would be useful in framing syllabus that are contemporary and relevant. Apart from this, development of entrepreneurial skills is important for creating self-employment opportunities,” Patil said.

She praised the college for being one among the four pilot centres identified by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) to set up a techno-business skill development centres.