Beyond The Books: Faculty as Architects of Industry-Ready Graduates

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” 

— William Butler Yeats 

In a time of rapid technological change and transformations in the workplace, to have higher education for a relevant role for graduates' employability, is going to be a seamless shift from graduates with just academic knowledge capability, to professionals with knowledge and skills, critical thinking, and adaptability. Presidency University and Presidency School of Commerce, along with its other academic units, has had this focus with its academic offerings, and faculty being the main drivers of this change.  

We consider today's faculty not only as providers of knowledge but instructors who can work with students through their real industries embedded in their reflective inquiry. Faculty introduce current case studies and current insights from the various sectors and blend their current experience with experiential learning narratives where faculty are contextualizing the often cited practitioner-academic knowledge gap. With this understanding, the acquisition of knowledge was transformed from a passive acquisition practice to an inquiry, reflective, and personally relevant practice.  

Core transformations to the curriculum under the CBCS (Choice Based Credit System) and OBE (Outcome-Based Education) teaching and learning strategies, faculty were able to include industry projects, work integrated learning interns, guest industry speakers, and employability and soft skills training to professional careers, each initiated through faculty engagement. The students' learning experience was contextualized in today's industrial contexts, and actively contextualized facilitating the retention of the materials, and moreover the employability of that curriculum learning in their future careers. Core Highlights of the Faculty Role on Industry-Readiness: Faculty maintain an active practice of regularly updating content of the courses. 

Conclusion:  

Towards a New Academic Ethos, the expectation of faculty to develop graduates who are ready for the industry is in fact an academic ethos that aims to transform. The continued evolution of academic and industry boundaries provides increasing opportunities for faculty to act as knowledge co-creators, practice mentors, and facilitators of student change. The Presidency School of Commerce at Presidency University, is a model of this. The combination of rigorous academic programming and responsive, industry-linked pedagogies demonstrates the belief that faculty are not instructors at all, but architects of futures. 

Written by, 

Dr. Sowmyashree A. 

Presidency School of Commerce