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With 1.5 million engineering graduates every year and a major software and IT boom in the last two decades, there have traditionally been a few takers for microelectronics, electrical, chemical and material engineering. The two main arguments for the same are lack of awareness and availability of job options as compared to pursuing computer science and allied disciplines.
The software boom of the early nineties and the dot com revolution gave a much-needed impetus to STEM education in the country. This facilitated a large number of colleges to come up in smaller towns and cities as well. We are poised with a unique demographic dividend and a large pool of technically aligned populace today.
The future of chip design and manufacturing lies in the quality of engineering education and workforce development. This critical aspect has been identified by the Government, Industry and Academia and emphasis is being accorded likewise.
Culturally, engineering in any form in India has sociometric dimensions, in addition to educational qualifications. While the discipline provides social acceptance, a large number of skilled engineers end up pursuing management to pursue corporate careers and even civil services, besides a large volume of drop outs.
Many individuals in the industry promulgate a view that engineering schools do not focus enough to equip students with critical thinking and problem-solving skills to make them industry ready. Some individuals in higher education put the blame on schools with the premise that the school education system is very theoretical.
The parents often blame the schooling system. This quagmire is further compounded by the rapid technological cycles without adequately ensuring that the generations imminently entering the workforce are fully equipped to take on the technological challenges of the future.
In spite of such volumes of engineering graduates, there exists a faculty deficit and lack of a mechanism to retain instructional talent. The reasons for non-retention of instructional talent encompasses low remuneration, low availability of cutting-edge R&D and associated funding. Furthermore, academia is a domain with an intrinsic learning curve.
Most Indian engineering institutions lack upskilling and reskilling programs for their faculty which not only needs to be periodic but also essential, with defined budgetary support. This has a direct significance for curating an adaptive syllabus aligned with the future. A continuous industry interface during the course of engineering curriculum is critical and needs to be factored as part of policy to cater for cutting edge technologies and manufacturing in India.
A multi-layered approach, therefore, is the key. In the first layer, skilling of workforce in Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) which have been pivotal in providing skilled workforce in nearly all sectors need to be enabled with courses in semiconductors and components, consumer electronics, IT hardware, PCB design and industrial automation.
This layer is manpower intensive and can have linkages with private institutions which could be funded by corporates, industry and CSR. This in itself can be the bedrock of a talent pool with a designated, yet a dynamic syllabus which can be promulgated in an online/offline format. While there has been a notable progressive thought and action in this domain, a centralised coordination will be a force multiplier in future.
Short diploma courses for undergraduate students with practical experience in chip design by nominated institutions of repute can also be a part of this layer. This will apparently be the most sought-after layer for the future for exporting talent, internationally.
The second layer could target core undergraduate courses in engineering and altering preferences of the students. The third layer could look at specialisation/master’s degree and requires building of capacities, investing in faculty which is homegrown or from abroad. The fourth layer can look into the dynamics of making India, the R&D hub with years of expertise in design and capabilities to plug in the global supply chains in terms of chemicals as well as materials.
This will encompass setting up of world class testing and verification laboratories which can be made as part of existing facilities like SCL, Mohali or by following a de novo approach with varied models as options. New incentives for international trusted partners for pooling their talent to train our own is also an option which can be explored. Talent exchange by the industry or a joint workforce development initiative is another option which can be considered post weighing its pros and cons.
With a large market with demand metrics, being on the pole position as the global fintech adapter, second in internet users of the world and with the world’s third largest start-up ecosystem, India is poised to be the talent powerhouse of the future. Workforce development thereby needs to be the focal point of attention as India embarks on a journey to become a semiconductor hub with a robust edifice of policy framework.
An adaptive engineering education and focussed skilling of the future ready workforce is the very core of semiconductor design and manufacturing in the future. While the New Education Policy (NEP) is a pathbreaking reform with STEM subjects at its core, application and outcome-based education will require a continuous cycle of “Reform-Perform and Transform”, as elucidated clearly by our Hon’ble Prime Minister.
The pandemic has taught us that we face an unpredictable world which warrants thinking agility and adaptability. A larger impetus on hardware related engineering courses and skilling in this space thereby transcends from basic certification to post-doctoral degrees. Shortages in this domain are likely to be increasing and a lot of long-term remedies will need to be put in place to include dynamic policies, funding and investment.
A large impetus to hardware related engineering courses and skilling will need more prominence especially in high end chip manufacturing processes. This may prove to be the very vertex of the technological trajectory.
(The author is a former Colonel, Indian Army, and a commentator on electronics and semiconductor sectors; Views are personal)
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