ENHANCING LEARNING METHODOLOGIES FOR PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Let us all face it, we live in tough times. Waging wars have weakened the global economy to such an extent that many major companies have now, either gone bankrupt or have been sold to another. In spite of this global meltdown and amass job losses, more start-ups are emerging and Corporate giants are venturing into newer territories. This calls for newer and better strategies that would prove productive for companies. Few of the major problems faced by all present companies are; being cost efficient and reducing the learning curve.

The tradition of re-training fresh graduates, by companies is proving to be counterproductive, as companies hand pick selected students from colleges and then spend 6 - 12 months training them, as per the contemporary industry requirements. Whilst their industrial training, the fresh graduates hardly add any value to the company, yet they are paid regular salaries. This, goes to show that companies provide free training to their employees, during that period they add no significant value to the company and to top it all, they are paid salaries for doing so. We believe, what I am going to suggest now would prove to be more cost efficient than the current methodologies.
One solution to overcome this obstacle is that we train the students early, while they are still in their undergraduate colleges. This would mean that companies could have collaboration with universities, wherein different companies would train students in their respective disciplines. This would result in a win/win situation for both the collaborators, as they mutually benefit from this union. Moreover, by the time student graduate, they are rearing to go and already equipped with the skill sets required to add value to the company, right from day one. Furthermore, students are exposed to the best practices. This method would involve real time consultants from partnering companies to provide guidance and impetus to students towards the contemporary requirements of the industries and train them accordingly. This learning method would take academic syllabus of the universities and extrapolate it to the requirements of the industries. The performance of the students would be checked/reviewed periodically by the company consultants and suggested methods could be implemented in order to maintain steady flow of learning. Hence, this method would involve a two way communication. In turn the budding graduates would get to decide and choose their niche.
Instruction centric teaching needs to be supplemented with more imaginative form of learning. Theoretical knowledge is only half as good if not complimented by practical exposure. Textual form of learning should be integrated with more visual learning wherein, pupils can even imagine and visualize their subjects. There is a need to eliminate geographical limitations by introducing Virtualization in mainstream education. In turn such an initiative would be welcomed by universities as they would realize its potential. Producing great quality and industry fit graduates, is the ultimate goal of any university.
Method would significantly reduce the deficit between the demand for skilled professionals and its supply, resulting in prosperous management of resources yet, having skilled and updated professionals in the market & also shorten the learning curve