Developing ‘Industry Ready’ Graduates in Partnership/Collaboration with Industry and Other Stakeholders

STEM education has been one of the key enablers of economies across the globe. Meaningful learning experiences based on the industry expectations and industry roles during higher education are still missing in majority of Indian institutions. This evidence-based practice paper discusses design, implementation, and assessment of an undergraduate engineering program in India developed in collaboration between an industry and an institute. This collaborative effort used systems approach, ADDIE (Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) instructional design methodology and OBE (Outcome-Based Education) model. Proactive engagement of the industry with educational institution from selection of candidates, design of curriculum, development of courses, scrutiny of assessments, organizing of internships, guiding of projects, etc. were some of the key aspects of the program. A deep understanding of technical and professional skills for development of industry-relevant competencies by subject matter experts not only from industry and academia but other walks of life such as sports, languages, psychology, etc. was deployed in the design and review of the program. The academic performance of the students of the program in comparison with industry expectations expressed through performance tasks is a key metric for reporting the impact of the program. The program revealed that a collaborative effort between industry and institute produces high-quality industry-ready graduates who demonstrate not only technical skills but professional skills as well. Such efforts are highly resource-intensive but for which the gap between the industry and institutions in the country will keep growing.