Guru Nanak Dev engineering College, Ludhiana continuing its pursuit of excellence tied with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Ludhiana to conduct an academia industry discussion on Making our youth future ready. The online program was conducted with the support of TEQIP-III. Around 150 students from GNDEC and another 150 delegates from other institutes attended the event. Breaking the ice, Sh. Amit Juneja, Chairman, CII Ludhiana zonal Council introduced the expert panel speakers to the audience. He began with a short story highlighting the need to plan for future. S. Baldev Singh, Amar Agro Industries was the moderator for the event. Speaking on the conclave, Sh. Sandeep Jain, Executive Director, Monte Carlo, Ludhiana said that goal setting in turbulent times was a necessity. He emphasized the need to have industry say in syllabus preparation for the colleges and universities. He also stressed upon change in work culture to attract young graduates to industry. Sh. Ambrish Jain, MD, Kangaroo Industries cited creative and critical thinking as an essential attribute for a young graduate to rise in future. He advised the youth to prepare for failures and learn from failure to move ahead. He said that youth should not worry that in these days the jobs were scarce but advised them to spend time to learn the skills demanded in industry. Citing example from the syllabus setting at Punjab Agricultural University, S. Baldev Singh said that the industry should extend all possible help to colleges as it will create a win- win situation with industry getting trained man power and colleges getting their students placed. Placing her views, Dr. Harpreet Kaur Kang, Dean, PCTE noted that the youth of today had a job hopping tendency which was making the industry a little wary to hire them. Also the packages being offered by MNCs were far higher than the ones being offered by local industry. She suggested closer interaction and a proactive approach from institutions to make their youth industry ready. Er. Gurkirat Singh, ED, Gulzar Group of Institutes advised students to be learners for life. He advocated development of positive attitude. Dr. Arvind Dhingra, Executive Director, STEP-GNDEC representing GNDEC said that industry should welcome the young graduates by offering them attractive packages. He cited the recent reports of 34% of young graduates not being employable. He suggested the introduction of job oriented industry centric bridge courses. He also informed that GNDEC under its autonomous status was starting three Post graduate diplomas all industry oriented and job oriented including PG diploma in Electric Vehicles which was an upcoming field. He also informed that the college had undertaken a thorough revision of its curriculum for various branches to make them in line with industry demands. Delivering a vote of thanks, Mr. Arshpreet Singh, Vice Chairman, CII, Ludhiana zonal council thanked all panelists. Dr. Sehijpal Singh, Principal, GNDEC said that this was just the beginning and CII with GNDEC is looking forward to provide a bridge between academia and industry to make our youth future ready.
