Getting ready for the 4th industrial revolution
The government is putting in place an education ecosystem to boost advanced learning in new-age technologies
- Last month, Microsoft India said it plans to train five lakh youth in artificial intelligence across the country over the next three years and set up AI labs in 10 universities.
- After the Third Industrial Revolution of personal computers and internet, the next wave of global progress and growth is being driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where a bouquet of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, 3D printing, biotechnology and 5G merge together to change the dynamics of how industries operate.
- Firstly, the Graded Autonomy status granted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), has given the freedom to higher education institutions to launch new courses, off-campus centres, skill development courses, and foster other academic collaborations with industry.
- The interlinking of these pillars, helmed by R Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Higher Education, MHRD, will let institutes adopt new technology courses (elective and minor) with industry partnerships and, for example, introduce a degree in MBA in Technology Entrepreneurship through incubators, which stand a greater chance of going up in innovation rankings.
- In such a scenario, India needs to catch up with the anticipated changes in its own labour market, where the ground seems ripe for these technologies to flourish.