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Industry vs Classroom: IIT Delhi summit concludes, industry leaders flag gaps in India’s engineering education
Experts said engineering education needs to give students more practical exposure, encourage interdisciplinary learning rather than solely on academic theory.
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The two-day innovation summit organised by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT)at IIT Delhi has concluded. During the discussions, the industrialists, founders and academicians have raised concerns over a gap between classroom learning and the skills needed in a workplace.
The issue emerged prominently during discussions on manufacturing and semiconductors at the two-day innovation summit organised by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi. Experts said engineering education needs to give students more practical exposure, encourage interdisciplinary learning, and focus more on solving real-world problems rather than solely on academic theory.
Taranjit Kohli of Cadence Design Systems said that engineering education in India does not give students enough exposure to real-world hardware work. He said postgraduate research often focuses more on producing academic papers than solving problems that companies and the country need to address.
He more pointed out that different engineering departments need to work more closely, which is not happening.
He also warned that private institutions could move faster than IITs if engineering education does not keep pace with industry needs.
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Maruti Suzuki’s Dr Shailendra Singh said the problem is not the quality of Indian graduates but their lack of practical experience. He said this is one reason Maruti has set up its own training centre to give employees the hands-on skills needed for the industry.
IIT Delhi's Prof. Sunil Jha, representing the academic side, proposed adding a parallel "translational research" track for PhD students — solving and productizing existing problems within four to five years — alongside traditional fundamental research.
In the agricultural panel, Prof. B.R. Kamboj, Vice Chancellor of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, proposed inverting the traditional "lab to land" research model into "land to lab" — building farmer-participatory research into the process from the start rather than testing finished lab work in the field afterwards.
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Meanwhile, at the summit, India AI Mission COO Kavita Bhatia announced a free, credit-bearing 4.5-hour AI literacy course available in Indian languages. The course will help people understand what AI is, how it can be used and what risks it may bring.
The FITT, IIT Delhi summit was organised on September 11 and 12 at the IIT Delhi campus.
