Higher education curricula in the State requires added focus on research-oriented content to make teachers – and through them, the students – more research-informed and boost their employability attributes, Lakshmi Narayanan, Chancellor, KREA University and Managing Trustee, Chennai Mathematical Institute, said on Tuesday.
“Research-oriented content and information have to come on board in order to drive invention. Progressively, we will create a mindset among the faculty, who will be a lot more research-oriented,” Mr. Narayanan said, delivering the keynote address at Uyarkalvi Uraiyadalgal – Dialogues on Higher Education organised in Chennai by the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TNSCHE). “That will clearly rub off on the students, who will come out of colleges with a curious and an inquisitive mind to ask questions that have not been asked before.”
Giving an example of the ICT Academy model, Mr. Narayanan dwelt upon bridging the gap between urban institutions and rural ones by bringing faculty from rural institutions to urban centres to interact with various industries, including IT and manufacturing. Attendance and performance of students removed since the faculty were able to relate to what was happening in the industry, he said. The number of students joining the IT industry from Tier II and Tier III institutions were more than those from Tier I colleges.
“That was an inflection point where we demonstrated that this kind of a model is able to work. I believe this is something that we can replicate for higher education,” Mr. Narayanan added. Encouraging students to take up studies outside the curriculum, especially soft skills, would go a long way in improving their employability.
P. Viswanathan, Higher Education Minister, said that the last Economic Survey had stated that over 50% of engineering graduates were not employable, which was a matter of concern. Some other national surveys pointed at an even darker picture showing that employability was as low as 8%, he said. While Tamil Nadu, with a gross enrolment ratio of 50%, fared better than other States, the quality of education provided was no better. “Graduate employability must remain at the very centre of our curriculum reforms,” Mr. Viswanathan said.
V. Arun Roy, Higher Education Secretary, said that low employability directly points to serious flaws in the way the curriculum has been designed; it perhaps failed in imparting skills, knowledge, and attributes that the new job market demanded.
M.P. Vijayakumar, Vice Chairperson, TANSCHE, and R. Kanimozhi, Member Secretary, TANSCHE, spoke while P. Ponnaiah, Commissioner of Collegiate Education, and P. Rathinasamy, Director of Technical Education, participated.
Published – July 08, 2026 12:54 am IST
