Online Education as a Platform for bridging the gap between Industry and Academia_Essay By Tanvi Daptardar

Necessity is the mother of invention. So is Academia–Industry collaboration is dictated by necessity. Over the last decade and a half the world has become a global village. Employers today, operate in an environment that demands new and constantly developing skills to retain global competitiveness. The reason that there are few jobs to be found in academics is not because there are too few colleges, universities, departments, or programs. The problem is that the bulk, which apply for these jobs are huge. Now- a- days there are simply too many PhDs produced every year for the higher education establishment to absorb them all, but the quality has certainly deteriorated. Today, businesses are looking for innovative solutions from the academia to help meet their business needs of higher productivity and lower costs, yet increase efficiency.

The reasons behind the Gap between Academia and Industry are: 1) Academicians and industrialists have a different mindset; therefore both have different perspectives and expectations. 2) The curriculum is static in nature, while its application is dynamic. 3) Both academicians and industrialists are pursuing different goals entirely. The academic is striving for recognition from his or her peers. The Industrialist is striving to survive. 4) The lukewarm attitude of lecturers to surrender themselves for trainings and workshops. 5) The industry thinks in terms of short range goals, whereas academic has a long range perspective. 6) The industry prefers proven solutions with a low risk, whereas academia is interested in creating new solutions with a high innovation rate. 7) Industry seeks the minimum solution to minimize their risk, whereas academia strives for a maximum solution to maximize their recognition. In view of  the industry, “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find graduates to enter the profession, and particularly hard to recruit graduates with the key skills required to make an immediate impact as part of our workforce. Part of the reason for this may be the way universities now approach teaching. Graduates have domain-specific skills, but seem to lack the appreciation that those skills are transferable. This is leading to a ‘skills silo’ and thinking in ‘one direction.” The emerging era of science-based collaboration between academia and industry offers advantages to both entities and a means by which academic institutions and industry can address global challenges to their mutual benefit and well-being of society.

It is a well known fact that today; especially the pharmaceutical industries are working on a way to differently than the academia. The industries today in India target to satisfy the needs of foreign markets as that of the USA. The laws regarding quality control and quality assurance are much more stringent in the United States of America as compared to those prevalent in India. Companies strive hard to be compliant with those regulatory aspects which co-incidentally become the reason for their rapid progress. Whereas, academia still imparts the traditional knowledge which has almost lost its direct application in the industrial sector. In my opinion the knowledge gained in the universities is based on basic theoretical principles, whereas industries found advanced applications of the same knowledge and this created a major gap between industry and academia.

The need to bridge this gap was realized when research and development sector gained momentum. Industries started bringing novel drugs which required sophisticated clinical trials. An academician is a competent person to help in research and development of his or her knowledge gained from different sources. But the academic section has kept itself bound to the traditional knowledge, and there has been no significant change in the syllabus of different courses in life science sectors. Changing the traditional ways and adapting to new ways is an entire evolutionary process which will require longer time. Instead of lagging behind and waiting for the required change, we can explore different options to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

Online education is one such potential option which gives, easily accessible knowledge and helps in advancement of skills of students in the current generation. Online education can be given in any part of our country at minimal costs. Both sides will have to give an equal contribution in designing the courses. Courses oriented to technical skill developments will be more beneficial. Various online courses have been started to promote online education amongst students.

Not only industries, but different health care centers, medical universities should join hands to create such courses. Updating online courses is simpler than changing the entire syllabus. Online courses starting from basics like personality development of different courses which are more sophisticated and aim a specific topic in the stream can be designed.

Newer technologies developed in industries, can be taught online. Online courses which aim at enriching the regulatory affairs related knowledge can be started. Courses started by WIPO, NALSAR and other agencies and universities prove helpful in providing knowledge about Intellectual Property Rights. A course developed by a university in the United states of America, gives a thorough knowledge about Respiratory drug delivery systems. There are online courses, which have e-classrooms which enable us to connect to different students, teachers, researchers and industrialists from all over the world. Such e-spaces help us in understanding different perspectives, problems and possible solution about a particular issue.

Different online courses related to management and research and development sectors can be started in which, along with imparting education, real time problems which industries face can be put forward. Online education can prove as a nice platform for young generation to showcase their talents and problem solving skills which are often fetched in the industry.

Online education is way more time saving than the traditional method. It provides students a chance to improve their skills and get a better job. Development because of online education can prove in decreasing unemployment, which is common now-a-days due to lack of experience and technical knowledge. Online education can make students more aware about the latest advances in their field and can also give them ideas about new startups. In fact, imparting online education can also be a startup for professionals. Companies have adopted various new methods and strategies to acquire best and unsurpassed human resource to survive and succeed commercially in the highly competitive market. These strategies range from identification of skills, shortfalls which may occur, efforts to impart the required skills, and adapt existing skills by orienting to new demands. Since the gap between academia and industry is widening day by day, the government, academic institutions and industry must come forward with some innovative and research based ideas to bridge the gap. However, we can’t deny that only a holistic development of all the sectors of a country will help to outshine its competitors and succeed in its endeavor to become an empowered economy at the global platform.

We are presenting the series of essays submitted for the 1st Annual Pharma Literati Essay contest. The opinions in the essay are by the authors and need to be endorsed by Pharma Literati team.