Industry Skill Development

Over the past 3 centuries, from the beginning of mechanization with the use of steam for power (Industry 1.0), way back in 17th and 18th century; to mass production in 19th century (Industry 2.0), advances made in automation, electronics, computers, internet and Biosciences have been seen in the recent past of 20th century (Industry 3.0). [1], [3: (pp.33-35, 45-48)], and [4: (pp. v)]. In one of the most transforming eras of human history, the world could be witnessing the 4th Industrial Revolution, across a spectrum of inventions, and innovations in Information Technology, Bio-Technology, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Robotics; Astrophysics, Cyber-Physical Systems, Augmented Reality, Additive manufacturing-3D printing,

employability skills as well as a pressing need for skill development, improvement in functional as well as vocational domains, on both sides of the academia vs. industry supply chain. Additionally, technical skill shortages, inconsistencies in core work related hard and soft skills and professional competencies especially in developing and emerging countries, has augmented the growing level of difficulty faced by Services as well as Manufacturing businesses in filling job vacancies. No doubt these issues are being actively debated in the academic domain and across governments, businesses, industries, consulting and training organizations in several forums [3, 4, 6-10, 11-16, 17-22, 23-27, 29-37, 38-49]. Eventually, this may need to dwell upon redefining the traditional academic value proposition of professional education, in order to keep abreast with the rapidly changing global business scenario. The role of Higher education in employability skill development (ESD) is equally vital as is primarily for the graduates in the formative stages of their career [9-10, 17, 19, 28, 32, 35, 39, 42,

regarding acquired education qualification (Knowledge, Skills, Ability, and Attitude) and their practicality in core-work related employability skill sets, sought by businesses or industry employer [4, 6-10, 19, 24-27, 28-33, 34-56, 85-91].

Nevertheless, in the dynamic perspective of employability paradigm and collective wisdom of worthy authors, a meaningful collaboration, integration and ‘The Scholarship of Engagement’ (Boyer L. Ernest, 1996), between higher education and industry, as well governments will contribute to the employability skill development (ESD) efforts and reinforce the academic value chain of higher education [9-10, 17-22, 35, 39, 55, 58-64, 78, 87-91, 109-116, 124-132].

It is in this backdrop, an effort is made to conceptualize and structure an integrative collaborative engagement, between Academia and Industry i.e. Universities Industry Collaboration or Industry Academia Interface (I.A.I.). An illustration of Collaborative engagement for Organization Development and Employability (CODE) for value addition and value integration, between Industry and Academia, and vice versa is proposed in this paper as a prelude to Employability Skill traits Management Quotient (ESMQ) [9-10, 58-62,