Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 15
Sharing Good Practice
company-under-20-years.html).
Fourth, students generally have to
contend with a single power base, i.e.,
course instructor, to achieve success in
their academic pursuits. This hinders
the ability of future professionals to be
prepared for contending with multiple
bases of power as they start climbing
the initial steps of the corporate ladder.
Such challenges can be seen through
the differences between a Functional
Organizational Chart and a Power
Organizational Chart of an organization.
This also impacts the ability of the
students to prepare themselves for the
political labyrinth that is not taught as
part of any curriculum. For example,
how to survive in an organization with
a shrewd and insecure boss who takes
delight in climbing the corporate
ladder on the initiatives of his/her team
members while marginalizing them.
REMEDIAL SUGGESTIONS
First, the committees deciding the
curriculum should be composed of
a mixture of eminent professionals
from the representative industries,
e.g., prominent engineers invited to
review the curriculum development
for
engineering
courses,
and
academicians to ensure that a
balanced approach to the needs of
the market can be incorporated within
the syllabus for the upcoming talent.
The respective review should be on a
yearly basis and have the flexibility of
inviting new members after a specified
period, e.g., 3 years, based upon the
value addition provided by the existing
members.
Secondly, prominent practitioners
should be invited to attend formal and
informal sessions with academicians to
devise strategies for narrowing the gap
between the knowledge given within
the academic institutions and the
needs of the prospective employers,
e.g., multinationals, family-run local
businesses, local corporate entities,
looking to hire talent with the desired
traits. Such interactions should be at
least on a bi-annual basis. Additionally,
long-term partnerships should be
sought with software firms, especially
in technical fields, to provide student
packages and training programs for
embellishing the curriculum with the
required computer skills for students
to prepare themselves for induction
into the professional arena.
Third, provisions should be explored to
release periodic findings from ongoing
research in a copyrighted format
to ensure that timely information is
available to key stakeholders before
formal publication of all its elements.
Additionally, researchers should be
invited as guest speakers and as joint
panellists with practitioners in the
same field to discuss and answer
questions from an inquisitive audience
comprising primarily of graduating
students. Such sessions should be a
necessary fixture of the final academic
year for students along with site visits
to prominent organizations at the
forefront of business excellence.
Fourth, specialized courses on soft
skills should be a mandatory part of
the curriculum, e.g., buffering against
organizational
politics,
working
effectively in teams, developing strong
networks within the organization
and the relevant industry at large,
cultivating a mindset that facilitates
astute choices and timely pivoting
in terms of career selection, etc.
Such emphasis will ensure that the
personality aspect is also developed
in the budding professional as an
additional skill to compensate for being
the repository of mostly theoretical
knowledge. Additionally, successful
practitioners from a consultancy and
managerial background should be
invited to address such issues in open
sessions of graduating students.
Fifth, academic institutions should gain
a clear agreement and understanding
with the corporate sector with respect
to the goals and objectives of the
internships for their students. This
should be followed up by a joint review
between the representatives from the
Academic institution and the relevant
Corporate entity for efficacy and
improvement. Interns should also be
required to engage in sessions with
fellow students after the completion
of their internships to share their
profound experiences and key lessons.
Sixth, former students at academic
institutions who are at the vanguard of
successful initiatives in the Digital Age
should be frequently invited to engage
with the current students and advise on
approaches, especially unconventional
ones, to forge robust careers in the
ever-changing landscape of the rapidly
evolving corporate world, e.g., running
a business after designing a successful
App that solves a real-life challenge.
The aforementioned article provides
a solution-oriented approach to
challenges faced by the corporate
sector in gaining desired talent from the
academic institutions. It is imperative
that the relationship between theory
and practice be collaborative, rather
than adversarial.
The Digital Age
is
unforgiving,
unrelenting,
and
uncompromising on excellence. Are
you ready to accept the challenge?
Murad Salman Mirza is an innovative thinker and an astute practitioner in areas
within and associated with the fields of Organizational Development, Talent
Management and Business Transformation. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed
at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/muradsalmanmirza/
Class Time
Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
15