Top information technology companies are looking for only 50 per cent domain knowledge to be provided at the college level and not 90-95 per cent, according to Tamil Nadu IT Secretary, Mr P.W.C. Dawidar.

“We need only 50 per cent of domain knowledge. Leave the rest to us, we will take care. Colleges should focus on the fundamentals and teach students how to communicate,” he said quoting officials at a meeting held recently with heads of various State Government departments, including IT and higher education, and officials of IT companies.

Speaking at ‘Bridge 2011,' a conference by ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu in association with Nasscom, Mr Dawidar said a large company could shortlist only two students from 200 mainly due to a lack of communication skills and fundamentals . “May be there is a serious problem in the style of teaching despite having good curriculum and faculty,” he said at the conference that focused on skills for future and the need for innovation and aimed at bridging the industry-academia skill gap.

Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions, also agreed with Mr Dawidar saying the IT industry is not expecting fully ready software professional to be provided by the institutes. “We can always create the professionals in the industry. However, the institutes should focus on fundaments of education,” he said.

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