After stuffing ourselves, we returned back to the office to host our small discussion session event at TECHRISE. We invited a couple of startup guys, web developers and some college administrators. The purpose of the session was to discuss about the existing gap between the job market and higher education in the IT field. I wanted to bring to one table these people who all worked in this field but in various spaces, to have a frank and open discussion.

Through our nearly two-hour conversation we realized that the gap that we were trying to identify was not only limited to simply the gap between what is required by the job market and what is being taught at the educational institutions. There were multiple so-called gaps, which all came into play to create this disparity and disconnect. Some of these gaps that we identified were:

  • The gap between the demands from the industry (wants experienced and qualified individuals) and the students (do not have any experience and very little qualifications)
  • The gap between the skills students acquire and what is required from the job market – Many of the concepts and content are outdated and not in demand
  • The gap between the talent the students wish to supply and the demand from the market - There are not enough industries that are monetizable. People cannot make a living unless you are working in a highly in demand sector (not limited to the IT sector)


Other interesting points that came up were:

  • The lack of motivation among students – perhaps linked to the fact that there are limited opportunities to see how what they learned can be applied to the real world
  • The importance of students nurturing a problem solving attitude, instead of a passive learning one
  • The culture of blame: students blaming teachers for not being able to understand and perform, and vice versa teachers blaming students

There were so many factors that were interrelated to constructing this discrepancy. The conversation is a never-ending one with no real conclusion. But from the discussion, I think we came to realize that there are two roles that we can take on:

1. To inspire the students to apply their skills to the real world, and motivate them to pursue further with academics at school

2. Help them become real problem solvers through curriculum design (you can learn more about the TECHRISE learning system though this blog ) and providing more opportunities to work on real live projects

As an educational entity that really cares about doing what’s best for the students and their learning, we found everyone’s insights extremely valuable. Their willingness to sacrifice a Saturday afternoon to hold this conversation really showed their passion towards what they did in this field.

It was a long day for us but a really meaningful weekend!