CHENNAI: A seminar for evolving strategies jointly with academic institutions to address the issue of lack of employability among fresh graduates will be organised here on Thursday by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The chamber president V. Balaraman told presspersons here on Monday that the seminar on "War for Talent" was a part of the initiatives to progressively build a bridge between industry and the academia.

`Efforts required'

Such efforts, they pointed out, were required in the backdrop of the industry increasingly discovering to its dismay that many of the fresh graduates lacked employable qualities such as communication skills and right attitude working in a team. The seminar, for which the Anna University and Madras University were the academic partners, would serve as a forum for interaction between industry representatives, particularly the HR managers, and faculty members.

Noting that the issue to be addressed urgently, T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance, said the chamber was working in the area for sometime and had also commissioned a study with Avalon Consulting on the issue. Apart from the Vice-Chancellors of the two universities, the Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudi was also scheduled to participate in the seminar.

Instead of complaining about the lack of employability that came in the way of making use of the enormous talented manpower, industry wanted to address the issue by joining hands with the academic institutions, said the chamber vice-president A. Sankarakrishnan. The services sector, where such qualities were essential, was feeling the heat of the problem.

On the magnitude of the issue, Mr. Balaraman said the selection rate, of fresh graduates seeking jobs, was a mere five per cent. Underscoring the need for industry representatives to be nominated on the boards of study in the universities, Mr. Srinivasaraghavan said if left unattended the issue could increase the manpower cost.

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