Paradigm Shift in Technical Education with Greater Emphasis on Skill and Entrepreneurship Training

Technical education is characterized by instability in the engineering education environment. The COVID-19 epidemic exacerbated the instability and uncertainty. Indian institutions produce a large number of engineering graduates. Despite having more than a quarter of the world's engineers, India lags in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Aside from IT start-ups, there are few job opportunities in the industrial industry. Many engineering graduates from key engineering fields are underemployed or jobless. Because the situation is so dire, many of them work as delivery boys or taxi drivers. This has implications for technical education's future, as a considerable number of engineering seats in core fields remain empty. These considerations are causing a paradigm shift in engineering education toward a skill-enhancing student-centric and outcome-based teaching-learning process. A paradigm change from job seeker to entrepreneur mentality development is essential, with an emphasis on multidisciplinary training. The present study is an endeavor to examine the stakeholder's (students, parents, academic faculty, and industry) perspectives on skill-based technical education. The findings revealed that students have a good attitude towards skill-based technical but are concerned about uncertainties associated with the post-COVID job market. Parents' perceptions of engineering are purely based on career chances. Industries have acknowledged the skill-shortage of employable engineers as well as new-age technology expertise. In general, respondents supported the development of entrepreneurship mindset and the creation of new skill-based interdisciplinary courses to meet future demands.