Thiruvananthapuram, March 23 (IANS) Technopark Technology Business Incubation Centre (T-TBIC) is setting up a Knowledge Network and Industry Connect (KNIC) programme to bridge the gap between industry and academia.

The initiative is a joint venture with leading industry bodies to address the skill gap between the industry demands and what academia delivers.

KNIC will have all the necessary facilities to mentor and transform the students in various domains within the college itself through video conferencing and smart classrooms.

Technopark CEO Mervin Alexander said that through the programme, the students are directly mentored by the industry experts so that they get real exposure of the industry process and right industry mentoring.

"The proposed project makes the investment of technology upgradation at colleges to enable an intelligent learning environment in the partnering campus. KNIC will conduct systematic interventions like industry connect classes and faculty development programmes to bring the corporate and academia closer," said Alexander.

As part of the programme, students of participating colleges are enabled for best industry practices, case-studies, technology content and behavioural competencies which help them develop and enhance students' capabilities and building core competencies such as learning skills, communication and collaboration, leadership, creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

According to a NASSCOM study, various industry sectors require talents with the solidity of domain knowledge blended with contemporary skills, but with the huge skill gap, only 25 percent of the engineering graduates in the country are employable and this creates an imbalance in the demand-supply equation.