How RISE & its industry partners are making students of Bharat & India future-ready

The innovative, technology-first ed-tech platform, RISE is aiming to take the nation’s higher education up a notch to a point where Indian colleges can stand shoulder to shoulder with the most prestigious global universities.

With officer in Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, RISE endeavours to empower students from every walk of life, no matter the circumstances of their birth, and transform them into leaders, entrepreneurs and change-makers in the corporate, societal and cultural realms. In the space of a year, RISE’s multi-faceted vision and its commitment to making a difference in the domain of higher education, has been vindicated by the data, with the number of students on its campus growing nine-fold, from 1,000 to 9,000.

It has accomplished much in a short span of time through well thought-out strategies. In the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), for example, RISE is making it easier for students to take up courses in a discipline different from the one they are majoring in. It is also, in collaboration with industry, working to ensure that the skills being imparted in higher education are in line with what industry is seeking. In this way, it is enabling universities to look at the NEP in a way that benefits them, by guiding and supporting them in this transition.

And when it comes to raising the standard, RISE is helping Indian institutes of higher education become better at what they do, and ensuring that their faculties are not only aligned with the requirements of industry but are also internationally up-to-date with research tools and technologies. In fact, it is complementing what universities are doing, working with them to enhance their level and their benchmarks.

Because, RISE was founded with the view of offering education that is both of the highest quality and affordable, while also ensuring that qualification and certification lead to employability. It has been able to achieve these objectives by collaborating with industry, as much as with established companies as with startups.

The hackathon way to employment

By organising hackathons, RISE is also answering the call of a job market that demands new-age skills and imagination. RISE successfully conducted the world’s largest hackathon in cybersecurity (in partnership with Thrive DX), with more than 22K participants, to generate more awareness around cybersecurity programmes. Moreover, RISE believes there is much potential in the organisation of such events, for they can make students industry- and career-ready.

RISE also believes in the power of student entrepreneurship, and with its second collaboration with Viral Fission, and alliance with Draper University in San Mateo, California, in meeting the overall goal of utilising the best global academic practices to encourage and empower India’s young and ambition-filled entrepreneurs to showcase their potential startup ideas. There is huge entrepreneurial promise in the country, as demonstrated by startup founders getting younger and younger, and their ideas ever more innovative. However, RISE realises that the support system has to be robust, so that these entrepreneurs are able to pick themselves up if they fail.

There is also the more traditional route to occupational fulfilment and RISE is working alongside universities to help them come up with programmes that are industry driven, so that students can find career opportunities immediately after they graduate. Because in an India whose economy will increasingly be piloted by its young population, it is crucial that skilled professionals coming through the education system do not struggle to find employment. For this to happen, industry and academia must work together, a priority area for RISE.

Education for Bharat and India 

Yet, Bharat is as important to RISE’s strategy as is India. It believes that Tier-I, Tier-II and Tier-III cities will play as critical a role as metros in supplying tomorrow’s talent. So, it looks to create content that is locally relevant, content that can lead to employability. But for that to happen, academia and industry need to be on the same page. So, all programmes require the inputs and endorsement of industry, and faculties must be on-board with updated syllabi.

So, RISE is allying with industry to jointly deliver high-quality and engaging programmes, from Bachelor’s to Masters, and from certification to research. Presently, the focus is on technology, and courses such as Data Science and Business Analytics, AI and Machine Learning, and Cybersecurity. Many of these are designed, delivered and driven by industry heavyweights. Additionally, RISE has partnered with one of India’s largest digital marketing agencies, with one of the top-four taxation and audit companies, and with a global university. Each partner provides the subject matter in their area of expertise, to ensure every student has the necessary skills to excel in their chosen domain.

At the same time, RISE recognises that every course should be affordable while also presenting the student with the tools and the knowledge to transition from degree to career as smoothly as possible. In pursuit of these goals, RISE is leaving no stone unturned.

While RISE focuses on it’s operations in India, they also aim to provide accessible and affordable quality skill oriented education to both students and working professionals across the globe. With recently launching their operations in Indonesian market and having signed MoUs with 6  Indonesian universities at the B20 Summit, Bali, the edtech platform aims to connect higher education between India and Indonesia with this association.

Going forward, RISE acknowledges that education will be a hybrid of offline and online, a happy equilibrium that allows students to opt for either as per their convenience. Still, whatever the model, the focus of this innovation-guided online campus is on ensuring that not only can India build her own education IPs, but that her portals of higher learning and their pedagogies should aspire to be inclusive and accessible. Just as it seeks to make graduates ready for tomorrow, RISE is primed to take advantage of the opportunities of the future.

(The author is Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), RISE, and the views expressed in this article are his own)