Reforms in higher education for employability Vijayarani*, Associate Professor *Department of English, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore – 43. Online published on 3 January, 2012. Abstract AJJ Abdul Kalam the Honourable Ex. President of India has said, “India has a population of one billion people, out of this one billion, 540 million people are below the age of 25 years which is our national strength…. Ignited minds of the 540 million youth will definitely transform India into developed country by the year 2020”. In Igniting the young minds, in preparing them to face and pace with new challenges of the new world, the Educational Institutions, particularly Higher Educational Institutions play a vital role. Today's youth find themselves in an Era, where the economic value of Higher Education has reached an unprecedented proportion. According to UNESCO, “Higher Education is no longer a luxury, it is essential to national, social and economic development”. Therefore educational reforms must be closely tied up to the employment opportunities of the youth than even before. From the 8th Five Year Plan onwards, reforms in higher education have been focused on increasing employability: Introduction of Vocationalisation in the 8th Plan, Career Oriented Programmes in the 9th Plan, Skill Oriented Programmes in the 10th Plan, Producing Skilled Man Power for employing locally, nationally, globally in the 11th Plan, the aim of bringing inclusive equity in higher education by increasing GER from the present 13% to 20% in the forthcoming 12th Plan – all these efforts are to increase employability. The paper would throw light on the reforms in the five year plans in detail which are already made and the reforms in future to meet the challenge of employability. Top |