Mainstreaming Rural in Higher Education

It was felt that the youth have shied away from the social sector as their first career choice largely because they have very little or no knowledge about the realities of the social sector. Often, they think it is a stagnant or stranded sector, a drag on growth. They have no clue about the kind of organizations that function in the social sector and the issues they grapple with. They have a skewed understanding based on stereotypes about rural so contrary to the realities on the ground. This ignores the fast changing and transformative developments in rural India. 70% of the country still remains rural but this growing space is largely ignored by young urban educated youth due to lack of awareness and sensitivity to its problems and opportunities. They do not know about the opportunities and growth pathways available in this sector that can become a viable professional option. The social sector, in reality, offers a very dynamic and vibrant ecosystem for the young people to participate and contribute; the organizations involved in rural development also offer very attractive and exciting opportunities for a promising career in almost every subject and domain. All this can change through a joint effort between CSOs and the academic institutions in integrating social, development and rural themes in curriculum, programmes and placements that gives the necessary knowledge, skill and confidence to young people to explore this sector.

Youth Hub brought together academicians, CSO leads, design experts and young sector professionals in a highly interactive panel to discuss the strategy to mainstream social and rural themes in Higher Education in the country.

Two broad areas of discussion during the roundtable were:

• Opportunities in the sector, and skills and knowledge expected amongst young people aspiring to join development organisations
• Current programs on social and rural themes in higher education institutions (HEIs) and possible areas of improvement

Roundtable outcomes

• Rural and social thematic interventions at HEIs can have multiple levels of acceptable outcomes: sensitisation of youth about social and rural issues and challenges, awareness of magnitude of the sector and prospects and job opportunities.

• There is a need for constant engagement with the sector through events, activities and programmes that may not be focussed on placements and internships only.

• Sector organisations are still viewed as offering low paying, singular profiled field roles. The reality is that there is a diversity of well-paid roles across thematic areas like education, environment, livelihoods, health, public policy etc as well as domain like design, HR, finance, IT, analytics, strategy, technology, Artificial Intelligence etc.

• An easily accessible and validated database that connects the HEIs and CSOs would be mutually useful. CSOs must take the lead in making young communities and academic institutions aware of the value they offer.  In a sense, the social sector job market will be able to attract the cream of the crop at higher education level.

• Academic institutions/Academia though eager to explore the sector and its organisations, do not themselves have the awareness and sensitivity to mentor and guide interested young people towards social and rural organisations.

• Academia at all levels have the freedom to re-energise 10-15% of curriculum taught and this is where socially/rural relevant content can be brought in. Faculty plays the key role in this. Multiple connections can be built through curricular and pedagogical collaborations like sector-academia joint cases, projects and immersion programmes.

• Young aspiring development professionals suggested the need for more academic integration on social/rural/development sector starting at school level through professional education. This would open up many alternatives for them to explore professionally or even make them more aware of the other India. This could be done if there is access to CSOs and their experts, young professionals and leaders who would help deconstruct the complexity of their world to young people. More clarity of job opportunities, remuneration and career journeys would attract more them to the sector, they felt.

• There is an eagerness amongst CSOs, academia and young people to engage with each other at multiple levels yet there remains a gap that can be bridged with setting up of a robust network that customises this engagement.

The roundtable was a highly interaction session between leaders, young professionals, academicians and young people. Prof. Rohit Wanchoo, Auro University, Mr. Gaurav Shah, ISDM,  from GLRA, PATH, Digital Green, IPAS, TRIF, IMT Gaziabad, AURO University Surat, Prof. Shiv Nadar University, Jagganath University Jaipur, BIMTECH, Indian School of Development Management

The lead image at the top shows participants including experts, scholars, researchers and practitioners exploring ways to mainstream rural themes in higher education in Indian Habitat Centre (Photo by Youth Hub, Village Square)