As per Rio + 20 Summit, studies from leading scientists, professionals, and abrupt climatic condition there is vital link between our living practices and depletion of our natural resources. United Nations setup various groups and forums for adopting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as post 2015 approach after completion of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in a participatory and engagement way uniting all stakeholders. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid emphasis on sustainable lifestyle, growth of low income people through clean, green environment, healthy practices, education, research, and development especially at the UN’s address and drives such as Swacch Bharat, energy, water, sanitation, and education. Sustainable development and climate change emerged as one of the major challenges in the 21st century for which we need immediate actions by everyone. Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015 provide the direction and setup to restrict rise in global mean surface temperature to 1.5°C well below 2°C, and establishing funding mechanism for research, development, and implementation of new technologies. Formation of International Solar Alliance of 120 countries lead by India and France is very important step in this regard. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are due to several factors mainly human activities. Implementation of global 17 goals and achieving 169 targets by 2030 for low-carbon smart resilient economy, and society require three things: Huge Investment for clean, green technologies and growth Strong Accountability and Monitoring Framework Every Citizen Involvement for climate-smart development We need multidisciplinary approach to tackle risks associated with climate change and for sustainable development. We need commitment from everyone to take actions at the individual, local, regional, and global level wherever appropriate. For this, we require Quality Education which is SDG Goal 4 to create awareness, capacity building, research, and development. Science and technology can function as interactive medium for learners, teachers, and facilitators to create meaningful content for enriched understanding of various concepts associated with the SDGs. Science with ICT provide impetus and development of rational thinking, data handling, problem solving, team-building, and communication skills to students which are required for SDGs understanding and 21st century living. We need to acquaint every citizen about risks associated with climate change and possible mitigation measures they can take and practice. With the help of digital technologies such as Big Data, Cloud and mobile communication, we can analyze data, patterns much quickly and disseminate information in an interactive and engaging way. Thus, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is crucial for SDGs awareness and success for All. Science and technology have made important contributions to development but now need more participatory, community oriented accountability to shape Generation Z’s future with sustainability in mind.    This way, students will have real-life experiential knowledge, soft, and management skills besides tackling local problems and may be employed locally with global perspectives. Students must imbibe responsibility, accountability, global citizenship, gender equality, values that can be address through creating progressive schools across community from elementary level. Community can provide real-life scenarios with digital learning science centers and methods such as science fair, exhibition, workshops, science-nature camp, magazine, film, activity kits, club, blogs, games, forums, and web-expression. 📷 Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) Govt. of India adopted the vision 2035 derived from our former President Dr. Abdul Kalam for science to masses and sustainable development. But sustainable development requires participatory and inclusive approach to involve all stakeholders in particular its citizen in several stages of linkages. India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) provides emphasis on sustainable living to reduce carbon footprints, sustainable consumption and production and renewable energy by 2030. A significant proportion of India’s population is still below the poverty line and is vulnerable to climate change impacts. India accounts for 2.4% of the world surface area, but supports around 17.5% of the world population, 24% of the global population without access to electricity (304 million), about 30% of the global population relying on solid biomass for cooking and 92 million without access to safe drinking water needs better standard of life. We believe that young people can create awareness about sustainability and act as agents of change for mitigation, adaptation, knowledge sharing, “greenovation” for sustainable development and empowering the poor. Youth with campaigns for save water, energy, biodiversity, zero transport and waste can reverse carbon emission across sectors using low carbon-intensive lifestyles on a mass scale through sustainable living based on traditions, values of conservation and moderation for “Sustainable Consciousness”. Thus, science and technology motivate users to change their habits, track their behavior for Sustainable Future.

2017 Masdar Engage Blogging Contest #WorldIn2026 Er. Anant Bhaskar Garg As we know from several studies performed by leading scientists, professionals, and recent Masdar’s Global Youth Survey that climate change is one of the major challenges in the 21st century for which we need immediate actions by everyone. Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015 provide the direction and setup to combat the climate change whether restricting rise in global mean surface temperature to 1.5°C well below 2°C above pre-industrial level, and establishing funding mechanism for research, development, and implementation of new technologies. Formation of International Solar Alliance of 120 countries lead by India and France is very important step in this regard. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are due to several factors mainly human activities and reached around 405 ppm level which is alarming. Thus, both temperature and emission level are continuously increasing to more critical situation year by year. In the present scenario, potential damage attributed to climate change is enormous in terms of loss of lives and capital. Further, drastic changes can force unwanted migration of millions of people and loss of natural resources. Launching of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2015 for a period of 15 years from 2016 to 2030 and Agenda 2030 is crucial step towards reversing the trend. But implementation of these 17 goals and achieving 169 targets by 2030 for low-carbon smart resilient economy, and society require three things: Huge Investment for clean, green technologies and growth Strong Accountability and Monitoring Framework Every Citizen Involvement to check the climate-smart development In a recent talk by Prof. Lord Stern from LSE on growth and sustainability, he highlighted steps taken since 2006 till now for climate change and next ten years prospects for low carbon economy. He emphasized that countries submitted their intended nationally determined commitments (INDC) before COP21 must bring together governments, businesses, and public for urgent action to curb emissions by 2020 as review timeline requirement. As per Prof. Chris Field from Stanford, we need to implement a negative emissions approach to lower CO2 emissions that are bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technologies based to extract more CO2 from atmosphere then their emission. This will reduce net content of GHG in the atmosphere. BECCS converts wood, grasses and other non-edible vegetation into electricity, fertilizers and other fuels. While the plants are growing they remove CO2 from the atmosphere which can be captured as part of the process and pumped into long term storage, typically deep inside rock formations. We need multidisciplinary approach to tackle risks associated with climate change and for sustainable development. We need commitment from everyone to take actions at the individual, local, regional, and global level wherever appropriate. Given below are eight areas which require technological impetus for sustainable smart urban and rural development. Our energy systems need to be efficient and clean with improvement in energy efficiency across industry, heating, transport, and buildings Power systems must transit to renewable (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Biomass, and Geothermal), clean and coal powered one use CCS technology Innovative geo-engineering methods of carbon dioxide removal for negative emissions of CO2 Clean transport vehicles running on electric, hybrid, hydrogen, and biofuels Climate-smart agriculture with precision technology, clean supply chains Rehabilitation of degraded land and soil to capture more carbon dioxide, afforestation Efficient water management especially methods for IWRM, onsite reuse Effective waste management technologies for composting, waste-to-energy Besides this, we need most important aspect for all of the above technologies implementation is Quality Education which is SDG Goal 4 to create awareness, capacity building, research, and development. We need to acquaint every citizen about risks associated with climate change and possible mitigation measures they can take and practice. With the help of digital technologies such as Big Data, Cloud and mobile communication, we can analyse data, patterns much quickly and disseminate information in an interactive and engaging way. This is motivating users to change their habits and tracking their behaviour. Thus, with technological developments, we can hope for better #WorldIn2026 Published also at http://masdar.ae/en/intiatives/detail/anant-bhaskar-garg-8-ways-for-climate-resilient-communities-and-sustainable

2017 Masdar Engage Blogging Contest #WorldIn2026 Er. Anant Bhaskar Garg 📷 As we know from several studies performed by leading scientists, professionals, and recent Masdar’s Global Youth Survey that climate change is one of the major challenges in the 21st century for which we need immediate actions by everyone. Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015 provide the direction and setup to combat the climate change whether restricting rise in global mean surface temperature to 1.5°C well below 2°C above pre-industrial level, and establishing funding mechanism for research, development, and implementation of new technologies. Formation of International Solar Alliance of 120 countries lead by India and France is very important step in this regard. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are due to several factors mainly human activities and reached around 405 ppm level which is alarming. Thus, both temperature and emission level are continuously increasing to more critical situation year by year. In the present scenario, potential damage attributed to climate change is enormous in terms of loss of lives and capital. Further, drastic changes can force unwanted migration of millions of people and loss of natural resources. Launching of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2015 for a period of 15 years from 2016 to 2030 and Agenda 2030 is crucial step towards reversing the trend. But implementation of these 17 goals and achieving 169 targets by 2030 for low-carbon smart resilient economy, and society require three things: Huge Investment for clean, green technologies and growth Strong Accountability and Monitoring Framework Every Citizen Involvement to check the climate-smart development In a recent talk by Prof. Lord Stern from LSE on growth and sustainability, he highlighted steps taken since 2006 till now for climate change and next ten years prospects for low carbon economy. He emphasized that countries submitted their intended nationally determined commitments (INDC) before COP21 must bring together governments, businesses, and public for urgent action to curb emissions by 2020 as review timeline requirement. As per Prof. Chris Field from Stanford, we need to implement a negative emissions approach to lower CO2 emissions that are bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technologies based to extract more CO2 from atmosphere then their emission. This will reduce net content of GHG in the atmosphere. BECCS converts wood, grasses and other non-edible vegetation into electricity, fertilizers and other fuels. While the plants are growing they remove CO2 from the atmosphere which can be captured as part of the process and pumped into long term storage, typically deep inside rock formations. We need multidisciplinary approach to tackle risks associated with climate change and for sustainable development. We need commitment from everyone to take actions at the individual, local, regional, and global level wherever appropriate. Given below are eight areas which require technological impetus for sustainable smart urban and rural development. Our energy systems need to be efficient and clean with improvement in energy efficiency across industry, heating, transport, and buildings Power systems must transit to renewable (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Biomass, and Geothermal), clean and coal powered one use CCS technology Innovative geo-engineering methods of carbon dioxide removal for negative emissions of CO2 Clean transport vehicles running on electric, hybrid, hydrogen, and biofuels Climate-smart agriculture with precision technology, clean supply chains Rehabilitation of degraded land and soil to capture more carbon dioxide, afforestation Efficient water management especially methods for IWRM, onsite reuse Effective waste management technologies for composting, waste-to-energy Besides this, we need most important aspect for all of the above technologies implementation is Quality Education which is SDG Goal 4 to create awareness, capacity building, research, and development. We need to acquaint every citizen about risks associated with climate change and possible mitigation measures they can take and practice. With the help of digital technologies such as Big Data, Cloud and mobile communication, we can analyse data, patterns much quickly and disseminate information in an interactive and engaging way. This is motivating users to change their habits and tracking their behaviour. Thus, with technological developments, we can hope for better #WorldIn2026 Published also at http://masdar.ae/en/intiatives/detail/anant-bhaskar-garg-8-ways-for-climate-resilient-communities-and-sustainable

Conducted workshop on 31 Oct., 2014 for home and business users, and professionals for assessment of carbon footprint and introduction to sustainability with support from Green Business Audit & Training and Algaia Project, Australia. Mr. Paul Bana from Australia was main Speaker for the workshop. We also held prize distribution ceremony for our first Earth Day Quiz winners. 480 Students from 5 schools participated in the month of the April, 2014. We are thankful to Mr. Steve Kostoff, CEO, GBAT, Australia, Mr. Paul Bana, and Principals, teachers, professionals, students who made the workshop successful.

How do we balance sustainability with tradition? Here are some thoughts for balanced happiness. Holi is meant to celebrate the arrival of Spring while the colors used in Holi are to reflect the various shades of spring season. Holi, the Indian festival of colours reminds olden moments where flowers like tesu (Flame of the forest), harsringar, marigold, hibiscus, rose and other organic derivatives are used to create colours...

How do we balance sustainability with tradition? Here are some thoughts for balanced happiness. Holi is meant to celebrate the arrival of Spring while the colors used in Holi are to reflect the various shades of spring season. Holi, the Indian festival of colours reminds olden moments where flowers like tesu (Flame of the forest), harsringar, marigold, hibiscus, rose and other organic derivatives are used to create colours...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed 2nd time in Hindi at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) during its 70th session focusing on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 17 Goals towards 2015 - 2030 for achieving equality in the world. The summit is expected to adopt new sustainable development goals, the sequel to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The draft agenda has 17 new goals that aim to end poverty, promote prosperity and protect environment by 2030. He stressed on technology facilitation, innovation to contribute a lot to the development of the world. He said renewable energy is significant to sustainable development thus Indian govt. target 175 GW Renewable electricity in the next 7 years, tax on coal, reform of transport, and waste to wealth movement.He pointed out that we see Earth as our mother and world as a family that is embedded in our culture. Thus, when world focus on two sectors: Public and Private we extended it to third sector i.e personal to empower people and fight against poverty that result in development. This means individual enterprise, innovation, a start-up like movement empowering everyone including women. We need a global education system which will guide our next generations to preserve the environment. Today, we at the UN believe that international cooperation is key to the world. We must talk of climate justice to deal with climate change. Education and skill development is our priority. We want to empower the poor. We worked on financial inclusion in mission mode. Mahatma Gandhi had spoken about caring for a world that we will not see thus sustainability is our focus.We need to change our lifestyles in order to reduce energy dependency. Indian development agenda is mirrored in the SDG of UN. He also spoke about Integral Humanism and contribution of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya towards serving society on his birth anniversary today. He gave emphasis that Indian govt. working on making farmers less vulnerable to the vagaries of nature and development that is sustainable is our responsibility.Highlights of his first speech at the 69th Session of UNGA on 27th Sep., 2014 related to Sustainable development are as follows: “We must pursue a more stable and inclusive global development... billions live on the edge of poverty and want; There has never been a time when it has seemed more possible than now to change this. Technology has made things possible; the cost of providing it has reduced… you must also believe that development and empowerment can spread with the same speed with a genuine international partnership. At one level, it means a better coordination of policy so that our efforts becomes mutually supportive, not mutually damaging. It also means that when we craft agreements on international trade, we accommodate each other's concerns and interests. When we think of the scale of want in the world - 2.5 billion people without access to basic sanitation; 1.3 billion people without access to electricity; or 1.1 billion people without access to drinking water, we need a more comprehensive and concerted direct international action. In India, the most important aspects of my development agenda are precisely to focus on these issues. The eradication of poverty must remain at the core of the Development Agenda and command our fullest attention… we must seek a more habitable and sustainable world and need to change our lifestyles (Energy not consumed is the cleanest energy)… it will mean that our economies will take on a different character… By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change… Let us fulfill our pledge on a Development Agenda so that there is new hope and belief in us around the world. Let us make also a new watershed for a sustainable world. Let it be the beginning of a new journey together”. Some acmes of his speeches are: 1. We are trying to think of ways of reducing carbon emissions, but we are not thinking of changing our lifestyle. Unless we bring a change in our lifestyle, we will not be able to save the environment. 2. Why don't we make Sunday cycle day? People may call me an agent of cycle companies. I am saying that only one day a week; don't use fuel-driven vehicles. 3. If we say that on full moon light, we will not switch on the lights, and every household will have a festival of threading needles, can you imagine how much energy we can save if we switch off the streetlights for one day? 4. Some people feel environment and development are on opposite a side, which is wrong. Both can co-exist. There should be some do's and don'ts. 5. There can be green solutions in our age-old traditions. 6. India has a long tradition of recycling, reuse. 7. India has to take the lead ... on ways to combat climate change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed 2nd time in Hindi at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) during its 70th session focusing on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 17 Goals towards 2015 - 2030 for achieving equality in the world. The summit is expected to adopt new sustainable development goals, the sequel to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The draft agenda has 17 new goals that aim to end poverty, promote prosperity and protect environment by 2030. He stressed on technology facilitation, innovation to contribute a lot to the development of the world. He said renewable energy is significant to sustainable development thus Indian govt. target 175 GW Renewable electricity in the next 7 years, tax on coal, reform of transport, and waste to wealth movement.He pointed out that we see Earth as our mother and world as a family that is embedded in our culture. Thus, when world focus on two sectors: Public and Private we extended it to third sector i.e personal to empower people and fight against poverty that result in development. This means individual enterprise, innovation, a start-up like movement empowering everyone including women. We need a global education system which will guide our next generations to preserve the environment. Today, we at the UN believe that international cooperation is key to the world. We must talk of climate justice to deal with climate change. Education and skill development is our priority. We want to empower the poor. We worked on financial inclusion in mission mode. Mahatma Gandhi had spoken about caring for a world that we will not see thus sustainability is our focus.We need to change our lifestyles in order to reduce energy dependency. Indian development agenda is mirrored in the SDG of UN. He also spoke about Integral Humanism and contribution of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya towards serving society on his birth anniversary today. He gave emphasis that Indian govt. working on making farmers less vulnerable to the vagaries of nature and development that is sustainable is our responsibility.Highlights of his first speech at the 69th Session of UNGA on 27th Sep., 2014 related to Sustainable development are as follows: “We must pursue a more stable and inclusive global development... billions live on the edge of poverty and want; There has never been a time when it has seemed more possible than now to change this. Technology has made things possible; the cost of providing it has reduced… you must also believe that development and empowerment can spread with the same speed with a genuine international partnership. At one level, it means a better coordination of policy so that our efforts becomes mutually supportive, not mutually damaging. It also means that when we craft agreements on international trade, we accommodate each other's concerns and interests. When we think of the scale of want in the world - 2.5 billion people without access to basic sanitation; 1.3 billion people without access to electricity; or 1.1 billion people without access to drinking water, we need a more comprehensive and concerted direct international action. In India, the most important aspects of my development agenda are precisely to focus on these issues. The eradication of poverty must remain at the core of the Development Agenda and command our fullest attention… we must seek a more habitable and sustainable world and need to change our lifestyles (Energy not consumed is the cleanest energy)… it will mean that our economies will take on a different character… By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change… Let us fulfill our pledge on a Development Agenda so that there is new hope and belief in us around the world. Let us make also a new watershed for a sustainable world. Let it be the beginning of a new journey together”. Some acmes of his speeches are: 1. We are trying to think of ways of reducing carbon emissions, but we are not thinking of changing our lifestyle. Unless we bring a change in our lifestyle, we will not be able to save the environment. 2. Why don't we make Sunday cycle day? People may call me an agent of cycle companies. I am saying that only one day a week; don't use fuel-driven vehicles. 3. If we say that on full moon light, we will not switch on the lights, and every household will have a festival of threading needles, can you imagine how much energy we can save if we switch off the streetlights for one day? 4. Some people feel environment and development are on opposite a side, which is wrong. Both can co-exist. There should be some do's and don'ts. 5. There can be green solutions in our age-old traditions. 6. India has a long tradition of recycling, reuse. 7. India has to take the lead ... on ways to combat climate change.

The Festival of Rakshabandhan brings together brother and sister across the globe to share their feelings, faith towards sister by brother. This symbolizes love, care for sister and an act of rakshana (protection) for sister. This is celebrated through tying ‘Rakhi’ by sister to her brother. To mark respect and love brother promise to protect his sister from any unholy incident. In our life, trees are very important for our environment and ecosystem thus their plantation is utmost necessary. Towards this cause we already distributed Meetha Neem plant sapling in our tree plantation program. As protection is needed by us so same is true for trees, thus to reciprocate our feelings, love, care we started ‘Vriksh Rakshana’ campaign. We equally need protection of planted tree to see them into full grown tree. Thus HRDEF started tree protection program on this momentous occasion of brother sister faith, bandhan of love, and protection of sister by brother on 29th August, 2015. Love and care given by us in protecting, saving our trees will result in beautiful earth. This campaign started by 8 years old girl Km. Prayanshi by tying knot of Holy Rakhi to tree. Some lines penned down by Praynashi: The earth is beautiful. The earth is green. The earth is only the planet which has both water and air. The earth is looks like a blue ball. I LIKE MY EARTH prayanshi Atleast one tree should be protected by each person. This is a step toward Parayavaran Rakshana Vasundhara Alankrit (Clean, Green, Smart Region).

The Festival of Rakshabandhan brings together brother and sister across the globe to share their feelings, faith towards sister by brother. This symbolizes love, care for sister and an act of rakshana (protection) for sister. This is celebrated through tying ‘Rakhi’ by sister to her brother. To mark respect and love brother promise to protect his sister from any unholy incident. In our life, trees are very important for our environment and ecosystem thus their plantation is utmost necessary. Towards this cause we already distributed Meetha Neem plant sapling in our tree plantation program. As protection is needed by us so same is true for trees, thus to reciprocate our feelings, love, care we started ‘Vriksh Rakshana’ campaign. We equally need protection of planted tree to see them into full grown tree. Thus HRDEF started tree protection program on this momentous occasion of brother sister faith, bandhan of love, and protection of sister by brother on 29th August, 2015. Love and care given by us in protecting, saving our trees will result in beautiful earth. This campaign started by 8 years old girl Km. Prayanshi by tying knot of Holy Rakhi to tree. 📷 Some lines penned down by Praynashi: The earth is beautiful. The earth is green. The earth is only the planet which has both water and air. The earth is looks like a blue ball. I LIKE MY EARTH prayanshi Atleast one tree should be protected by each person. This is a step toward Parayavaran Rakshana Vasundhara Alankrit (Clean, Green, Smart Region).

Skills Required Over the past decade, business has changed dramatically. As a result, workforce skills and requirements have also changed. There are jobs today that didn’t exist 10 years ago — data scientist, social media manager, app developer, there will be new roles with new requirements that don’t exist now. But while this has happened, one sector has lagged behind: education especially higher education. Reason 1: The speed of technological innovation and industry demands is moving faster than higher education’s ability to adapt. The system continues to focus on lectures and exams, leaving students underprepared to enter today’s workforce. They’re suffering as a result – along with businesses and higher education institutions themselves. How can we expect students to be effective and successful employees when we’re using outdated models to prepare them? IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed a group of academic and industry leaders about the current state of higher education, they agreed. We found that 51% of respondents believe that the current higher education system fails to meet the needs of students, and nearly 60% believe it fails to meet the needs of industry. Reason 2: Industry and academic leaders revealed that the very skills needed for workforce success are the same skills graduating students lack — such as analysis and problem solving, collaboration and teamwork, business-context communication, and flexibility, agility, and adaptability. Underscoring this point, 71% of corporate recruiters indicated that finding applicants with sufficient practical experience is their greatest challenge when recruiting from higher education institutions. Boosting the value of today’s higher education system and, most importantly, helping prepare students for life after class, means adopting a more practical and applied approach to education. Reason 3: Those surveyed overwhelmingly agree that providing experience-based and practical learning is critical to address the current performance gaps. Integral to this is building and expanding partnerships between academia and the private sector to create a more valuable education ecosystem. Working together, students created a plan to improve marketing operations, suggesting that the company make better use of blogs, videos, and content sharing to improve the flow of information and collaboration across the entire organization. The practical experience from assignments like this better prepares students for tasks they’ll have to do in the real world. Reason 4: Students also expect their institutions to deliver technologically enhanced experiences, yet higher education doesn’t always deliver. Universities have to start embracing and exploiting new technologies in analytics, cloud computing, mobility, and social media to provide greater access to educational content, integrate physical and digital worlds for more engaging experiences, and improve decision making. Innovative Efforts: The emergence of new collaborative education models are already starting to reinvent education. In 2011, IBM helped develop and introduce Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH), a completely new education model that blends career and technical skills, emphasizes STEM subjects, and combines free public high schooling with community college. (Article adapted from https://hbr.org/2015/07/why-higher-ed-and-business-need-to-work-together# and written by Michael D. King, Vice President and General Manager of IBM’s Global Education Industry. IBM’s Education portfolio includes consulting and IT services, analytics and other software, as well as cloud and high-performance computing).

Skills Required Over the past decade, business has changed dramatically. As a result, workforce skills and requirements have also changed. There are jobs today that didn’t exist 10 years ago — data scientist, social media manager, app developer, there will be new roles with new requirements that don’t exist now. But while this has happened, one sector has lagged behind: education especially higher education. 📷 Reason 1: The speed of technological innovation and industry demands is moving faster than higher education’s ability to adapt. The system continues to focus on lectures and exams, leaving students underprepared to enter today’s workforce. They’re suffering as a result – along with businesses and higher education institutions themselves. How can we expect students to be effective and successful employees when we’re using outdated models to prepare them? IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed a group of academic and industry leaders about the current state of higher education, they agreed. We found that 51% of respondents believe that the current higher education system fails to meet the needs of students, and nearly 60% believe it fails to meet the needs of industry. Reason 2: Industry and academic leaders revealed that the very skills needed for workforce success are the same skills graduating students lack — such as analysis and problem solving, collaboration and teamwork, business-context communication, and flexibility, agility, and adaptability. Underscoring this point, 71% of corporate recruiters indicated that finding applicants with sufficient practical experience is their greatest challenge when recruiting from higher education institutions. Boosting the value of today’s higher education system and, most importantly, helping prepare students for life after class, means adopting a more practical and applied approach to education. Reason 3: Those surveyed overwhelmingly agree that providing experience-based and practical learning is critical to address the current performance gaps. Integral to this is building and expanding partnerships between academia and the private sector to create a more valuable education ecosystem. Working together, students created a plan to improve marketing operations, suggesting that the company make better use of blogs, videos, and content sharing to improve the flow of information and collaboration across the entire organization. The practical experience from assignments like this better prepares students for tasks they’ll have to do in the real world. Reason 4: Students also expect their institutions to deliver technologically enhanced experiences, yet higher education doesn’t always deliver. Universities have to start embracing and exploiting new technologies in analytics, cloud computing, mobility, and social media to provide greater access to educational content, integrate physical and digital worlds for more engaging experiences, and improve decision making. Innovative Efforts: The emergence of new collaborative education models are already starting to reinvent education. In 2011, IBM helped develop and introduce Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH), a completely new education model that blends career and technical skills, emphasizes STEM subjects, and combines free public high schooling with community college. (Article adapted from https://hbr.org/2015/07/why-higher-ed-and-business-need-to-work-together# and written by Michael D. King, Vice President and General Manager of IBM’s Global Education Industry. IBM’s Education portfolio includes consulting and IT services, analytics and other software, as well as cloud and high-performance computing).