How India can win the war for STEM Talent

By Shikha Singhal

As the race for digital and technological innovation accelerates, the criticality of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent is gaining global recognition. With companies striving to stay ahead of the innovation curve, demand for STEM talent is expected to witness a manifold jump.

Going by the latest available data from the job portal Indeed, STEM-related roles in the country remain most promising for job aspirants due to their steady growth. From November 2016 to November 2019, STEM-related roles reportedly rose 44%.

Demand for STEM talent

The rapid growth and advancement in various science and technology-related areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT) have spurred the demand in recent times. Be it the data analytics space or digital technology, companies are seeking to hire specific talent with skill-sets matching available roles and those required to create a future-ready workplace.

The rising focus on STEM skills has triggered a war for talent in numerous domains. Sectors such as healthcare and life sciences, IT, banking, and financial services vie for the best STEM talent. The top roles are data engineers, analysts, business analysts, and software architects.

Despite India producing the most graduates globally, its talent shortage has gone from single to double digits over the years. As per industry analysts, the disparity between industry expectations and the college curricula remains one of the primary contributors to this talent mismatch.

The National Science Foundation states that almost 80% of jobs within the next decade will require skills in science and mathematics. Among the prized professionals will be those with skills in data analytics, data science, coding, software engineering and front-end and full-stack developers, to name a few.

Addressing Challenges

The growing demand for STEM talent has exacerbated the talent war across sectors. The only way to address the issue is by bridging the demand-supply gap in STEM skills. Even the Prime Minister voiced this concern during the 2020 India International Science Festival’s inauguration, saying there was a need to attract youth toward science. The 2018-19 AISHE report (the latest survey with comparable data) shows undergraduate enrolment in science was half that of arts.

Although there are various government schemes for innovation and research to attract talent across all academic levels, much more must be done if India intends to assume a leadership role in STEM streams. STEM roles can be critical in addressing many issues, including the impact of climate change, increasing automation, leveraging opportunities in AI, ML, biotechnology and curbing the pandemic’s severity, and even positively impacting patient lives.

While other countries have pumped millions of dollars into STEM research and education, India has some way to go in matching their numbers. More budgetary allocations and a higher focus on STEM are imperative to tap India’s demographic dividend and plug the demand-supply gap in STEM roles.

Here are four critical steps the country must take to promote STEM talent:

1. Research and Development (R&D)

As the nation seeks to transition from a services-led economy to a manufacturing-based one, STEM education will play a pivotal role in promoting innovations in science and technology. For this, however, allocations in STEM-related R&D should be raised substantially. The UNESCO Science Report of 2021 (published once in five years) states that research initiatives in India are unsatisfactory, with its average GERD (gross domestic expenditure on R&D) being 0.75% of GDP during the past two decades – the lowest GERD-GDP ratio among BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa).

Though many programmes and policies have been formulated between 2015 and 2020 to encourage innovation and promote emerging technologies such as AI, electric vehicles, blockchain, and software to accelerate market access to medicines, the perennial shortage of trained engineers and scientists continues to impede progress in these areas.

While India’s 2003 Science and Technology Policy mandated 2% of GDP as an R&D threshold by 2007, the target date has been moved forward repeatedly, the last being 2022. In contrast, another recommendation was to move the target year to 2030, but without adequate R&D funding, shortfalls in STEM talent will persist.

2. Policy Support

Policy support is also necessary to ensure an enabling environment for service providers. Proper incentives such as tax holidays and rationalized GST rates will help attract more private players into the field, which can boost efforts to teach the youth coding, AI, ML, and other STEM-related subjects. Additionally, keeping the service angle in mind, STEM companies could be provided financial incentives modelled on the concept of the PLI (production linked incentives) scheme that benefits manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the National Education Policy 2020 must be lauded since it recognizes the importance of flexibility in allowing students to choose the subjects they want. The rollout of NEP is in progress in government-funded universities.

3. Bridging the Gender Gap

Gender equity issues are among the multiple challenges facing STEM talent. Take the growing number of women pursuing STEM careers in India. According to the Education Minister’s July 2021 statement, the number of women pursuing STEM studies rose by 53,388 between 2017-18 and 2019-20, per statistics from the annual All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report.

The World Bank data also indicates India has more female graduates in STEM (43%) at the tertiary stage versus developed countries such as Germany (27%), France (32%), the US (34%), and the UK (38%). Women’s enrolment has grown, especially in medicine-related courses, the AISHE report reveals.

Notwithstanding the world’s highest number of women in STEM, their share in STEM jobs is barely 14%. Conversely, Sweden has 35% and 34% of women’s share in STEM degrees and jobs, respectively. This highlights the need for reducing the gender gap in India’s STEM jobs. Most of the country’s female STEM graduates either pursue another career or do not work at all.

Undoubtedly, there is a need to boost gender equality by addressing the endemic challenges in STEM careers. A recent McKinsey report notes that reducing the gender gap in STEM can lead to a rise in $12-28 trillion in the global economy. Given these facts, the government has its job cut out in addressing the current gender equities.

4. Creating Awareness

Alongside the above initiatives, it is essential to generate adequate awareness about the vital role STEM skills play in today’s business landscape while providing students with better job prospects. India possesses all the requisite elements – its demographic dividend, the world’s largest pool of graduates, an evolving education policy and more – to significantly boost its STEM talent and support the transition towards AI and ML-based operations.

But based on the current trends and growing demand, India must first create a conducive environment for investment, continued R&D, and broad industry participation to transform itself into a global STEM hub. If India can win the war for STEM talent by implementing the relevant guidelines, it will truly become future-ready.

The author, Shikha Singhal, is Principal and Leader - People Practices at Axtria.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHRWorld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHRWorld will not be responsible for any damage caused to any person or organisation directly or indirectly.