University-industry collaboration: A new way of educating future generations of engineers in India

India, constitutes the world's third largest education system (after the US and China), but we still continue to struggle with many collective problems such as job placements, student retirement, learning impairments, language barriers and cultural differences. Cooperation between the industry and the scientific community if done with proper design and management can turn out to be beneficial for both industry partners and academic institutions. Such a cooperation can be achieved on micro and macro levels and can provide an inclusion of various educational institutions and industry partners. The collaboration may have different goals catering to the needs of industry partners and academic institutions. The involvement of industry and academia may not only be restricted to course curriculum but also result in joint research efforts and programs, which aims to connect students and industry professionals. This paper is an attempt to explore the relationship between academic and industry cooperation in order to enhance the skill set of a student along with his or hers employability opportunities. We discuss how capital investment and technology transfer can result in better development of the society and result in creation of new products, services and employment opportunities. The paper would be listing down some of the initiatives taken by the Indian government for creating an ecosystem for university-industry collaboration. Apart from this, we list some of the prominent university-industry collaborations that have taken place in the field of computer science engineering. Finally, we discuss some key initiatives which if taken into consideration could enhance the prospects of a fruitful university-industry collaboration and can benefit to the society in large.