INTRODUCTION

Everyone has dreams but very few are able to convert them into a reality. This may be true because of the diversity in their background and approach and also the facilities available to them. But there is the fourth aspect also which has been identified as the most crucial factor for achieving any success, especially in corporate world, and that is, the high level competence in Soft Skills. It is true, the importance of communication skills in professional world was realized long back and as a result various technical and other professional institutes started offering courses to their students to equip them with appropriate communication skills. But globalization has ushered in further new opportunities and challenges in corporate world which demand not only good competence in communication skills but also in other aspects of soft skills.

The urgency of the need for inculcating good soft skills can be understood from various surveys conducted recently which concluded that presently only 15 to 20 percent of engineering and other graduates being churned out every year in India were employable in the IT industry. Sadly, of the large number most are unsuitable because of lack of soft skills.
Moreover, realizing the gravity of this situation, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has taken some initiatives in this regard by starting dialogue between industries and academia leading to curriculum reforms. But there is a need to have a focused and sincere Academia-Industries interface to access the gap between the industries’ demands and academia’s existing practices regarding soft skills development strategies.

The international conference would serve as a meeting forum for the academicians, industrial personnel and the educational planners to deliberate upon the various aspects of soft skills that are required to meet the emerging corporate challenges in the global world and to arrive at effective soft skills development strategies.