INTRODUCTION

Our recent interaction with several HR professionals in corporate India has indicated that fresh graduates and first-time managers claim to have Problem-Solving as a key skill in their CVs. However, when it comes to proactively unearthing and defining chronic problems, they fall short of expectations. Further, the claimed Problem-Solving skill usually lacks a structured methodology, as well as proficiency with quality tools.

DEVELOPMENT

Consequently, based on over three decades of experience in quality and innovation, Qimpro^® designed QualTech^® Prize - Education (QT-E) to address this cry for help from corporate India.

HOW IT WORKS

The Director of the educational institute must identify 5 chronic problems that need to be remedied. Eg: Admissions Process too long; Unplanned Absenteeism of Staff; Poor Quality of Food in the Canteen; Poor Housekeeping; Ineffective Placement Service; etc.

The Director must then select 4 Students and 1 Teacher per adopted chronic problem to form 5 specific Project Teams.

Each Team Member will be provided a free 2-month log-in to the Problem-Solving Pro digital course.

An e-Certificate of Completion will be issued to each Team Member at the end of the digital course.

Each Project Team will need to jointly view each chapter, discuss and apply lessons learned to the adopted chronic problem, log progress in the downloadable workbook, submit the project in a template available online.

Each student who successfully completes their project will be certified as a Junior Qualitist^®.

The institute can submit these Projects for an open competition* organized by Qimpro, for teams from all colleges that have participated.

A Panel of Judges will select the top three projects presented and reward the teams.

The Winner - Rs 15,000
1st Runner-up - Rs 10,000
2nd Runner-up - Rs 5,000

*min 25 project entries required to conduct a fair competition.

PROCESS

QT-E is for students from all institutes in India
It is open to students from any stream
Minimum qualification is completion of Class 12
Learning is to be done individually by each student
Implementation is to be done as a team of 3 to 4 students and 1 teacher / professor
Registration is valid for 60 days (from registration to project submission)
Requests for extensions will not be entertained
Submissions will be accepted in English only

Institute to send projects identified and participant list for registration
Receive login details
Complete digital course
Form a Team and identify a Team Leader (offline)
Request the Team Leader to register the Team online
Go through the online course as a team and populate the downloadable workbook
Use the online template for the project submission
Projects can be submitted by the Team Leaders only
Projects will be assessed and star-rated by Qimpro^®
3 Star projects will be entered into the QualTech^® Prize - Education
Panel of Judges will evaluate these projects and select the top three projects

QualTech® Prize for Education - Benefits

A Junior Qualitist^® will
- be equipped with the fundamentals of structured Problem-Solving before placement
- have a project report to support their Junior Qualitist^® Certification
- save employers millions by using this methodology to solve problems
- find themselves running up the career ladder at breakneck speed.
Problem-Solving will no longer be a mere claim in the student's CV.