Only 7 percent of engineering graduates are employable, isn’t it shocking that a technical course like B.Tech is also not guaranteed to enhance employability skills. Where are we lacking and what needs to be done? This article will try to figure out the solution part of this grave question.
According to a survey conducted by Aspiring Mind, only 7 percent of engineering students qualify for the jobs of core engineering jobs. This study was based on around 150,000 engineering students to add on to this Data ministry of HRD said that around 6214 engineering and technology colleges in India enroll around 2.9 million students and around 1.5 million qualifies to seek a job in the market, due to lack of employability skills these students fail to qualify for the job. So, what will the consequences of such a large population gets unemployed? According to experts this huge unemployed or underemployed population will cause economic upset and will cause serious social problems as well.
Well the positive side of this education sector is after the introduction of the Skill India Program or PMKVY programs the situation improves now among other courses with skills development around 46.21 percent of students became employable and these situations are going well when compared to the year 2014 where it was 33 percent. According to the India Skills Report, 2019-20 employability improves up to 47.38 percent in 2018. So, what made the situation turnaround? It’s the introduction of the employability skills program. Now when a student approaches the market for the job he has the right set of skills to offer in the market. After all, when somebody comes to us for a job, we also ask the simple question that what can you do for our company? This means skills.
“Colleges should also look forward to introduce certain skill development program which matches with curriculum and the industry where students see his career”
I believe if we can offer realistic solutions at graduation level this situation can improve. In my opinion, we can integrate specialization-based programs or value-added programs motivated with market demand to the students. These courses will enable them to qualify for jobs or even can motivate them to work on Start-Ups. For commerce students who are pursuing courses such as B. Com, BBA or any course related to Management or commerce should be introduced with value-added courses such as Digital Marketing or Banking. The market has been upgraded like anything, so does ways to work on the market as well. Marketing has moved from traditional ways to digital ways. Google alone provides a platform where companies can market their products and sell as well. To support the course various organizations have started their own courses that too free of cost. For example, Google offers certifications in Digital Marketing Fundamentals. It also offers certification in Analytics, AdSense and other advertising modules. On the other hand, Facebook another leading social networking website offers certification with the name Facebook Blueprint and Hub spot offers complete sales and content writing programs. So, the introduction of these programs at graduation level will expose students towards the practical side of how marketing is done at present times and therefore enables a skill which is in very much demand in Industry.
Apart from this if the students who have an interest in Finance or commerce can be offered with Banking and finance wherein, he can learn about our banking industry and on the other side, he can also learn about securities and bond markets as well. Many companies still require a fine investment manager. Who knows with the right set of balanced value-added courses we can also have emerging Warren Buffet among us? Investment is need for the hour and with the right concepts and practical training, the student will be able to work well in finance set up. Also, he can start his own start-up and can offer jobs to others as well.
Once the student is equipped with the right set of skills markets are open for him offering better jobs that can build his jobs. With constant development in market demands, they seek skills rather than certificates. Merely adding certificates to profile merely serve the purpose since corporates look to their balance sheet and seek profit which can only be earned if the employees have the right set of skills that can further be polished with exposure and experience. With the introduction of PMKVY, various short-term courses have been introduced to enable skills in students. On this parallel line, colleges should also look forward to introduce certain skill development program which matches with curriculum and the industry where students see his career. The industry has seen development in all spheres from recruitment which already has taken digital format to sell products. Even companies are positive towards sharing technologies that can enhance their production n process. So why our education policy should also not get modernized? Offer students what they have to pursue in the future. Exposure and experience should also be a part of this curriculum so internships should also be offered after completion of the value-added course to evaluate the impact of these courses. This will truly justify the essence of programs. Also, it will enable the cause of enabling students with the right blend of employability and technical skills as well. While writing this article I am very much optimistic that few educationalists will see to this idea will surely introduce such programs to improve employability skills.
Manish Kumar, Head - BBA Department
Apart from teaching management subjects, Manish Kumar is actively engaged in other assignments such as Personality Development programme. He is experienced in subjects related to marketing, management and communication, and was also part of various clubs and organised different innovative activities.
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