Enough has been written on the lack of
employability skill in our young students, especially in Engineering and
Management graduates. Many Industry bodies like FICCI, NASSCOM has
expressed their dissatisfaction about poor employability skills in young
graduates.
A national level Study conducted by a
renowned research agency states only 17.5% of the Engineering Students
are directly employable. In case of Management graduates this rate is
little higher. This slight increment is basically due to the design of
the course not due to the quality of education.
Quite often, the discussions of lack of
employability skills by the industry fraternity end with blaming current
education system and colleges. On the other hand Institutions say “we
are trying our best to train students by involving external trainers,
but these skills are more generic and Individual centric “
If both parties are looking at one other for owning of the responsibility, whom should we blame?
- Education System
- Colleges
- Employers
- Students
It is easy to say the role of colleges and
education system is high but the responsibility lies with all if not
equally. Let us look at one by one
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Despite of change in the pattern of
teaching and evaluation from marks based to grades our system recognises
the scores in the exams as means to evaluate the Knowledge gained. With
this system, one who remembers and writes on the day of exam will be
treated as more knowledgeful.
Primary objective while designing the
education system is to impart knowledge. Skills are allowed to get
developed during their projects/internships/seminars etc, which is part
of the curriculum.
Take example of Project work in engineering …
The idea behind doing project work is to
apply the Learnings in a practical situation and also allow them to
learn other necessary skills.
Project work includes (Skill the students can learn written in the brackets)
W Identification of Project ( Research)
W Identification of Guide (Seeking expert’s help)
W Formation of a Team and Team leader( Team work and Leadership Skills )
W Conducting Experiments/ Research ( problem solving)
W Project conclusion ( Logical and Reasoning skills)
W Report writing ( Written communication Skill)
W Project Presentation ( Communication and Presentation skills)
So, the window for developing skills are
being inbuilt in the system. It is only how much the students and
colleges use it to the development is a matter of concern. No doubt the
Education system has to be changed for the betterment of industries and
students Blaming the current system is the not the solution.
COLLEGES
“Professional colleges are
bound by university rules. We cannot change or bend the rules” States
the Dean of a renowned Engineering college in Bangalore.
Today it is unfair to blame only colleges
for the dismal state of the Skill development. They cannot change the
pattern or syllabus. Even the curriculum is time bound. With all these
limitations colleges are conducting training programs on skill
development by external faculties and trainers. Off late due to intense
completion on campus placements these programs are aimed at Placements
rather than skill
development.
“There is big shortage of good teachers in Engineering and Management
Streams. Even if we get good teachers they may not have
sufficient industry exposure” Says Principal of a Management college in
Shimoga.
Many colleges are slowly changing their
focus to develop job skill among their students but they still put the
onus on the industry by saying “Requirements of Industry keeps changing
and we can’t change our system so rapidly “
EMPLOYERS
With all the efforts from colleges,
employers are still not happy with the talent pool available for
hiring.
“Yes we understand the limitations of a fresher in terms of technical
skills but even basic skills like Analytical and logical skills are
missing in them. Colleges are not doing enough on this” Says Anand
Kumar HR Head of an Engineering consultancy company.
In this era of business uncertainties every
business organisation should think how to make things “FASTER, BETTER
and CHEAPER”. With no other alternative, companies are investing heavily
on internal training which may vary from 4 weeks to 15 weeks. This will
add to the cost of acquiring employees and hence on the revenues.
STUDENTS
The most vulnerable link among all the four is Students.
Students gain knowledge through education
and Skills through application of the Knowledge. In today’s scenario
students have little or limited time to understand the necessity of
these skills The training programs done by colleges are basically done
to crack campus selection not on real skill development. Learning new
skill is a tenacious task. It requires high degree of commitment and
application of Learnings. Many times students also take things easily
and do not apply their mind in learning. Things like Project works and
seminars are just looked at as scoring subjects than Learnings.
In this loop everybody has their
version to prove that it is other’s responsibility. Because of this
skill gap India Inc is losing billions of Rupees and time in Training
which otherwise can be used for increasing the productivity.
Keeping all the limitations in mind,
finally it is students who will be going to suffer most. Here are some
suggestions for students to improve your skills. Mind you it is not easy
to change the behaviour easily. You need to work hard and practice to
improve.
- Read as much as possible other than your college subjects. This will help you in widening your knowledge base.
- Watch News and analysis based programs which will help you in improving your Logical thinking and also clarity in communication.
- Do small projects in each semester and write independent reports.
You can also write articles and analysis on various current affairs to
improve your written communication.
- Take some general topics and give presentation to your friends. This
will help you in improving communication skills and also in looking
beyond your comfort zones.
- Focus more on solving derivations and equations to improve your
analytical and reasoning skills than solving conventional aptitude test
papers.
- Choose a mentor among yourself to evaluate the performance.
Finally no learning has an end. In this
rapidly changing business environment we need to be a lifelong learner.
Wherever and whenever we face challenges it also throws an opportunity
for us to learn.
