Business Research
On
Education & Employability
Final Project Report & Questionnaire
BY
Enrolment No. Name
S183F0001 Abhishek Verma
S183F0014 Gurjeet Singh
S183F0033 Rohan Sharma
S183F0041 Sumit Chhabra
S183F0017 Himanshu Kumar
Submitted To:-
DR. KRITIKA MATHUR
ABSTRACT
One of the important areas of concern for our economy is Full Employment. In spite of large
scale growth and development in institutions offering higher education in India, the ground
reality is that employability of various qualified youngsters churned out of our educational
system remains a question mark. There are several factors responsible for this. One of the
objectives of this research is to identify such factors. Other objectives is to explore the areas
which are critical for employability of students coming out of higher educational institutions.
INTRODUCTION
Employability Skills are the transferable skills needed by an individual to make him or her
'employable'. In addition to a good technical understanding and knowledge of the subject,
employers often look for a set of skills that they want from an employee. These skills or skill
set as they are called are like Team working, Problem solving, Self-Management, Knowledge
of the business, Literacy and numeracy relevant to the position, Good interpersonal and
communication skills.
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has observed that huge number of
college graduates enter the workforce every year. India has the potential to provide workforce
for the world by 2020. Yet we are today suffering with an awfully low employability rates in
metropolitan cities like Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru. The reasons advanced for such low
employability rate are lack of language skills, outdated academic syllabus, insufficient
practical sessions and a total absence of career counseling facilities.
Erstwhile Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani in Lok Sabha said,
“In this regard, a scheme has also been notified under National Employability Enhancement
Mission (NEEM) to offer on the job practical training and adopted National Skill
Qualification Framework (NSQF) to enhance the employability of young graduates.” The
Government has set up a target to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher
Education to 30% by the end of year 2020.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The basic objective of this study was to understand and identify student’s
perspective towards the job scenario in India. The idea is to identify the gap in the
skill set of job seekers and employers. The purpose of the study was also to
identifying and analyzing critical factors for employability. Understanding the
relationship between skills and employment and finding out the underlying cause of
unemployment in through student’s perspective.
For the above we set out problem statement as,”ANALYSING THE FACTORS
LEADING TO UNEMPLOYMENT IN INDIA”.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Employability in a Knowledge-driven Economy, Journal of Education and Work
The main objective of the study was to examine the concept of employability. To check that
how recent policymakers emphasis on employability on the assumption that economic welfare
of all of the individuals & the competitive advantage of nations has come to depend on the
knowledge, skills & enterprise of the workforce. It also shows that “employability way” is
typically defined in official statements but in the real world it ignores the concept of “Duality
of employability”
What I understand is that government policies are based on the assumption that the economic
welfare of individuals and the competitive advantage of nations have come to depend on the
knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial zeal of the workforce. But it is contradicting with the fact
that many of employability are judged by employers to lack what it takes to 'add value' in a
dynamic business environment. Due to this interpolation people are 'employable' they may fail
to find suitable jobs because of market congestion caused by the realities of work in a
knowledge-driven economy and the positional competition that governments are finding
increasingly difficult to control.
Students’ perceptions of education and employability: Facilitating career transition from
higher education into the labor market. Career Development International
The main objective of the study was to understand to understand how students perceive their
future careers. And how universities have prepared them to enter the global labor market;
student perceptions regarding benefits vs associated costs of pursuing higher education (HE)
on employability and earnings; and the anticipated barriers and how to overcome these in
pursuit of career sustainability within a career ecosystem.
What I have got know from the paper is that Undergraduate students tend to believe that the
money they for their higher education as an investment for better pay in future, but this reality
is slowly changing due to increase in tuition fees, associated student debt & interest payments
which is eroding earning premiums. As undergraduates progress, personally, they feel more
employable but due to market competition for graduate jobs
Technical and non‐technical education and the employability of engineering graduates: an
Indian case study. International Journal of Training and Development
The basic objective of this paper is to compare the employability and the job performance
amongst the engineering and non-engineering graduates. Also, the study aims to investigate
the importance of technical and non-technical education.
Methodology: The primary data was collected directly from the college under this study.
Participants belongs to one of the leading engineering colleges in the southern part of India.
Hypothesis testing
Hypothesis 1: Compared with students attaining a lower CGPA, students with a higher CGPA
will perform better in campus recruitment drives. CGPA is cumulative grade point average, the
measure of the student’s academic performance on graduation.
Hypothesis 2: Compared with students with a lower level of non-technical training
performance, students with a higher level of non-technical training performance will perform
better in campus recruitment drives.
Hypothesis 3: Compared with female students, male students will perform better in campus
recruitment drives.
Number of samples: 588 students were drawn from 810 in first group, whereas 559 were
drawn 870 in the second group. There were 417 male students and 171 female students (SD =
0.45) in the first cohort, whereas the second cohort consisted of 368 male students and 191
female students (SD = 0.47).
Data Variables: The performance of the students belonging to technical and non-technical
backgrounds are measured on the basis of different categories of study areas namely:
Verbal reasoning, Legal and problem solving skills, Performance in non-technical training,
Academic performance, Soft skills. The dependent variable in this study is the placement
record of each participant, that is, whether or not he or she was successful in obtaining
employment through the campus recruitment drive.
My Views: It has been seen that the CGPA or the academic grades prove to be insignificant in
predicting the employability of the individual. Also, giving training in the non-technical aspects
of study helps the students to get more employable and be creative. Also, there is a need to set
up separate non-technical studies for the engineering students in their college premises which
would further help them to become a better future employee.
Employability enhancement through formal and informal learning: an empirical study
among Dutch non-academic university staff members.
The objective of the study is to find impact of formal and informal learning upon employability.
With this the influence of organizational factors and employee characteristics are also being
taken in to consideration.
Methodology: The methodology used in the study is quantitative, where an electronic survey
is being conducted. To gain insight on employees’ perceptions on predictors and their own
employability, including various learning-related factors. Table is formed to measure the
correlations between the variables (organizational factors, informal learning, formal learning,
employee characteristics) Link between organizational factor and employee characteristics
with informal and formal learning is also identified.
Number of samples: The study is conducted on 217 employee (107 men and 108 women).
My Views: The research is well design to explore the set objectives. It also explains the extent
to which employee characteristics and organisation factors are related to informal and formal
learning. One major finding of the study is employability depends on both formal and informal
learning.
Education, Employability and Employment-the Missing Links
Its objective was finding the missing link between Education and Employment. Using this
study, one can explore what more can be done in MBA colleges and other management courses
in order to make sure that these missing links are a part of curriculum.
Methodology: An individual’s employability depends mainly on: Knowledge (what he know),
Skills (what he do with what he know) and Attitudes (how he approach things). While formal
education focuses on Knowledge and Skills, often “Attitude” is not given the due importance
and is a key missing link in ensuring employability. This study depicts three cases in order to
find the missing links between education and employment. It begins with 3 short cases of young
employees each of whom have missed one crucial lesson as a part of their formal education.
The first missing link in formal education (or attitude) is ‘the ability to embrace failure’.
Accepting that ‘I am not ok’, ‘You are not OK’ and ‘that’s ok’, is the only way to maintain a
balance in life.
Second missing link, as per the study is ‘Humility’. Lack of humility not only creates cracks
in relationships, but also creates conflicts and unpleasantness, both of which are enemies of
employability.
Third and the last missing link is ‘The right work ethic’.Basic work ethics of respecting
time, giving complete attention to the job on hand, completing a job before leaving the
workplace and respecting for all kinds of work are given equal importance in every walks of
life.
My Views: This study very correct mentions the 3 missing links that millennials lack, these
were,
1. The ability to embrace failure,
2. Humility and
3. The right work ethic.
Even if an individual is very intelligent and competent but if he lacks above mentioned soft
skills then this makes him unemployable.
The myth of job readiness? Written communication, employability, and the ‘skills gap’ in
higher education. Studies in Higher Education
The objective of the research paper was to check the myth of job readiness in universities. The
importance of written communication and the impact it has on a student’s employability. The
paper basically looks at the “skill gap” in higher education. The methodology used by the paper
was a semi structured interview format of people belonging from various professional
backgrounds. This diversity in professions was to get a broad picture of issues around written
communication, one that could be applied to higher education policy. Interviews were of
approximately for an hour and covered following issues:-
• The writing abilities of graduates.
• The nature of written communication in these places
• Issues concerning academic and professional written comm.
No. Of Samples
The number of samples was 20 participants from a range of professional areas.
Data Variables
The variables were:-
• The writing abilities of students.
• Uniqueness and diversity of workplace writing.
• Perceived differences in academic and professional written communication.
• Workplace pedagogies.
My Views
The ability to write is becoming a skill of the past amongst our youth due to the advent of
technology, but the written word is still followed at workplaces around the world and a lack of
writing communicational skills hampers employability of the young in our universities. Steps
must be taken at the higher education level to develop necessary writing skills.
Is graduate employability the ‘whole-of-higher-education-issue’?.
The objective of the paper was to see if graduate employability was the only concern of the
higher education system and if it was the only issue.
Methodology: The study was qualitatively conducted via focus groups interviews with
university students and in depth interviews with recent graduates.
No. Of Samples
The study employed three focus groups interviews of 10 final year students in each group.
These students were from 11 universities, most universities had three representatives who
joined three different focus group interviews. Individual semi structured interviews were
conducted for the students.
Data Variables
The data variables were:-
• Perceptions of employability assets.
• Underdeveloped capacity of universities.
My Views
The entire debate has been circling around the employability of students and other issues have
taken a back seat. Hence, we must address other development issues plaguing the higher
education sector.
The degree is not enough’: students’ perceptions of the role of higher education credentials
for graduate work and employability. British journal of sociology of education
The present study has highlighted the various tensions and concerns experienced by higher
education students around the role and utility of their higher education credentials in shaping
their future labour market outcomes. It has also shown some of the contradictions in students
understanding of the potential currency of their university qualifications. It is clear that students
still view higher education credentials as positioning them favourably in what is seen as a
hierarchical labour market. These credentials are seen as providing added human and cultural
capital to open up employment opportunities that would otherwise be limited. this study has
also highlighted serious limitations in the human capital framework that continues to exert
much influence on current higher education policy. The framework has been exposed as an
unreliable tool for understanding the concept of employability, as well as the relationship
between educational credentials and labour market outcomes. The evidence clearly shows that
students understand their future labour market outcomes as being more complex than simply
possessing extra credentials and technical knowledge from higher education. Ultimately,
higher education students view themselves to be in a positional competition amongst a growing
supply of graduates entering the labour market with similar profiles and aspirations. Higher
education might offer some of these students an emancipating hand – both culturally and
economically. Clearly showed that students knew the importance of higher educational
qualification but they demand soft skills by the employers and they requisite ability caused a
dilemma in the mind of young graduates.
Can business schools increase student employability by embedding action
learning into undergraduate management education? An account of practice.
Action Learning: Research and Practice
This paper basically focusses on the lack of practical knowledge available to undergraduate
management students. According to the author of the paper the basic purpose of the research
was to identify the need of current updated practical knowledge that should be updated in the
curriculum of undergraduate management students to train them to face the complex and
dynamic environment. It used KOTTERS 8-stage model of change to understand the need and
requirement to update the scholarly curriculum adopted by undergraduate management
students. The author of the paper basically included a case study approach to answer the most
basic question. The author used different forms of experiential learning and simulation activity
results to understand this perspective. The basic model of this paper is based upon KOTTER’s
8-STAGE MODEL FOR CHANGE. Each of the parameter was judged and analyzed to
understand this perspective. According to Kotter’s 8-stage model of change institutional or
systemic change occurs through the following eight steps:
1. ‘Create a sense of urgency so that people start telling each other “Let’s go, we need to
change things!”’
2. ‘Pull together a guiding team powerful enough to guide a big change.’
3. ‘Create clear, simple, uplifting visions and sets of strategies.’
4. ‘Communicate the vision through simple, heart-felt messages sent through multiple
channels so that people begin to buy into the change.’
5. ‘Empower people by removing obstacles to the vision.’
6. ‘Create short-term wins that provide momentum.’
7. ‘Maintain momentum so that wave after wave of change is possible.’
8. ‘Make change stick by nurturing a new culture.
They developed a vision and proposed a strategic framework, leveraging Kotter’s 8-stage
model of change, which might assist teaching professionals and university stakeholders in
advancing the embedding of action learning in management education. This paper basically
focused on how undergraduate management education should incorporate practical exposure
with theoretical basic management knowledge to provide and train undergrads for global labor
market.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research focuses on the way higher education students understand and interpret the role
of their higher education credentials in shaping their future outcomes in the labour market in
the context of these wider changes.
This project draws upon research that has examined the way in which higher education
students, on the verge of making the transition into the labour market, understand their future
work and employability. One particular focus was on higher education students’ perceptions
of the utility of their higher education credentials, as well as its perceived and anticipated role
in opening up opportunities in the labour market. This focus is based principally around the
main research question: How do higher education students view the role of their degree
credentials in shaping future employment prospects? In addressing this question, we not only
seek to explore students’ constructions of changes in higher education and the graduate labour
market, but also how they come to rationalise the role of their higher education credentials for
future labour market return. Moreover, we will be able to examine the various theoretical
positions outlined in the introduction to this article that have aimed to explain the relationship
between educational credentials and labour market returns. Thus, to what extent do students
view their higher education credential as crucial a development in their human capital that will
yield clear and financially rewarding returns? To what extent do they view their pursuit for
labour market returns as involving a positional competition between graduates?
PROCEDURE
As a group we came to a conclusion that a questionnaire was the best way to reach out to our
target group which was the students, as we observed that students had less tie and may not be
interested in answering interviews face to face and may give superficial answers just to get the
job done, moreover an online questionnaire would let us reach out a wider audience and since,
the younger generation spends a lot of time online we figured that they would be much more
open to an online questionnaire.
At first we started out with general questions that concern a student, such as the type of
education that they have, gender, age, and the level of satisfaction that they have with their
current job ad pedagogy that they received from their educational institute. The initial phase
ended by knowing the preference of the students.
In the second phase we asked students whether they were looking a job and if answer was a no
we followed it up with question which asked them if the students wanted to work in the first
place. If the response to our “looking for a job” part was yes then we asked them about the
challenges that they faced and what they feel personally. The questions ranged from their
“worries” related to finding a job and the alternatives that they have with them if things don‘t
work out. We ended the questionnaire with asking them about the solutions that they think are
the best way to deal with the situation and if they were happy with the way the government had
dealt with the situation.
ANALYSIS OF THE DATA
In our approach to analysis we had a lot of options to follow up on the data. We used Ms. Excel
and Tableau Software which allowed us to have a graphical representation of our data. For our
qualitative approach we used content analysis in which we categorized verbal or behavioral
data to classify, summarize and tabulate the data
The study drew upon structured questionnaire with a sample of around 80 students and the
sample included a roughly equal gender mix.
• Mostly respondents were those who had completed their graduation in commerce or
engineering domain and were pursuing/completed their management course as their
post-graduation degree.
• We focused our study only on those respondents who were not working currently as a
full time employees in any organization.
Respondents were asked:
“Are you satisfied with your educational qualification you possess with respect to your
current job or your dream job?”
5%
18%
77%
Yes No Maybe
77% of the respondents are satisfied with the education qualification they possess with respect
to their current or dream job.
Respondents were asked:
“Which is the most preferable job (in general), according to you?”
5%
39%
56%
Government jobs Private jobs Self-employed jobs / startups/ entrepreneur
56% of the respondents preferred Private jobs while 39% of them preferred Government jobs
and mere 5% of them opted for Self-employed jobs like entrepreneurship in their own startup.
Respondents were asked:
What according to you are the two most important factors responsible for getting a
satisfactory job?
3.75%
24.38%
41.88%
30.00%
Education
Hard work
Luck
Recommendations From Important Persons (Politicians, Govt, Officials)
For the ones who preferred government jobs, Education, hard work and luck was the most
important factors while few of them considered recommendation from important persons like
politicians or government officials also played important role.
Now for the ones who preferred private jobs, Education, Ability and Hard work were the
most important factors, while 19.38% of the respondents feel that Personal contracts also
played an important role.
6.88%
28.75%
20.00%
25.00% 19.38%
Education Personal Contacts Ability Hard Work Influential Friends & Contacts
Further respondents were asked about their preferences:
Their preferences were divided into 4 factors, these were:
• Pay and Job security
• Pay and location
• Pay and type of work
• Type of work and location.
57 respondents preferred higher pay job with less job security so for them pay played more
important role as compared to job security. While the remaining preferred Lower pay with
more job security.
55 respondents preferred nearer home with lower pay so for them location played more
important role as compared to pay. While 25 of them preferred distant location with more pay.
46 respondents preferred Lower pay with more interesting work so for them type of work
played more important role as compared to pay. While the remaining preferred higher pay with
less interesting work.
24 respondents preferred More interesting work in distant location, so for them type of work
was more important factor as compared to distance. While 56 preferred less interesting work
nearer home.
Further respondents were asked:
“Are you worried about getting a job?”
77.5% of the respondent were “Very much” worried about getting a job. Remaining 18 % were
“Somewhat” or “very little” worried. 3 respondents were not worried at all about getting a job.
Respondents were asked:
“Whom would you blame most for not getting a job?”
Majority of them blamed themselves for not getting a job. So here there we can find a missing
link that even if they are satisfied with their education they blame themselves the most for not
getting a job.
Respondents were asked:
“The solution of unemployment lies more with individuals than with the
government”.
Majority of them said “Yes”.
Respondents were asked:
Unemployed are not good enough with respect to their abilities to find jobs
To this majority of the respondent said “Yes” while 23% of them responded “No”, while 4%
responded that they can’t say.
Respondents were asked:
Do you think, you have been deprived of a job, which you are qualified for? *
63% of the respondent agreed to this while 21% responded by saying “maybe”, while the
remaining denied this fact.
Questions Related to Self Help Schemes:
Respondents were asked:
“ Would you take up self-employment schemes if you were given help?”
(like Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), PRIME MINISTER’S EMPLOYMENT
GENERATION PROGRAMME (PMEGP), Self-Employment for Educated Unemployed
Youth (SEEUY), Jawahar Rozgar Yojna (JRY) Etc.
Majority of the respondents said No.
When further asked: According to you, are the self-employment schemes sufficient for
educated unemployed youth? Majority again denied this fact, as they feel that the
educated unemployed youth is not benefited from these self-help schemes/projects.
Respondents were asked:
Whether they were registered in Employment Exchange to which majority of the
respondents responded by saying that they were not registered in Employment
Exchanges.
Respondents were asked:
“In the present conditions, one must use fair or unfair means to get a job”.
To this, 64% respondent responded with yes while the remaining said no
• 76% of the respondents agreed that educated unemployment has contributed to
the spread of drugs, alcoholism and drug-trafficking, resulting in increasing
crime rate.
• Also most of the respondents responded that vacant jobs are not properly
notified by the various organizations/ governmental departments.
Further respondents were asked:
“Lowering the retirement age from 60 to 55 years for all employees will
definitely reduce unemployment”.
78% of the respondent agreed that if the retirement age is reduced from 60 to 55 years for all
the employees and this will definitely reduce unemployment.
Also most of them agrees to that if the government cannot provide job to everyone, it
should at least provide unemployment allowance.
ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION:
From this study a new two-dimensional model of personal factors and market factors was
developed. Students felt more employable due to personal factors and less employable due to
market factors, perhaps explaining the conflicting findings in earlier studies.
Students who used the careers service, who study degrees with clearer employment outcomes
(e.g. Engineering and Finance), and who are looking to apply to multinational corporations,
were happy with existing careers provision.
Universities often receive the strongest criticism on the poor employability assets graduates
possess. The ill-preparation of university graduates is considered the result of the out dated and
irrelevant curriculum in the higher education system, of the traditional teaching methods and
the absent of career guidance in most universities.
By conducting a qualitative research inviting the voices of both students and employers on the
issue, this article wants to address a wider context and circumstance and also the related issues
surrounding the transition from university to work of university graduates.
It suggests that not only universities, but also students, employers and other related
stakeholders (i.e. student’s family, government and educational policy makers) should
acknowledge the changes in society, should be aware of the cultural features at work, and
should see their responsibility in the process. They all should make an effort to create mutual
understanding, to collaborate and to enhance the development of graduate employability.
This research examines the concept of employability. The recent policy emphasis on
employability rests on the assumption that the economic welfare of individuals and the
competitive advantage of nations have come to depend on the knowledge, skills and enterprise
of the workforce. Those with degree-level qualifications are seen to play a particularly
important role in managing the 'knowledge-driven' economy of the future.
The framework has been exposed as an unreliable tool for understanding the concept of
employability, as well as the relationship between educational credentials and labour market
outcomes. The evidence clearly shows that students understand their future labour market
outcomes as being more complex than simply possessing extra credentials and technical
knowledge from higher education. Ultimately, higher education students view themselves to
be in a positional competition amongst a growing supply of graduates entering the labour
market with similar profiles and aspirations.
Traditionally, unemployment amongst graduates was considered to be the central issue for
decision makers in terms of a performance indicator of employability. However, in more recent
times the notion of underemployment has developed into an expanding problem, with sub‐
optimal use of skills in the labour market combined with potential opportunity costs regarding
intrinsic and extrinsic career experiences. On the basis of the literature review, the aim of this
exploratory research is to investigate opportunity for skill use and career success experiences
amongst underemployed graduates.
A critical review of the job market and employability skills reveals a critical gap in the skill
set, particularly soft skills needed on the job. When we critically go through the review of
literature it gives a clear picture of the serious gaps identified in the requirement of skill sets
for employment, which unfortunately is not gained through our higher education system.
Several companies are trying to fill up this gap through Training programs specifically suited
for new recruits. An individual’s employability depends mainly on: Knowledge (what he
know), Skills (what he do with what he know) and Attitudes (how he approach things). While
formal education focuses on Knowledge and Skills, often “Attitude” is not given the due
importance and is a key missing link in ensuring employability. The first missing link is ‘the
ability to embrace failure’. Accepting that ‘I am not ok’, ‘You are not OK’ and ‘that’s ok’,
is the only way to maintain a balance in life. Second missing link, as per the study is
‘Humility’. Lack of humility not only creates cracks in relationships, but also creates conflicts
and unpleasantness, both of which are enemies of employability. Third and the last missing
link is ‘The right work ethic’. Basic work ethics of respecting time, giving complete attention
to the job on hand, completing a job before leaving the workplace and respecting for all kinds
of work are given equal importance in every walks of life.
Providing full employment is not only a governmental objective; rather it is implemented
through the system of education and training. But Organizations need employees at the entry
level to have some basic skills which need to be imparted to them at the time of higher
education and before entering the job market. This is an area which needs to be tackled by
institutions of higher learning. Either through a well-designed curriculum or through external
agencies before the students pass out, soft skill and employability skills Training, has to be
given as part of their graduation program.
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