employ ability 1
TRANSCRIPT
World Bank ReportEmployability and Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers in India
Rajeev Valunjkar Dept. Of Electrical Engg.
1) Andreas Blom 2 )Hiroshi SaekiNovember 1, 2010
Rajeev Valunjkar Dept. Of Electrical Engg.
We want to see all of our studentsTo be highly successful in life and their career graph Shoot up like this …
EMPLOYABILITY
WORLD BANK STUDY SURVEY OBJECTIVE
(i) Which skills do employers consider important when hiring new engineering graduates?(ii) How satisfied are employers with the skills of engineering graduates?(iii) In which important skills are the engineers falling short?
SURVEY DETAILSTen out of the 11 NBA Program Outcomes were included in the questions . Thirteen skills from previous employer surveys were added. These were in particular skills
often referred to as soft skills or core skills or employability skills, such as integrity, self-motivation, team skills etc.
Further three specific skills were added, namely 1) “Basic computer”,
2) “Advanced Computer”, and 3) “Customer Service Skills”.
Lastly, another three skills1) “Technical Skills (programming)”2) “Communication in English” and3) “Entrepreneurship Skills”, were included as per request of employers.
Analysis of the employers’ feedback
The specific skills can be grouped into three overall groups of skills:
• Core Employability Skills• Communication Skills• and Professional Skills.
Which skills do employers consider important when hiring new engineering graduates?
Which skills do employers consider important when hiring new engineering graduates?
Key Findings of the Report
• (ii) Although all three skills are important for employers, Core Employability Skills and Communication Skills (Soft Skills) are more important than Professional Skills.
• Soft skills, such as reliability and self-motivated have the largest skills gaps.
Key Findings of the Report
• 64% of employers hiring fresh engineering graduates are only somewhat satisfied or worse with the quality of engineering graduates’ skills.
• The typical employer is only “somewhat satisfied” with the skill set of the newly hired graduates.
Key Findings of the Report
• The graduates have strong English Communication skills and this is one the most important skills for employability.
Key Findings of the Report
• The graduates lack higher-order thinking skills, such as analyzing, evaluating and creating. This is unfortunate, because these higher-order skills are more important than lower-order thinking skills. Skills such as Problem-solving and conducting experiments and data analysis have a large skill gap.
Key Findings of the Report
• Employers predominantly demand the same Soft Skills irrespective of economic sector, firm size and region. However, firms in different regions and economic sector and of different size demand distinct Professional Skill.
How satisfied are employers with the skills of engineering graduates?
In which important skills are the engineers falling short?
Policy recommendations
(i) Address the three skill factors (Core Employability Skills, Professional Skills, and Communication Skills) when reforming assessment, teaching, and curriculum.
(ii) Emphasize Soft Skills(iii)Interact more with employers to understand the
real demands from the market(iv) Improve assessment, teaching, and curriculum(v) Customize courses to meet different demands
Skill Gaps: Higher-Order Thinking Skills are lagging
• A closer assessment of the skill gaps tentatively suggest that the skill gaps are largest within higher-order thinking skills, and smallest among the lower-order thinking skills.
Summary Analysis of Skill GapsThe employers are likely to perceive Soft Skills more important than Professional Skills.
However, engineering graduates with limited and weak Professional Skills are undesirable for employers.
The survey results, for instance, show a clear signal to the Problem Solving that is under Professional Skills. As shown earlier, Problem Solving has the largest gap in Professional Skills and the second least satisfying skill of all skills.
Wide gaps can be observed among almost all skills. This is more obvious for higher order skills, such as Problem Solving that falls in Professional Skills.
Further, the mean scores of skill gaps in Professional Skills are higher than those in Soft Skills, which are 0.91 and 0.88 points, respectively. Therefore, the importance of Professional Skills should not be disparaged.
Developing Your Students’ Professional Skills
• This Toolkit, Developing Your Students’ Professional Skills, focuses on how students can benefit from learning and working in a professional context outside the university, while studying.
• Learning in the workplace, on work experience, in a practicum, doing a work placement, etc., gives students the opportunity to:
• Identify the relevance of particular theoretical concepts, skills and ways of proceeding that have been learnt in their course of study, and thus encourages more intentional classroom learning;
• Put theory into practice;
• Appreciate that academic success is not the only attribute for successful employment and careers;
• Develop an awareness of workplace culture and appreciate the rapidly changing nature of the world of work;
• Evaluate and develop work-related personal attributes (diplomacy, cooperation, workplace etiquette and leadership);
• Develop specific communicative and interactive abilities; and
• Establish career plans and strategies.
How do universities know what industry needs?
These include: Recruitment of staff into academia from industry
Point to point contacts between academics and engineers from industry at all levels, including lunchtime conversations and other informal links
Industrial advisory/liaison boards
Strategic partnerships, including research and knowledge transfer partnerships
Employer links through careers services and recruitment processes
Staff secondments to industry and visits by academic staff to students on placement
Students reporting to their departments following placements
Effective use of alumni through well organized alumni organizations and inviting recent graduates to give talks to students
Sector Skills Councils who provide information about skills requirements and bring industry together with academia
Reading reports and studies, both national and regional.