Employability and Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers in India
Skill shortage remains one of the major constraints to continued growth of the Indian economy. This employer survey seeks to address this knowledge-gap by answering three questions: (i) Which skills do employers consider important when hiring new e...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110425112950 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3404 |
| Summary: | Skill shortage remains one of the major
constraints to continued growth of the Indian economy. This
employer survey seeks to address this knowledge-gap by
answering three questions: (i) Which skills do employers
consider important when hiring new engineering graduates?
(ii) How satisfied are employers with the skills of
engineering graduates? and (iii) In which important skills
are the engineers falling short? The results confirm a
widespread dissatisfaction with the current graduates -- 64
percent of employers hiring fresh engineering graduates are
only somewhat satisfied with the quality of the new hires or
worse. After classifying all skills by factor analysis, the
authors find that employers perceive Soft Skills (Core
Employability Skills and Communication Skills) to be very
important. Skill gaps are particularly severe in the
higher-order thinking skills ranked according to
Bloom's taxonomy. In contrast, communication in English
has the smallest skill gap, but remains one of the most
demanded skills by the employers. Although employers across
India asks for the same set of soft skills, their skill
demands differ for Professional Skills across economic
sectors, company sizes, and regions. These findings suggest
that engineering education institutions should: (i) seek to
improve the skill set of graduates; (ii) recognize the
importance of Soft Skills, (iii) refocus the assessments,
teaching-learning process, and curricula away from
lower-order thinking skills, such as remembering and
understanding, toward higher-order skills, such as analyzing
and solving engineering problems, as well as creativity; and
(iv) interact more with employers to understand the
particular demand for skills in that region and sector. |
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