How To Create Better Educated Graduates

Karan Sachdeva Aug 24, 2018

Operating on the industry’s desk, solving projects on board and cooperating in teamwork is the following stage after graduation once a candidate is employed. But, students run after text in curriculum and writing long theories in answer sheets, resulting in failing to become “industry-ready” to meet 21-century industry challenges and to avoid this, industry’s participation in shaping the curriculum and learning modules of universities is more than essential.

In 2016, the unemployment rate in India accounted for 3.51% which is approximately 4.65 crore graduates. The root cause for such an inflated percentage is that the colleges impart knowledge not wisdom. Instead of learning critical life skills on how to manage money, how to negotiate, or how to communicate, students are mostly taught to memorize information. Indubitably, an investment in knowledge gives the best interest, but one cannot afford to neglect the critical industry skills. Most graduates believe that they are proficient in various areas of their careers whereas employers think otherwise. In an association survey of over 4000 graduating seniors and 200 employers, it was found that a high percentage of students indicated in almost every category they thought they were proficient, but the recruiters disagreed. The biggest difference was in professionalism and work ethic where almost 90 percent of the seniors thought they were competent but only about 43 percent of the employers agreed. Moreover, a huge divide was also noticed in Leadership skills where only 33 percent of the employers rated recent grades proficient in comparison with 70.5 percent of students who considered themselves the same. A report from another association that conducted a similar survey states that the three main areas where fewer than three in ten employers think that recent graduates are well prepared are - applying knowledge and skills in real-world settings, critical thinking skills, and written and oral communication skills.

Colleges should collaborate with industry professionals to match the learning modules with industry’s activities. Many colleges have aligned industry training subjects departing case studies on events and contingencies occurred in corporate. Building incubators in business schools can award students the experience of industries, in tandem with getting their own work done. Such beneficial university-industry link can diminish the gap between business schools and hiring industries. In today's age of globalization and technological volatility, skill building is an important instrument to increase the efficacy and quality of labor for improved productivity and economic growth. Skill building is a powerful tool to empower individuals and improve their social acceptance. Not only these, there are various other ‘skills that college doesn’t teach’ as stated in articles by Forbes, Business Insider, and many others. Amongst many are skills such as setting realistic career goals, prioritizing tasks and job opportunities, using feedbacks to make alterations, writing research papers for the workplace, teamwork, selling and negotiation and most importantly, relationship building. Dealing with people is the key to success in any business industry. It is astounding to see how much emphasis is laid on theories and other unnecessary things, whereas the point of focus should be on mastering the soft skills like dealing with clients. The theory might build a great knowledge base, but every single theory requires context. An experiment might teach you the rules to perform a certain thing but the thing that really matters is the interpretation by the end user and keeping in mind all the risks and real-world implications. Also, as far as theoretical education is concerned, most of the macroeconomics courses in the curriculum might sound intelligent but most of the theories based on monetary policies, inflation, and interest rates have been disproved in the past decade.

When a company is set to hire candidates for a certain job, they all showcase identical degrees which shrink the degree’s value. There comes a point when nobody cares about your potential and its high time colleges start focusing lesser on grades and more on skill sets. Grades have always distorted the perception of reality for every student. They turn our mindset to thoughts that every effort will be measurable, predictable and give a successful result, but the real world doesn’t work like that. Circumstantially, to put in a measured amount of work, compile an impressive resume, say all of the right things in the interview, and be turned down is something graduates aren’t prepared for.

Since business school curriculums are not providing appropriate courses that help nurture undergraduates in skills that they would require upon graduation and that the knowledge provided should be beyond bookish and theoretical knowledge, a narrowed-down conclusion comes up, that is, to align business school course content to initiatives and learning modules already used incorporates. Helping in shaping the curriculum would not only help in gaining the right knowledge and skill set but also prepare the students for what pre-requisites a firm may demand. This shall, in turn, create better-educated graduates and in all, increase personal as well as economic growth at the national level.