BENGALURU: Attrition by students who join jobs through campus placement has been a major concern in the academia and industry, and this is owed to the lack of understanding of the ethos of the company or the role that the candidate is expected to play.
Expounding on this on Saturday, education experts at an NEP conclave organised by the International Skill Development Corporation believed the solution was to get out of the 'seasonal placement' nightmare that industries and academia face, and also have time to time interaction and internships.
Kavitha Gowda, DGM, Karnataka Skill Development Corporation too agreed that attrition rates are high and students claim that they do not like a certain job role or they find it difficult despite studying the course that would land them that job. "Students join colleges without even knowing what jobs they are supposed to do," she added.
Students do not know what it means to enter the working world -- accountability, responsibility, being answerable to a boss and many are not able to adapt to that discipline, said Anuradha Varma, global learning business partner, EY GDS.
Sameera Fernandes, director of Ecosol Global which works with internationalisation of higher education in India said differential internships would make a difference where students can from the early years , first semester itself can experience and explore various job roles so they know what they would like to pursue and the difference to the academic curriculum. This would rid them of the tag of freshers, and would give students a chance to experience six different companies (one in each semester) by the time they graduate. At the same time, drastically reduce the training cost for companies.
Another requirement in colleges would be the assigning of mentors who would career coach students from the time they get into college.
K K Ramachandran, director of GRD Group of Institutions, Coimbatore believed the focus must be on finding strengths of students rather than focussing on fixing weaknesses. The Indian Education system works in such a way to find out the weakness of the students, he added.
He believed that when the current generation (Z) that is in college retires 50 years down the line, they would have switched five careers -- this digital generation is seeking a job relevant to them and to know what they will give to the job. About the restless generation, he adds.
The Indian Education system works in such a way to find out the weakness of the students, he added, Every student needs a career development programme, they are counselled, made aware of their strength and then guided to the careers that they will be good at and comfortable with.