Engineering degree holders are everywhere, but very few are capable and employable! Imagine being stranded on a ship at sea with no fresh water, there is ‘water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink’. Similarly, the flourishing ‘education industry’ is generating many graduates, but very few are employable.
Imagine being stranded on a ship at sea with no fresh water, there is ‘water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink’. Similarly, the flourishing ‘education industry’ is generating many graduates, but very few are employable.
Universities that offer professional degrees have grown like weeds. Weeds grow rapidly and add to the vegetation. They look good. However, just as weeds hamper the growth of crops, many of these private vocational colleges have prevented a solid educational foundation for the youth of Andhra Pradesh.
Last year, around 1.8 lakh engineering and MCA students completed their education. Not even a small fraction of them have jobs. The job market is so disappointing that many students simply stopped looking for work. Recent graduates no longer enroll in computer courses that allow them to get jobs. Computer training institutes don’t see enough people sign up.
When someone does engineering or MCA it’s a one-way street. You can’t really go from that field to another field. Honestly, how many pharmaceutical companies will hire a BTech civil engineer as a pharmaceutical salesperson? Or how many retail companies will hire BE (Computers) as a Customer Service officer. However, if the same person had completed a BA or BCom, he would have no problem with either a pharmaceutical sales job or a retail customer service job. A couple of years later, they can always do an MBA or MCA and change their careers and be productive and responsible members of society.
Over the last decade, with the increase in engineering positions from 4,000 to about Rs 2 lakhs, all Yelliah, Mallama and Ramulu can get a position in Engineering. The student and the family feel very good, as they felt with those who graduated last year. I am doing Engineering or my son will be an Engineer. A parent might have thought: my child’s life will be ‘fixed’. Well that was until last year!
The quality of education and talent levels of those admitted are so low for 98% of all these engineering students that they may be doomed to a life of misery. Your career prospects or chance of a high paying professional job is no better than someone who gets a degree in Unani Medicine or Ayurveda from some unrecognized institute.
The Satyam Saga may ultimately affect a few thousand families, that too only temporarily! However, the epidemic growth of colleges and universities has destroyed or will destroy the future of thousands of low- and middle-income families. There are so many of them who have taken loans, sold possessions and made many sacrifices in the hope that their children will be well settled.
Today, the employability of their children is a question mark. However, to obtain those titles, they borrowed thousands of rupees. The prospect of children paying off loans with a well-paying job is not very promising. Not for this year, but for a long time to come.
With thousands of low-quality students admitted to professional courses, there is a possibility that the current educational policy has destroyed the future of an entire generation that could have been better off with ITI/Polytechnic diplomas or a regular BA, BSc, BCom degree. Such titles could have helped them find honest and stable technician or service jobs that would have been a better match for their skills.
The only good thing about the current recession is that it may force many parents to think long and hard before admitting their ‘not-so-bright kid’ to a low-quality university that offers a professional degree. A degree from such a university has little value in the job market. Even NASSCOM publicly admits that only 25% of engineering graduates are employable! That was a few years ago, before the big surge of new professional engineering colleges.