Recently I came across a news article in a reputed daily about a leading IT company having placed a mandate with some manpower firms to help them source non engineering candidates for IT roles. The mandate involves preliminary training of the candidates and subsequent placement.
I feel it’s a nice move.
My limited experience with engineering graduates*, from several engineering schools has mostly left me with a “not so great feeling”. Since, I don’t want to generalize this thought, we can easily exclude the students of top engineering schools, state run engineering schools and the established ones from the above observation.
The speed at which private engineering & management schools were set up in last two decades gives a picture that most of them were not there to leverage the opportunity presented by the huge talent requirements of Indian industry and business. It seemed that they were there to leverage the aspirational value of an engineering degree – aspirational value for the student, and his or her parents.
There is bound to be a difference, when you set up a school to address varying needs. If you are out to set up a school to solve the talent problem – over a period of time, you will definitely be able to create a education brand, and students who are capable and valued.
If you are out to set up a school, that sells degrees to quench the aspirational thirst, neither will you be able to create an education brand, nor will you ever be able to create capable students. This also impacts your schools brand & also creates dissatisfied recruiters.
Since, selling degrees can be easy money, there is bound to be a good deal of compromise on quality of intake, quality of faculty, quality of learning and thereby quality of output. In such a scenario, why will Industry value your engineering or management degree.
Great move, Indian businesses. If you have to spend heavily on training the graduates after their intake, why bother with the non capable graduates from the degree selling factories.
*similar feelings for a good number of MBA graduates.
© Praveen Mishra, 2013
Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.