education

Updated: Aug 31, 2017 12:34 IST

New Delhi Students with international exposure are preferred for jobs in India than students who have studied in their own country, a survey capturing the impact of career and college counselling has revealed.

Conducted in support with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) across India and other strategic locations of the world, the survey was announced on Wednesday at the International Career and College Counselling (IC3) Conference hosted at JW Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi. It includes opinions of high schools and counsellors, students, universities and global academic institutions and industry leaders.

“As the survey insights state, Indian students have not been able to gain preference in comparison to the overseas students due to lack of exposure and right counselling at the right age. We really need to step up the counselling practices in India to help them gain the desired position in the international markets,” said Ganesh Kohli, IC3 conference chair, president and chief mentor, KIC UnivAssist.

The survey said 56% of universities feel that high schools need to play a bigger role in the smooth transition of students to universities.

A whopping 98% of universities also feel that more information and counselling at the school level would better prepare students for university/college.

Fifty eight per cent of universities’ prime focus area while interacting with high-schools is “relationship-building/engagement” and 41% of universities admit that their focus area is mainly “student recruitment.”

Despite recent political shifts in different countries, 31% of universities have observed marginal increase (nearly 3-9%) in their international student enrolment this year and 45% of them feel it is the same as last year

Thirty five per cent of pupils prefer their parents as a key source in terms of college selection - followed by Internet at 33%

Forty six per cent of educators feel that students and parents are very stressed about career-related decisions.

Even today, students prefer opting for traditional courses as the career and college counselling practices in India are still not at par with international standards. This is majorly due to lack of awareness and opportunities that the vocational courses offer in comparison to conventional following. About 40% students say they prefer safer subject options such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, followed by 22% opting for arts, entertainment and sports. About 1% choose business and finance, and 17% health and medicine.

Some of the recent trends illustrate growing eminence of technology in the field of career counselling and 38% of students have reported that their counsellor uses some form of technology to guide them.

Also, the global political issues and complexities don’t seem to stop the aspirations of the students, as per the survey insights. The student enrolment has gone up in the international markets with 45% students preferring US as their study-abroad destination, followed by 14% for Canada, 13% for UK, 10 % for Australia, 8% for South East Asia and 7% for Europe.

“In today’s digital world transition of a student from college to career must be developed on the basis of individual interest. Industry today is looking at engaging with students through structured seminars and forums to equip them with a complete know-how of different career options,” said Shobha Mishra Ghosh, assistant secretary general-FICCI.