Mind It

The British Council, UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, recently launched the India Employability Survey 2014. This report probes the quality of talent pools expected by Indian industry in the next three to five years and in that context, assesses current employability of workforces emerging from foreign, and specifically, UK universities.

The research surveyed 200 foreign and Indian companies on ascertaining the attractiveness of Indian and foreign university graduates for employers on various parameters such as skill-set, availability and quality of talent pool and other parameters. The research captures the hiring trends, defining factors for recruitment of foreign-university graduates, preferred source countries, qualifications and disciplines of study.

• 51 per cent of companies hire only from the top-20 Indian institutions, and less than a quarter of these firms hire only from the top-10 in any discipline
• From among those who hire foreign graduates, over 60 per cent of companies hire only from the global top-50 universities, of which close to a third hire only from the world’s ten best institutions
• A very-substantial proportion, 41 per cent of all companies have hired at least one foreign-university graduate in the last two years
• Far more graduates from foreign universities (39 per cent) are deemed better prepared for the job, than those from Indian universities and require lesser extensive training (14 per cent)
• Sector-wise, consumer goods (60 per cent), services (52.2 per cent) and infrastructure, telecom and energy (50 per cent) firms are the most likely to have hired at least one candidate with a foreign degree
• Industrial (34.5 per cent) and IT (35.7 per cent) companies are the least likely to have done so, though their overall percentages are still quite high
• 41.6 per cent of firms rank American universities as either their top or their second choice, while 25.8 per cent do so for universities in the UK. Germany is a third, with 6.9 per cent of firms ranking it as one of their top two choices.

The survey highlights that an internship programme is considered an important criteria for entry into jobs. Subject-knowledge related to the job is the most important skill followed by communication skills, the ability to apply one’s knowledge to solve real-world issues, and critical thinking skills. Inter-personal skills, the ability to work with diverse groups were followed by leadership experience and the ability or willingness to work hard lower down the order. The ability or willingness to work hard is an additional strength for graduates from India.