Teamlease Services ltd, in association with Teamlease Skills University, recently released the findings of its research — Industry opportunity Based Vocational Course Design. The study highlights that the current voc-ed ecosystem hasn’t been very successful in creating adequate employable job seekers. More than 60% of the candidates and employers find vocational education (voc-edu) courses to be ineffective. Further, only 18% of the students undergoing voc-ed courses get jobs, of which merely 7% are formal jobs.
As per the study, primary reasons for the disconnect between vocational education and the industry is the absence of rich academic content, inadequate funding and negative perception about these courses. Another key issue is the lack of awareness for these courses and scope for continued learning. Moreover, voc-edu courses today do not have a structure for defined outcomes and therefore, tend to be ineffective. In fact, around 70% of the employers feel the quality of training provided by the vocational institutes is not up to the mark. Rather it is poor.
Around 72% of the corporates interviewed felt the employability was also considerably low in candidates who are from the vocational education stream. This discontent over the training process isn’t only been felt by the employers, even students (42%) also agree that the training quality is below par.
A majority of corporate (47%), as well as students (70%), believe the current voc-edu does not fulfill their business requirements and aspirations respectively. The study also found that the current system is also plagued with lack of awareness about the different aspects. While the industry (58%) had some knowledge, the candidates (76%) were unaware of most of the initiatives and courses offered by the vocational institutes. More than 80% candidates would rather pursue formal courses over voc-ed courses.