Lay more stress on Soft Skills than Domain Knowledge, Say Indian College Goers
The Indian School of Integrated Learning (ISIL), a Business Proficiency Skill Development School, today shared the key findings of a study undertaken to understand the employability needs of undergraduate students in the country.
-- The Indian School of Integrated Learning (ISIL), a Business Proficiency Skill Development School, today shared the key findings of a study undertaken to understand the employability needs of undergraduate students in the country. Along with the report, ISIL today also announced the launch of the first-ever ‘Education Module’ focusing on employability skills.
Key Findings of the Study
- Around 46% students said that 70:30 should be the ideal course mix ratio of Soft Skills (presentation skills, communication skills, etc) to Domain Knowledge; there-by highlighting the fact that undergraduates want educational institutes to teach them more business proficiency skills.
- Only around 15% of the students surveyed were undergoing some additional courses. Within this, majority of students (66%) chose to learn computer basics (39%) and programming (27%) rather than opting for soft skills training, there-by increasing their dependence on educational institutions to impart business proficiency skills training.
- Around 66% students said that internship is a must at all colleges to help them become “job ready”.
- More than 60% college-goers interviewed said they preferred business proficiency courses to be part-time (26%) and within that, 35% wanted it to be on weekends.
- Students rated themselves a little lower on most job skills as compared to it’s importance – especially Communication & Presentation skills, and Education and Domain Knowledge.
- In New Delhi, relevant presentation skills and domain knowledge were considered more important to bag good jobs while Mumbai gave precedence to attitude and personality over the rest.
- Bangalore considered all skills much more important as compared to other centres, giving thumbs up to relevant domain knowledge.
ISIL, which has collaborated with Speak First of UK, aims to nurture and empower today’s youth with domain knowledge, by sharpening their soft skills. ISIL plans to impart these soft skill lessons to the young Indians at its four fully equipped training centers, enhanced with the wi-fi technology at Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
ISIL commissioned leading business research and consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan to conduct this study across 20 colleges in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru covering 1000 students. The surprising results show that over 40% of the students have given more importance to Employability skills over domain knowledge. The study states that Indians undoubtedly are very competent in their technical skills, but this does not suffice anymore to make them globally competitive. Hence, Indian companies today are emphasizing the importance of soft skills training.
Commenting on the study and the new courses launched, Mr Vijay Moza, Chairman of ISIL said, “The times ahead are very challenging as the global job market is undergoing dramatic changes. Companies today want candidates to be more proactive rather than reactive, and expect graduates to use their soft skills to facilitate innovative teamwork. At ISIL we transform the people who in turn can transform their workplace.”
Amanda Vickers, Managing Director of ‘Speak First’ says, “Today majority of the companies look for fresh graduates who are trained up in industry culture and well-versed with soft skills and communication skills, along with the industry knowledge. This in turn also helps them save on time training their resources. India is a vibrant country brimming with potential. We are delighted to be involved with helping young minds develop much needed soft skills through our alliance with ISIL.”
Using the proven training methods of Speak First, ISIL will be offering the necessary employable skills to the students through their one-year Advanced Diploma Course and another four-month Certificate Course both in Business Proficiency Skills.
Students will be trained in topics such as effective communication, presentation skills, personal impact training, media skills, interviewing techniques, cultural awareness and many more soft skills solutions, which have already been tried and tested across the globe.
Notes to Editor
For more details on ISIL, please visitwww.isil.in