Background
Fast growth of engineering schools but poor employability of graduates
While engineering education in India has a long history, it has assumed critical significance on the global scenario only in the last few decades. Today, it boasts of about 3400 engineering colleges that are churning out 1.5 million graduates every year. However, various industrial bodies complain that these graduates are not able to meet their requirements. NASSCOM-McKinsey report (2011) has pegged the employability number at 25 %whereas Aspiring Minds' National Employability Report (2013) estimates it to be merely 17 %. The latter study had analyzed 55,000 IT and computer engineering students from 250 colleges across the country. According to a survey done by the World Bank and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), 64% of employers are “somewhat”, “not very”, or “not at all” satisfied with the quality of the engineering graduates they hire. As per planning commission study, the employability of engineering graduates in India is 17.5 % while that in Malaysia is 27% and in the US 76 % (Global Employability List 2012) This poses grave concern not only at national level but also at the international level as many developed countries are looking up to India to fulfill their requirements of engineering graduates to a good extent.
Need to have ability to innovate
One of the most critical competencies required in the graduates is "the ability to innovate". The current Indian engineering education system appears to inhibit the competency. Till the recent past, the Indian industry, especially the manufacturing sector, was driven by imports and offered mainly production, support and maintenance jobs. The academia was playing to the requirement and not nurturing problem solvers and knowledge creators and neglected both application-oriented and fundamental research. This is reflected in producing just 1000 PhDs per year as against 3500 in the US – even when the US has only 10% of engineering graduates as that of India. Another reflection is in dismal number of patents. India ranks 17th with 5170 patents while Japan and US are well above 200,000 mark(Patents, 2013). China is not far behind them and South Korea is touching the 100,000 mark. Indian education system has to do a lot of catching up so that India can leverage their demographic dividend and not face demographic disaster.
Drivers for selection of Entrepreneurship career path
The students in the past did not choose to become entrepreneurs immediately after completing the engineering degree education. But now in the new environment many would choose to become entrepreneurs very early, immediately after or even during their education. The reasons for this change are:
Fast growth of engineering schools but poor employability of graduates
While engineering education in India has a long history, it has assumed critical significance on the global scenario only in the last few decades. Today, it boasts of about 3400 engineering colleges that are churning out 1.5 million graduates every year. However, various industrial bodies complain that these graduates are not able to meet their requirements. NASSCOM-McKinsey report (2011) has pegged the employability number at 25 %whereas Aspiring Minds' National Employability Report (2013) estimates it to be merely 17 %. The latter study had analyzed 55,000 IT and computer engineering students from 250 colleges across the country. According to a survey done by the World Bank and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), 64% of employers are “somewhat”, “not very”, or “not at all” satisfied with the quality of the engineering graduates they hire. As per planning commission study, the employability of engineering graduates in India is 17.5 % while that in Malaysia is 27% and in the US 76 % (Global Employability List 2012) This poses grave concern not only at national level but also at the international level as many developed countries are looking up to India to fulfill their requirements of engineering graduates to a good extent.
Need to have ability to innovate
One of the most critical competencies required in the graduates is "the ability to innovate". The current Indian engineering education system appears to inhibit the competency. Till the recent past, the Indian industry, especially the manufacturing sector, was driven by imports and offered mainly production, support and maintenance jobs. The academia was playing to the requirement and not nurturing problem solvers and knowledge creators and neglected both application-oriented and fundamental research. This is reflected in producing just 1000 PhDs per year as against 3500 in the US – even when the US has only 10% of engineering graduates as that of India. Another reflection is in dismal number of patents. India ranks 17th with 5170 patents while Japan and US are well above 200,000 mark(Patents, 2013). China is not far behind them and South Korea is touching the 100,000 mark. Indian education system has to do a lot of catching up so that India can leverage their demographic dividend and not face demographic disaster.
Drivers for selection of Entrepreneurship career path
The students in the past did not choose to become entrepreneurs immediately after completing the engineering degree education. But now in the new environment many would choose to become entrepreneurs very early, immediately after or even during their education. The reasons for this change are:
- Secured, steady well paid employment opportunities immediately after the engineering degree have reduced in comparison with past decade
- Starting a new enterprise during or immediately after the engineering degree is becoming a feasible option, specially for those who have the passion required and willing to work hard. The proliferation of internet, low capital required for start up, ease of raising capital, ease of identifying and connecting up with partners/promoters etc. are making the dreams of starting new enterprises lot more feasible.
- Government and social/philanthropic organizations are providing high quality training, mentoring, consulting and financial support for new entrepreneurs. Banks and Angel/Venture capital is becoming accessible for good ideas even for student proposals.
National economic priority for promotion of entrepreneurship
Worldwide there is recognition of strong need of increased entrepreneurship for sustaining economic growth. This has prompted the government and non-government national leadership to invest substantial money and efforts to support new entrepreneurs. This effort and money has trickled down to educational institutes as well for starting entrepreneurship accelerator programs and training/mentoring initiatives.
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