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2017

77

Higher Education and Professional Graduates’


Employability Status – An Alarming Situation for India
Meenakshi Dhingra

India’s economy is acting as a knowledge power house delivering the professionally qualified and
knowledgeable human capital. In the phase of demographic dividend wherein larger share of population
is in the working age of 15-60 years with very less dependency ratio and every year ten million people
are being added to the workforce. Maximum proportion of manpower consists of youth and that too from
various professional and vocational disciplines. However, mere supply of manpower is not enough to meet
the demand for workforce. Quality of the human capital in terms of employability needs to be improved
rather than quantity of workforce or job opportunities. Employability of the students of professional
courses is grasping the attention of the entire nation including the government, policy makers, higher
education institutions, teachers, students as well as parents. With swiftly changing economic structure
and development in almost all the fields of knowledge or study, industry demands for well-equipped
and talented work force who cannot just work but could work more efficiently. Employers expect the
graduates entering their organisation to have in them the much needed human and behavioural skills in
addition to the core subject knowledge. Graduates completing their professional courses such as MBA,
Engineering, etc. are expected to exhibit a wide range of skills and abilities which could enable them to
get a deserving job position and would also help them to effectively contribute towards the success of
the organisation and society as a whole in addition to their personal growth and development.
Keywords: Employability, transferable skills, Indian economy, graduates

Introduction role in the development of a country or region


along with being the primitive factor of production.
The success and prosperity of any country and its The low rating of India (105) in the human capital
economic development is inherently linked to the index indicate the poor condition of human capital
quality of its human resource and their intellectual specifically education system in India.
capabilities. The present economy is subjugated
by ICT and knowledge-intensive companies that With the expansion of preference towards the
produce and use intangible products and ideas. professional and vocational courses in higher
Professional training and skills development as education in India, it is the need of the hour to
a part of personnel management, is extremely know and explore the skills that ensure smooth
valuable as it can deliver profitability at various transitioning of the professional students in the
levels for an enterprise (Vitouladiti, 2014). Generally, world of work and benefit them throughout their
the corporates visiting the colleges for campus careers. As Indian education system is skewed
placements explain that the students of professional towards examination, so it is perceived by most of
courses do not possess the requisite skills desirable the students, parents as well as university lecturers,
for professional world, which makes them that obtaining the degree with a high grade or
unemployable in several sectors of the corporate percentage is most important factor in getting a
industry. Various studies and news reported in good job in the professional world. However, the
different newspapers, put the concern that there reality is other way round. The students passing
is a scarcity of graduates with good technical and out from the universities/colleges do possess the
non-cognitive skills which are essential for the required essential qualifications and but they lack in
dynamic professional environment. In the present most required aspect for obtaining the employment
competitive world where firms are more focussed called “Employability skills”. Employability skills
on their core activities, employers abstain from are also called transferable skills because these
investing on the training of the employees or new skills are not specific to a particular job but can be
hires. However, they expect the higher education transferred to other jobs as well. These skills are
institutions to deliver “oven ready” graduates to be required in addition to the basic subject knowledge
placed effectively in the corporate workplace of the and technical skills necessary to perform the job.
globalised economy. Human capital has dominant Employability skills or general skills are related to
Research Scholar, Haryana School of Business, Guru Jambheshwar University of science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana.
78 Amity Global Business Review September

the attitude, nature, or behaviour of an individual, turn have accentuated the need for flexible firms
which helps not just to obtain the job but to sustain with multi skilled manpower who not only possess
the job effectively. the technical skills but also certain basic or general
skills. There are different views and opinions over
Higher education plays a pivotal role in developing the concept of employability in both theoretical
such skills among the graduates of professional and empirical terms. Van der Heijde and Van der
courses. The professional courses offered by higher Heijden (2006) described the term employability as
education could significantly contribute towards the career potential to acquire, justify the job and
bridging the skills gap and thus providing the labour work efficiently with the optimal use of capabilities,
market with highly qualified personnel which in both within or outside the present organization. This
turn can improve not only the firms’ turnover but definition supported the explanation given by Forrier
also the overall societal prosperity. Since India and Sels (2003) about the concept of employability
is in the stage of demographic dividend where who defined it as the opportunity for employment
the maximum proportion of Indian population is on the external or internal labour market. They
in the working age and there is very low level of characterized employability as the capability to
dependency ratio. For procuring the benefit of this gain and retain employment and ability to make
demographic dividend, the quality of human capital effective shifts or movements within or outside
has to be improved so that the human resource of the organization. Heijde and Heijden’s definition
Indian economy can respond effectively towards is also well aligned with definition provided by
the globalisation and growth in employment Fugate, Kinicki, and Asbfortb (2004). They defined
opportunities. Thus improving the employability employability as an ability to be adaptive towards
levels of the professional graduates entering the work related activities thereby enabling individuals
workplace is a matter of great concern for higher to identify and exploit the career opportunities
education system of Indian economy. available to them.

As per the Census 2011, the growth rate of A widespread array of definitions has been used
employment was only 1.8 per cent per annum on throughout the literature to illuminate the notion of
an average, when it was 7.7 per cent for economy employability. Employability refers to the capability
(Jaffrelot, 2016). This jobless growth is relatively to secure initial employment, sustain employment
significant in the recent past and is a matter of in a fulfilling manner and to avail new employment
big concern for the present Indian economy. The opportunity. More broadly, employability is
seriousness of the problem is also highlighted by the the personnel’s ability to effectively utilize their
Hon’ble President of India stating that the jobless knowledge, attitude and skills sufficiently within
growth is also triggering the social tension and the specific context and sustaining their own
unrest among the youth as witnessed in the form employment (Hillage and Pollard, 1998). This
of agitation for reservation in Gujarat and Haryana. definition of employability is criticised by Brown,
Presently, about 53% of employed youth suffer from Hesketh and Williams who stated that it has simply
some degree of skill deprivation which makes them snubbed the fact that capability to grab a job
unemployable (Kapil, 2014). opportunity is majorly dependent on the job market
conditions instead of capabilities of an individual.
Objectives Moreover, determining employability in terms of
1. To comprehend the notion of employability the employment rates of recent graduates ignores
and employability skills by reviewing available the various factors that encompass of the concept of
employability as the concept of employment does
literature.
not comprise the concept of employability. The
2. To highlight the present status of employability existing literature regarding employability confers
among Indian graduates. that it is related to the ability to get employment and
remain employed. It is the capability to obtain initial
Concept of Employability employment, therefore knowledge about working
A great attention and focus has been diverted culture, career counselling and identification of key
towards the concept of employability during the past competencies required at workplace are imbedded
few years. The internal and external environment in the education system (Berntson, 2008). So,
of the organisations are changing rapidly which in employability refers to the capability and willingness
2017 Dhingra
Meenakshi 79

of an individual to manage his own employment capabilities, talents, learning outcomes, abilities,
transitions within and outside the organisation in aptitude and attributes.
addition to gaining initial employment opportunity.
Employability skills or general skills are those
The concept of graduate employability is well essential capabilities of an individual that are
established by Knight and Yorke (2004) who required to enter the professional world of work
defined employability as a set of personal attributes, and they also help to sustain the job. While certain
understandings and achievements that raise the job-specific skills are essential to apply for a
probability of individuals to enter the professional particular job, however employers are also looking
world and be successful in their chosen careers. for some additional skills such as critical thinking
Further, they explained that employability is and analytical skills, effective communication
concerned with learning the right behaviour or skills, problem solving aptitude, presentation
attitude which benefits both citizenship and life skills, time management skills, team working etc.
as well. Graduate employability consists of the Modern employers examine and evaluate the
attributes, skills and knowledge which graduates employability levels of graduates, applying for the
must possess in order to enter the professional various job profiles in their organisations, on the
workplace, which can be developed and acquired basis of five major characteristics — communication
through individual efforts and supports of others and interpersonal skills, personal attributes,
(Holmes, 2013). professionalism, practical experiences and problem
solving ability, and attitude towards their career
Employability Skills (Su and Zhang, 2015). These skills and abilities are
As discussed above employability skills consists of missing in most of the graduate students, due to
such abilities which are essential for attaining and two important reasons. One is that the education
retaining the employment. Formerly, such skills system is more academic oriented and focuses
were treated to be associated mainly with job- more on bookish information or course content
specific activities and not to the overall performance instead of the practical application of the learned
of an individual at workplace and the academic concepts and theories. However, this scenario is
skills that were usually taught in the schools were gradually changing to bring an appropriate balance
never thought to include employability skills. between these two aspects. Secondly, there exists a
However, modern thinking has widened the sphere traditional belief in our Indian society that acquiring
of definition of employability skills to include a a degree is sufficient to get a job and the type of
variety of behaviours and attitudes in addition to degree is not the concern for most of the people.
the basic academic skills. Such skills are also known The degree students, while pursuing their degree
as transferable skills and include the ability to programme, hardly think about the additional
communicate effectively, exercise good interpersonal skills which must be acquired by them during their
skills, solve multidisciplinary problems and degree, to improve their chances of being employed
successfully work within team (Schmidt, 1999). The successfully in future. Employers very frequently
concept of Employability skills has been well defined refers employability to ‘work readiness’ or in other
by Coopers and Lybrand, 1998 who described the words, the ability to work efficiently at workplace
concept in terms of four significant skills set such and to contribute effectively towards organisational
as Key skills (presentation, communication, IT, mission and goals. Being employable means being
etc.), Knowledge of organisations and its culture, capable and ready to enter the world of work.
Traditional academic skills (logical reasoning Moreover, being equipped with the employability
and argument, critical evaluation) and Personal skills or work readiness skills would enhance the
attributes (motivation, self-reliance). It is very confidence level of an individual which in turn
difficult to conceptualise the term employability would encourage them to look for different career
skills as there are several alternative words available options and employment opportunities. This view is
which have been used to describe such skills like supported by Makki et al. (2015) who explored and
common skills, non-cognitive skills, key skills, core identified that the confidence level, called career
skills, generic skills, personal transferable skills, self-efficacy, of the students/graduates will be
employment related skills, and soft skills. Moreover, increased if they possess the essential work readiness
the term ‘skills’ creates a sense of confusion as it is skills before entering the professional workplace.
interchangeably used for the terms like competencies, Moreover, it was observed that after acquiring the
80 Amity Global Business Review September

required work readiness skills, the graduates will professional or vocational education as compared
feel empowered and will confidently explore the to general education. However, this expectation
available career opportunities. The study found is not being fulfilled because after completing
that career self-efficacy, career exploration and work the degree, students are not able to get the right
readiness skills are significantly interrelated. job with a decent salary package which could
justify their qualifications, skills and abilities. The
Present status of employability among Central and State governments are also concerned
the Indian graduates for unemployment; underemployment and low
Over the last few years, the preference towards incomes of the fresh graduates and implementing
professional courses has grown massively in India. various initiatives and policies for the unemployed
Large capacities have been built both in traditional youth and for improving their employability levels.
disciplines of study as well as in various upcoming
“Currently with one of the highest youth population in
fields of study which is very much evident from
the world. India faces its greatest opportunity as well
the results of the survey conducted by Ministry
as challenge. It is slated to become the world’s youngest
of Human Resource Development on Higher
nation by 2022, and this population bulge not only
Education. The survey reported that there are 799
provides for a huge reservoir of manpower, but also
Universities, 39071 colleges and 11923 Stand Alone
draws unprecedented focus towards making this talent
Institutions (AISHE report 2015-16). Even if there are
pool employable.” (CII, Peoplestrong and Wheebox,
increasing number of vocational institutions and job
2017). Thus, the general notion that higher the
opportunities emerging across sectors, still there is
education, higher the employment chance, is under
a huge dearth of quality talent in the job market on
idiocy. This also supports the survey findings by
Indian economy. With the considerable increase in
NDTV and The Hindu stated that around 50% of
the students’ enrolment in higher education, there
Indian graduates are unemployable. Institute for
is an urgent need to build and improve the capacity
Human Development (IHD) in association with the
and quality of education system, so that the higher
Indian Society of Labour Economics, has produced
education system could serve its actual purpose
India labour and employment report 2014. As per
of preparing the students for the world of work
this report in 2011-12, 45 lakh people out of 1.5 crore
(Aamodt et al., 2010). Employability of the young
who are completely unemployed were graduates
professional graduates is a severer problem than
or more qualified which accounts to almost 30%
the problem of unemployment in India. Employers
of unemployed population. However, in 2004-05
believe that the quality of the graduates supplied
this percentage was 21% (TOI, 2014). Looking at
by the higher education institutions need a lots of
the present situation of graduate unemployability,
improvement. Institutions providing vocational and
it could be predicted that we would be in terrible
professional education are not able to provide value
situation by the year 2026 when 64.8% of our
adding human resource to the corporate industry
population would be in working age.
due the prevailing hitches such as less qualified
teaching staff, inappropriate course content, Recently, as per the data of AICTE, it was found
traditional curriculum and ineffective system of that there are only 6.96 lakh students who got the
evaluation. The existing types of skills and abilities jobs through placements out of 15.87 lakh students
which are being delivered at the universities or from 10,328 technical institutions. Lack of desired
colleges are mismatched with those demanded abilities and skills among graduates and sinking
and expected in the professional workplace. The demand in the industry have been highlighted as
future managers, engineers, architects and other the critical reasons for the low employability levels
professionals which are entering the labour market (Indian Express, July 26, 2017). The International
every year are expected to possess the ability to consultants Ernst & Young, produced a report for
work efficiently for retaining high performance the FICCI on Higher Education in India: Vision 2030
standards for bringing the economy towards a and identified that there is a skill gap among certain
higher trajectory of growth. The perception of the sectors such as - 50% in banking and insurance,
society is that there is an employment assurance 55% in manufacturing, 55% in healthcare and 75%
for the students completing the professional degree of IT graduates are found unemployable (Mishra,
programme from reputed universities and colleges 2016). The employability levels throughout various
offering such courses. This belief of society is disciplines/ streams in recent few years are shown
the core reason behind the preference towards
2017 Dhingra
Meenakshi 81

below which states that employability among Agility, Self-determination, Conflict resolution etc.
graduates of professional courses (Engineering, apart from the domain knowledge to get into the
MBA, MCA, B.Sc, IT., B.Pharma) is in the declining professional work place. A study was conducted by
phase which is again a matter of serious concern Aspiring Minds, a New Delhi-based employment
for the Indian government as this situation is in solutions company, on employability of engineering
existence after the prevailing skill India project and students who graduated in 2015. The study found
several government initiatives for improving the that only 3.84% of graduating engineers qualify for
employability of the young graduates in India. an initial technology role (National Employability
Report, 2016). Similarly, a study conducted by
Table 2. Employability rate of professional ASSOCHAM on management graduates of India
graduates in recent years indicated that around 93% of MBA graduates are
unemployable (India Today, July 2016). This raises
Discipline/ Year
Stream the serious matter of concern for the institutions
2013 2014 2015 2016 offering technical/vocational education.
Engineering 51.74% 54.00% 52.58% 50.69%
MBA 41.02% 43.99% 44.56% 42.28% Today India is facing a dual challenge at both
BA 19.10% 29.82% 27.11% 35.66%
demand and supply side wherein on one hand,
there is scarcity of highly trained labour and on
Bcom 26.99% 26.45% 20.58% 37.98%
other hand, non-employment of educated youth
B.Sc 41.66% 38.41% 35.24% 31.76% due to lack of employability skills. The demand
MCA 43.62% 45.00% 39.81% 31.36% and supply misalignment created a wide skill gap
IT 46.92% 44.00% 40.90% 42.22% since there are more people than available jobs at
low skills level and few people available at high
Polytechnic 11.53% 10.14% 15.89% 25.77%
skills level jobs (Agarwal, 2016). It was also found
B.Pharma 54.65% 56.00% 40.62% 42.30% that students consider the technical skills more
Source: India Skills report 2014 and 2017 important, however for employers personal and
behavioural attributes are more important (Chithra,
The table 2 shows various domain specific 2013). India and many other developing nations are
employability levels for last four years (2013, currently facing the limited availability of human
2014, 2015 and 2016). It can be observed from the intellectual capital as needed to manage and
above table that B.Tech/B.E. graduates had highest sustain the rapid economic growth of the nation.
percentage of employability. Though there is a Thereby, a vast skill gap is prevailing in the Indian
slight drop in their overall percentage, however the labour market. As per the recent study conducted it
engineering graduates still display characteristics of was found that higher education contributes to the
an employable population. The employability level development of only Scientific competencies with
of MCA, B.Sc and polytechnic graduates is lowest. least contribution to the development of practical,
Employability percentage of B.Tech, MBA, IT and transversal, or career competencies (Monteiro et.
B.Pharma graduates is comparatively high because al., 2016).
these courses have interactions with corporates in
the form of corporate projects or internships. The Thus, most of the fresh graduates passing out from the
employability percentage of engineering, MBA, IT, vocational and professional institutions and colleges
MCA, B.Pharma and B.Sc graduates has increased to possess just the technical or subject knowledge skills
small extent in the past few years, however now their (also known as hard skills), however they are not
employability levels are declining gradually. The considered employable by the corporate industry as
minor drop in the employability rates may be due they do not possess the required soft skills or general
to lack of employability skills and other soft skills skills (employability skills) which are needed in the
among the graduates which are required to obtain professional work place.
and sustain the employment as employers prefer the
fresh entrants to possess certain additional skills such Government Initiatives
as Computer skills, Communication skills, Critical
Indian government are taking serious steps to
thinking, Numerical & Logical aptitude and certain
overcome the problem of skill gap among students
behavioural qualities like Emotional intelligence,
of professional courses  for availing the benefits
Adaptability, Interpersonal skills, Learning
which could be derived during the stage of
82 Amity Global Business Review September

demographic dividend and protect the economy is satisfying the diversified and heterogeneous
to enter the phase to demographic disaster. With expectations of the youth for information on
the vision improving the graduate employability education, training and employment. Moreover, this
and not just the employment opportunities, several initiative is helping the youth to make a right career
initiatives have been taken or are being taken by the choice and plan their future accordingly.
government to fill the gap between academia and
the industry.
3. Model Career Centres
1. National Apprenticeship Training Scheme The government of India has started Model career
(NATS)  centres throughout the country in order to link the
For improving the employability status job seekers with their potential employers and skill
and capabilities of the freshers or recent providers. It is somewhat different from portals such
graduates entering the world of work, the government as naukri.com or monster.com, as the government
of India has launched one national scheme, namely is providing counselling to the applicants through
National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS), online platforms and mobile phones. Model career
centres portal is being managed by Directorate
for providing skill training to the recent graduates General of Employment and Training, Ministry of
and diploma holders in Engineering and Technology Labour and employment. This initiative is quite
entering the corporate sphere. It has helped many different from other similar services in the sense that
fresh graduates as this initiative gave them a chance some due-diligence is done by the government itself
to experience the practical application of the acquired about the employers.
knowledge or information and to get employment
easily. Ministry of Human Resource Development, 4. Vocationalization of school and higher education
Government of India introduced and implemented Ministry of Skill Development has initiated the
this scheme. scheme of vocationalizing the school and higher
education system of India. Under this scheme the
2.  National Career Services training modules are prepared and conducted
NCS is an online portal somewhat similar to in synchronization with National Occupational
traditional employment exchange, providing Standards set up by NSDC via its Sector Skill
online information and services regarding skill Councils(SSC).
development, vacancies, internships, apprenticeship
5. Three mandatory internships for engineering
schemes, prospective candidates’ data, career
graduates
counselling, aptitude and skill testing, guidance,
capacity building training, resume building, mock The Ministry of HRD has made it mandatory
interviews etc. This portal is helpful for employers for all the engineering students to undergo three
and recent graduates seeking jobs, unemployed compulsory summer internships each with the time
candidates, working youth, illiterate or under- span of four to eight weeks, prior to obtaining the
privileged sections of society and many others in the degree. This initiative of the HRD ministry is aimed
labour market. Various other employment related at improving the skills required before entering
services are being provided through this portal the industry. Even the lecturers/teachers of the
such as capacity building and training, personal engineering colleges have been directed to undergo
interaction for career guidance and counselling, mandatory refresher course periodically, to ensure
resume building and mock interviews, skill/aptitude that the teachers are well versed with the changing
assessment, social media interface, interaction with scenario and development in their respective
private placement agencies, etc. which run with the subjects (Indian Express).
assistance of helpdesk service and CSC (Common
Service Centres). NCS portal provide important Future prospects of graduate employability in India
information from multiple other sources and schemes Globalisation and economic growth has exerted
for the placement and employment generation. The huge pressure on the human resource capital to
portal can be accessed by individual users at their contribute effectively in the development of the
own convenience or through multiple access points country. Now the concern for the nation is not
like CSC (Common Service Centres). This scheme just increasing employment opportunities, but also
2017 Dhingra
Meenakshi 83

enhancing employability of the youth entering of the nation is an essential area to look forward
the labour market. Improving employability and work upon. Employability skills such as team
definitely puts a pressure on the higher education working skills, time management, interpersonal
system especially on lecturers, thus the quality of skills, communication skills, problem solving and
university lecturers/teachers needs to improve first critical thinking skills, analytical skills etc. are not
before improving the quality of the youth of the taught or developed as a special curriculum in our
nation. Annual refresher-cum-training courses for present education system. Such skills need to be
university or college lecturers/teachers should be developed and learned over the time. However,
made mandatory in all professional courses and in most of the graduate students fail in developing and
all the colleges or universities. Changes in the level acquiring such skills even during the period of their
of employability of the recent graduates could be higher education. Now days these skills are being
seen if students are also willing to acquire and learn taught in the form of soft skills or job-ready skills
the skills which could improve their employability. by various professional institutions and colleges.
Students also need to put in their efforts to synthesize Acquiring such skills is a continuing process and
the required skills which could prepare them to starting it early would definitely provide an edge
enter the world of work amicably and enjoy healthy over others in this race of employment of the best.
survival. This could be achieved if their awareness Employability skills are not just required to grab
regarding employability skills and its importance in the job opportunity but also help the individual to
the professional workplace could be raised. Apart sustain that job efficiently. However, the current
from faculty and students, government also need to status of the employability of the graduates of
focus on enhancing the employability of students professional courses especially engineering and
of professional courses by framing certain course management graduates, is poor and is getting
specific rules or policies pertaining to the skill worsened gradually. This creates an alarming
development and employability enhancement of situation for the government or for the policy
graduates of various professional courses. makers to concentrate upon. Though government
is taking certain serious initiatives in this direction,
Limitations however for improving the condition of labour
This study is based on the secondary data only, market and graduate employability, its effective
collected from various reports and websites and implementation and regulation has to be ensured.
the empirical data has not been taken into the
consideration. Moreover, the emphasis has been References
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