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Employers in India believe foreign university graduates have better technical skills for jobs, according to the India Employability report unveiled by The British Council. 

 

The research surveyed 200 foreign and Indian companies on ascertaining the attractiveness of Indian and foreign university graduates for jobs on parameters such as skill-sets, availability and quality of talent pool. It revealed that 39 per cent of the respondents deemed far more graduates from foreign universities as better prepared for the job than those from Indian universities, perceiving them to require lesser extensive training, according to 14 per cent of employers.

 

Rob Lynes, director of the British Council spoke to Anumeha Chaturvedi about the findings.

 

Please explain the key findings.

 

This report is looking at employability of Indians in general. It is about what young people need to do to get jobs. The report looked at particularly those who studied in India or overseas and tried to assess whether the latter have an added advantage. With 200 respondents, it′s not a huge corpus to look at, but what the report does say is that some employers feel those who have studied overseas are better prepared for the job market. And this could be attributed to exposure, critical thinking abilities and better understanding of business concepts. These were employers who hired students with overseas experience. I guess it doesn′t make them better employees but gives them something extra. Even in the UK, we encourage people to get some exposure overseas. This is the first time we have looked at elements like employability in context of the Indian market.

 

What are the concerns regarding overseas education?

 

Higher education is becoming more transactional in nature. There are various courses and campuses education programmes and we hope that in future, there are more opportunities for such programmes for UK universities in India, so students don′t have to go overseas for foreign education. At the moment, it′s difficult in India. Massive Open Online Courses is another area if institutions have to reach out to large numbers. But, the catch there is quality. How do institutions accredit and certify certain courses? These are challenges institutions are going to face. 

 

How are training interventions for institutions and companies panning out in India? 

 

Soft skills are critical communication presentation skills, and these are essential for any job. Students may be academically brilliant but if you cannot communicate and engage you′ll find it difficult to survive. The British Council works broadly with 12 states in India. We train the trainers to teach language. We′ve had tie-ups with companies and higher institutions looking at soft skills training. There is a demand for that in India.