Hyderabad|India|October'2009: The Indian School of Integrated
Learning (ISIL), a Business Proficiency Skill Development School, has
shared the key findings of a study undertaken to understand the
employability needs of undergraduate students in the country. Along with
the report, ISIL has 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.
