A Study on Employability in core areas among Engineering Students

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study on Employability in core areas among
engineering students perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates in engineering.
The main objectives is to find how many engineering students are getting employment in their
core area students concerning their own skills, knowledge and characteristics which help them
to be employable; to explore the students perception of the targeted job to identify the
employability skills followed by the employers in the recruitment process and in the next
period, right after hiring to assess whether there are differences in the perception regarding the
motivating factors at the workplace, between employers and students. In order to explore issues
to objectives, interviews with students, young graduates of technical degree programs provided
by the University and employers were conducted. The focus was on exploring their opinions
regarding the strengths and weaknesses of graduates during the interview or in the next period,
right after hiring. The employer’s opinion concerning the facilities offered to graduates and
young employees revealed the nature of their partnership with the higher education institution,
in order to promote employability. The research findings were used for identifying and
choosing the best useful tools and developing specific materials that support the work of
counselling to career planning for students in the target group.

Keywords: Employability skills; employers’ expectations; work environment; assignment;

wages; work program.

I. INTRODUCTION
Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits
of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training,
or research. It frequently takes place under the guidance of others or may also be autodidactic.
Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be
considered educational. It is really a means to discover new things which we don't know about
and increase our knowledge. Education is also regarded as one that contributes to social,
political and cultural and economic transformation of a country. The social sector of a country,
namely, health, rural development, education and employment generation has assumed great
significance in the new economic regime. The prosperity of any nation is intrinsically linked
to its human resources.
 Over 2 lakh students pass out every year from various engineering colleges in
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. But, only 18% of them land jobs immediately. The fact is that
most of the engineering graduates lack several skills that make them employable. This is what
exactly many colleges are trying to tackle. This year 2018, employability score has taken a big
leap as compared to 2017. Since 2014, overall employability among graduates has risen from
34% to 46% a high jump of more than 35%.

A. Objectives of the study:

1. To find how many engineering students are getting employment in their core
area.
2. To study the major influencing factors for employability among engineering
students.
3. To find reasons for students are lacking employment in their core area.
B. Need of the study:
1. Employability among engineering students are lacking in their core area because there
is no development in teaching skills.
2. To identify the factors and reasons for lacking of their employability among engineering
students.
3. To encourage internship programs and project based learning.
4. To identify importance and involvement of academicians in enhancing employability
among engineering students.
5. To reduce the gap between graduate readiness and employability.

C. Scope of the study:

1. For improving the employability skills a study must be done and make frame work.
2. The participation of faculty and students may be identified for the improvement of
curriculum.
3. The implementation of certain new teaching methodologies must be made from
academic curriculum.

D. Limitations of the study:

1. The key limitation of this study is that it mainly focused on the secondary data.
2. It is mainly focused on the graduates engineering students.
 3. No usage of primary data in this study.
4. The study of these graduates who met the requirements from past 5 years and
awarded their degree.

II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology:
The study is based on secondary sources. The information is collected from Aspiring minds,
journals, Articles.
Here research type is Descriptive 5 year’s data have been collected to understand the
employability among engineering students.

Data Collection:
Secondary Data:
Secondary data was collected from different news journals in order to understand the
quality of Engineers being graduated.
The different secondary sources are:
1. Journals
2. Newspaper
3. Aspiring minds journals
4. National employability report
5. Articles

III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

SINGH & KAUR (2018) he explained in his study that he identified the reasons for shortage
of skills and he determined how to deal with skill gap in order to get employability.
ANSARI AND KHAN (2018) he explained in his study that “Role of Education and
Skill Development to Promote Employment in India”. He analyzed and highlight the status of
contemporary education with respect to skill development and to provide some suggestions
based on the observations and analysis of the study.

A. Analysis:
The data was classified and tabulated on the basis of demographic factor.
Objective 1:
To find how many engineering students are getting employment in their core area.
I. Based on Gender

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Male 33.3 34.26 36.01 40.12 26.87

Female 42.1 37.88 39.95 40.88 36.15

As per Gender

42.1
45 39.95 40.1240.88
37.88
40 36.01 36.15
33.3 34.26
35
30 26.87

25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5
Male 33.3 34.26 36.01 40.12 26.87
Female 42.1 37.88 39.95 40.88 36.15

Male Female

ii. Based on Branch of study

Branch 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

ECE 39 37.1 46.46 55 60.3
CSE 47.5 42.02 59.3 58 60
EEE 39 43.1 57.75 49 60
MECH 46 26.12 41.24 45 52
IT 47.5 45.8 59.2 69 61
CIVIL 46 22.9 39.5 35 50
 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ECE CSE EEE MECH IT CIVIL
2014 39 47.5 39 46 47.5 46
2015 37.1 42.02 43.1 26.12 45.8 22.9
2016 46.46 59.3 57.75 41.24 59.2 39.5
2017 55 58 49 45 69 35
2018 60.3 60 60 52 61 50

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

iii. Based on Region:

NEW DELHI REGION:

Branch 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

ECE 52 55 60 66 75
CSE 75 77 65 50 60
EEE 53 55 46 50 55
MECH 39 45 49 59 63
IT 35 38 45 50 54
CIVIL 34 36 45 50 56

NEW DELHI REGION

100

80

60

40

20

0
CSE IT ECE EEE MECH CIVIL

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

BANGALORE REGION

Branch 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

ECE 60 59 60 62 76
CSE 55 56 65 68 60
EEE 53 56 46 50 55
MECH 38 45 49 59 65
IT 32 38 45 55 58
CIVIL 56 60 45 50 56

BANGALORE REGION
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
CSE IT ECE EEE MECH CIVIL

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

MUMBAI REGION

Branch 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

ECE 52 58 57 60 69
CSE 65 69 64 68 75
EEE 48 55 60 66 78
MECH 89 87 75 78 82
IT 56 54 60 65 68
CIVIL 54 50 55 60 66
 MUMBAI REGION
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ECE CSE EEE MECH IT CIVIL

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

HYDERABAD REGION:

Branch 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

ECE 50 55 58 60 62
CSE 60 65 70 75 80
EEE 45 50 52 60 64
MECH 60 35 56 58 60
IT 63 70 75 77 79
CIVIL 45 49 53 58 60

Hyderabad region
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ECE CSE EEE MECH IT CIVIL

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

CHENNAI REGION:

Branch 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

ECE 50 55 58 62 65
CSE 60 65 76 75 85
EEE 45 50 52 56 60
MECH 60 53 59 58 65
IT 63 70 75 70 79
CIVIL 45 56 59 58 60

chennai region
90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
ECE CSE EEE MECH IT CIVIL

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Objective 2:
Factors Influencing Employability:
Student Initiative: This includes performing Internships, technical projects.
INTERNSHIPS (2018):

INTERNSHIP ATTENDED PERCENTAGE

NONE 60.7

ONE 32.4

MULTIPLE 6.9

Source: Aspiring minds

INTERNSHIP ATTENDED STUDENTS

80
60
40
20
0
PERCENTAGE

NONE ONE MULTIPLE

TECHNICAL PROJECTS:

TECHNICAL PROJECTS PERCENTAGE

YES 17.4

NO 82.6
 TECHNICAL PROJECTS DONE

17.4 YES

82.6 NO

FACULTY SUPPORT: In this it explains the support offered by the faculty members and college
administration for students to improve their skills and acquire practical knowledge.

1. Did faculty talk about industry application during course curriculum

FACULTY SUPPORT PERCENTAGE

YES 41

NO 59

FACULTY TALKS ABOUT INDUSTRY

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
YES NO
 2. What is lacking in college campus:

LACKING IN COLLEGE
WORKSHOPS,SEMINAR 26.6
GOOD FACULTY 23.4
PROPER FACILITIES 17.5
COMPUTER LABS 10.7
NOTHING 9.1

LACKING IN COLLEGE
30

25

20

15

10

0
1

WORKSHOPS,SEMINAR GOOD FACULTY PROPER FACILITIES COMPUTER LABS NOTHING

Objective 3:
Reasons for Lacking Employability in their core area:
1. Syllabus is not updated regularly.
2. Lack of Quality Teachers.
3. Lack of Innovation and Research.
4. Faculty education system
5. Lack of skill-based education.
6. Importance of college name.
7. Ease of permission from state governments.
8. IT employability
9. Lack of proper English skills
10. Disregard of essential soft skills.
11. Lacking new age technological skills.
12. Lack of industry exposure.
 13. Lack of technical, cognitive skills.
14. Lack of counselling the students in finding the jobs.
15. Lack of technical knowledge.

IV. FINDINGS
1. Compare to 5 years data, female engineers are having higher employability than male
engineers.
2. ECE is having higher employability when compared to all the branches.
3. In New Delhi the employability of CSE is decreased with 5% compared with 2014 and
employability of MECH has been increased.
4. In Bangalore the branches of ECE and MECH has higher employability whereas CSE,
CIVIL, IT, EEE has lower employability.
5. In Mumbai the branches of EEE, MECH has lower employability.
6. In Hyderabad the branch of CSE has higher employability whereas MECH has lower
employability.
7. In Chennai the branch of EEE and CIVIL has lower employability compared to other
branches.
8. The students doing internships are very less.
9. The students who are not interested in taking up Technical projects are less.
10. There is only 41% faculty support in engineering colleges.
11. There are very less facilities providing from college such as conducting workshop,
seminars, computer labs etc.
12. The percentage of good experienced faculty in colleges are very less.

V. CONCLUSION

Engineering graduates are expected to be employable and ready for the workplace when they
complete their studies. It is generally that graduates should be equipped with a balance of
technical knowledge in addition to the relevant soft skills required in the work place. This
balance is what gives one graduate competitive edge over another. Engineering students are
often equipped with technical knowledge, but lack of soft skills leave them not prepared for
the contemporary requirements of workplace.
At the institute level the study reveals that most of the academicians are not satisfied with the
engineering curriculum since they believe it is not at par with the industry needs. However they
are also of the opinion that understanding of the fundamentals is more important since without
a strong knowledge foundation the new methodologies of the industry cannot be adopted easily.
The redesigning of the university curriculum with more apprenticeship and live industry
projects will facilitate the pre-job training which will surely enhance the employability among
graduates.

1)