Foreign University Graduates Have Better Technical Skills for Jobs, Says Survey of Indian and Foreign Employers

The British Council, UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, today launched the India Employability Survey 2014. This report probes the quality of talent pools expected by Indian industry in the next 3-5 years and in that context, assesses current employability of workforces emerging from foreign, and specifically, UK universities. The British Council commissioned business research firm IMA India to conduct the survey.

The research surveyed 200 foreign and Indian companies on ascertaining the attractiveness of Indian and foreign university graduates for employers on various parameters such as skill-set, availability and quality of talent pool and other parameters. The research captures the hiring trends, defining factors for recruitment of foreign-university graduates, preferred source countries, qualifications and disciplines of study.

Highlights of India Employability Survey 2014:

• 51% of companies hire only from the top-20 Indian institutions, and less than a quarter of these firms hire only from the top-10 in any discipline

• From among those who hire foreign graduates, over 60% of companies hire only from the global top-50 universities, of which close to a third hire only from the world’s ten best institutions

• A very-substantial proportion, 41% of all companies have hired at least one foreign-university graduate in the last two years

• Far more graduates from foreign universities (39%) are deemed better preparedfor the job, than those from Indian universities and require lesser extensive training (14%)

• Sector-wise, consumer goods (60%), services (52.2%) and infrastructure, telecom and energy (50%) firms are the most likely to have hired at least one candidate with a foreign degree

• Industrial (34.5%) and IT (35.7%) companies are the least likely to have done so, though their overall percentages are still quite high

• 41.6% of firms rank American universities as either their top or their second choice, while 25.8% do so for universities in the UK. Germany is a distant third, with 6.9% of firms ranking it as one of their top two choices

Speaking on the occasion, Rob Lynes, Director, British Council India, said, “As organisations strive to compete and drive business growth in an increasingly global marketplace, they place significant importance on international education in the talent they recruit. Hiring foreign-university graduates is an integral part of the talent plan for a large percentage of companies. The India Employability Survey 2014 provides insights into emerging employability trends that will help universities prepare graduates for opportunities in an increasingly globalised world. I hope this report serves as a useful tool for organisations as they define their talent strategy. I am confident students will also benefit from this study as they seek to make informed choices on education opportunities.”

The survey highlights that an internship programme is considered an important criteria for entry into jobs. Two-thirds of firms have an internship programme of some kind; 57% of those who currently do not have an internship programme plan to have one in the coming years.

Subject-knowledge related to the job is ranked the most important skill followed by communication skills, the ability to apply one’s knowledge to solve real-world issues, and critical thinking skills. Inter-personal skills, and almost as important, the ability to work with diverse groups of people were followed by leadership experience and the ability or willingness to work hard lower down the order.Foreign-degree holders appear to be more disposed towards having strong ‘technical’ skills – critical thinking, the ability to use knowledge to solve real-world problems – while Indian-university graduates are relatively stronger on the ‘soft’ skills, such as working with diverse groups of people, and inter-personal skills. The ability or willingness to ‘work hard’ is an additional area of strength for graduates from India. While US leads the way on almost every major skill, UK is a clear second in terms of communication and inter personal skills and Germany come close to second along with UK in most other arenas.

The British Council:

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. It aims to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries and increase appreciation of the UK’s creative ideas and achievements. The British Council is active in 109 countries across the world.

For more information please visit www.britishcouncil.in

For more information please contact:

Suchita Gokarn | suchita.gokarn@in.britishcouncil.org

Head I Education Promotion, British Council, India

Edelman India

Jyoti Rai l jyoti.rai@edelman.com

Rakhi Aurora l Rakhi.aurora@edelman.com

Pratishtha Sharma l pratishtha.sharma@edelman.com