Are Indian Students Choosing Their Careers Out of Fear?

Anoop Pandey, who pursued M.Tech in Computer Science from a reputed private university is now working with an event management company as a videographer and is earning well too. When asked why he went for engineering, he said, “I thought I will get a high-paying job after completing my masters, so, I never went for my passion but I couldn’t work as an engineer for long, so I reverted to my passion.” A recent survey shows that in India, career choices are driven more by the lure of getting jobs and not by the skill set, an individual has.

According to a survey by International Career and College Counseling (IC3), career related decisions are leading to higher stress level for students and parents. The survey also points out that 98 per cent universities felt that more information and counseling at the school level will better prepare students for universities/colleges.

Talking about the opportunity gap, Ganesh Kohli, IC3 Conference President and Chief Mentor, KIC UnivAssist and Former High School College Counselor said “As the survey insights state, Indian students have not been able to gain preference in comparison to the overseas students due to lack of exposure and right counseling at the right age. We really need to step up the counseling practices in India to help them gain the desired position in the international markets.”

Even today, students prefer opting for traditional courses as the career and college counseling practices in India are still not at par with the international standards. This is majorly due to lack of awareness and opportunities that the vocational courses offer in comparison to the conventional following. As many as 40 per cent students said that they prefer safer subject options such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) followed by 22 per cent opting art, entertainment and sports, while 18 per cent went for business and finance and 17 per cent for health and medicine.

Some of the recent trends illustrate growing eminence of technology in the field of career-counseling and 38% of students have reported that their counselor uses some form of technology to guide them. Also, the global political issues and complexities don’t seem to stop the aspirations of the students, as per the survey insights. The student enrollment has gone up in the international markets with 45 per cent of students preferring U.S. as their study-abroad destination, followed by 14 per cent for Canada, 13 per cent for U.K., 10 per cent for Australia, 8 per cent for South East Asia and 7 per cent for Europe.

Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Asst. Secretary General of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said, “In today's digital world transition of a student from college to career must be developed on the basis of individual interest. Industry today is looking at engaging with students through structured seminars and forums to equip them with a complete know-how of different career options.”

IC3 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

• 56 per cent of universities feel that high schools need to play a bigger role in the smooth transition of students to universities
• A whopping 98 per cent of universities feel that more information and counseling at the school level would better prepare students for university/college
• 58 per cent of universities’ prime focus area while interacting with high-schools is “relationship-building/engagement” and 41 per cent of universities admit that their focus area is mainly “student recruitment”
• Despite recent political shifts in different countries, 31 per cent of universities have observed marginal increase (nearly 3-9 per cent) in their international student enrollment this year and 45 per cent of them feel it is the same as last year
• 35 per cent of pupils prefer their parents as a key source in terms of college selection – followed by the Internet at 33 per cent
• 46 per cent of educators feel that students and parents are very stressed about career-related decisions

Thereby, counseling is pertinent because if a good decision at the right point of time can make your life, a wrong one can ruin it. Islamic scholar and poet Jalal -ad-din Muhammad Rumi wrote 'Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really. It will not lead you astray.' This should be adopted like a religious doctrine by the students of today, as a lot of young students are choosing their profession out of fear and not out of love.

Prateek Shukla

BW Reporters The author is Copy editor at BW Businessworld