[StarVegabond]

I just now found this article

Second-rung biz schools churning out 'unemployable' graduates? - Yahoo! India News

for the benefit of the members here, i have cut pasted the content here

Second-rung biz schools churning out 'unemployable' graduates?

Tue, Jun 29 12:09 PM

Noida/New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Gaurav Kapoor completed his MBA from a Greater Noida institute, but the two year diploma couldn't get him a job he wanted and he finally joined a BPO. He is among the thousands who are virtually 'unemployable' as the second rung B-schools they studied in failed to impart the necessary soft skills.

A report from NASSCOM says only 10 percent of fresh graduates are actually employable. A similar survey of MBA and engineering graduates reveals only 25 percent of them are employable.

'Only one or two from my batch got placement as they had some good contacts. It is very frustrating,' Kapoor told IANS.

'I tried almost for a year initially rejecting the BPO offers. But it was difficult. What is the point of spending a fortune on a diploma which gets you no job. Fresh graduates are employed at the same level as I am,' Kapoor added.

According to Nishant Saxena, CEO, Elements Akademia, and guest faculty at the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L), lack of soft skills and confidence affects the employability factor of students passing out of such B-schools.

'There are some basic elements which are found missing in these graduates, these include soft skills like attitude, business ethics, confidence, communication skills, general awareness, basic managerial skills, domain knowledge and work experience,' Saxena told IANS.

He attributes this to lack of exposure.

'Students of second rung B-schools lack confidence because they don't have enough corporate interaction in terms of industry visits, internships and guest lectures,' Saxena said.

'Almost 70 percent of the faculty has zero industry experience. Even the IIMs are suffering from a faculty crunch. So it is but natural that the lower-rung B-schools find it tough to retain experienced faculty members.

'Many B-schools invite guest lecturers to tide over the faculty crisis, which invites criticism from students,' he added.

According to Saxena: 'There are over 1,000 business schools (B-schools) in the country and, barring the top 50 to 75, most have little to offer in terms of the skills needed to meet the demands of the market.'

'Students entering B-schools have high expectations of their first jobs. They don't want to take up a sales job because they feel that with an MBA tag they should start in a high-paying corporate job.'

The experience of Shipra Sharma, who completed her B.Tech from a Ghaziabad college, is another example of a disappointed second rung B-school graduate. Sharma told IANS: 'I completed my B.Tech but the offers that came my way were only for technical support. I have decided to go for an MBA but I don't know if even that will get me a job.'

So, are these soft skills coachable? According to Saxena, only some are.

Exposure to the industry is the best way to impart these skills, he said.

'The challenge that most second rung colleges face is that the major chunk of students are freshers without any previous experience in any domain. Adding to this, average faculty of these colleges also has very limited quality industry experience,' said Saxena.

'The best practice may be to get a significant portion of training, at least 25 percent, to be delivered by actual industry experts,' he added.

In the Feb 20 2010 Outlook business there was an article on 30 courses for raising managers. it was an interesting read.

i have attached here a snap of the list showing those 30 courses.


hope this is of some use to the MBA aspirants as well as current MBA students.

[ashmole]

Hi guys

I live in the UK and going to finish my bachelors in economics next summer. Quite fancied the idea of working in India and thought an MBA would be a good option. Interned in an investment bank in Mumbai this summer and found it pretty fun.

Can someone tell me the value of a MBA from SIBM? How would you rank it to other schools like IIM etc?

Would an MBA from SIBM or MS Finance from the London SChool of Economics be better to get a job in the corporate sector in India?

Thanks guys

[bullinb]

My 2 cents. Although SIBM is one of the better places for an MBA in India, it is nowhere in the league of IIMs. MS from LSE is far more weightier than an MBA here. It is as good or may be even better than an MBA from IIMs provided your field of interest is finance.

[ashmole]

Originally Posted by bullinb

My 2 cents. Although SIBM is one of the better places for an MBA in India, it is nowhere in the league of IIMs. MS from LSE is far more weightier than an MBA here. It is as good or may be even better than an MBA from IIMs provided your field of interest is finance.

Many thanks for replying. The reason why I had this dilemma is because one of the partners in a Big 4 firm in the corporate finance department said that an MS Finance degree from LSE would be useless in India.

Can I please ask you if you speak from personal experiences? For example,do you work in a big company, and would the HR think like you?

Sorry for taking up your time!

Thanks

Can other people please chip in too, it would help a lot.

[djjebs]

Guys, one of my friend is planning to do his MBA in GEMS B SCHOOL (Bangalore). Please let me know if I can ask him to go ahead. Is it a good institute? Any reviews? Anybody studying here?

Thanks

[bluevolt]

Hi Friends,

My cousin brother is doing BCA (Bachelor of computer applications) from Vivekananda institute of professional studies, IP University (Delhi). He is in final year, but the problem is that he has four back papers; this means he will not be able to take admission to MCA or MBA.

He is good in studies but due to some situations he could not study well which resulted in back papers.

Please give me your advice, what should he do in the one year period till he clears his backlog.

What options he has to do? What other course he can do from the period of July 2011 to April 2012?

Please suggest.

[aaggoswami]

Well, I did my BCA with 2 live projects in Animation thinking that I will enter NID A'bad automotive course. Later on NID clarified to me that I need either BE or Architecture background for automotive course. This was not clarified to me earlier when I inquired about the same.

I am right now pursuing my PGDM, but I am not sure which branch to specialize in.

So from what I know, if he is really strong in coding and loves to do so, there will be quite a bit of opportunities IMO. Knowledge of various languages is the biggest asset. If this is case, go for MCA. I have many BCA friends doing MCA.

Else go for MBA. MBA has broader spectrum IMHO.

PS : Even I would like to see how this thread progresses.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi Friends,
Please give me your advice, what should he do in the one year period till he clears his backlog.

What options he has to do? What other course he can do from the period of July 2011 to April 2012?

Please suggest.

If he wants to pursue a career in IT he can do a course like GNIIT or something related to Networking. There are courses in animation as well if that is the interest.

If the interest is to do MBA, then he should try getting some work in any small firm.

[bluevolt]

Thanks jaguar and aaggoswami for your suggestions.

I am expecting more replies. Its important as i have to relieve him from this pressure and stress.

[NetfreakBombay]

Is he interested in programming?

[BheemBoy]

Not sure why you are saying that he can't take up MCA / MBA.

Maybe not immediately, but I think he should still be able to take up entrance exams for MCA and MBA once he clears the backfill.

He can also get into some technical job after BCA and then do MCA / MBA over correspondence which could be very useful.

[aravindwarrier]

Hi Guys!


My younger bro is currently doing his B.sc in Hospitality Studies , and he saw this thread, and wanted to reply, but since his membership registration is never accepted :P, he is speaking below.

"
Hi!

I'm currently doing my B.sc in Hospitality Studies(aka Hotel Management)at D.Y Patil, Pune and am thinking , what lies in store for me after my graduation?? . I havent met with many pass-outs from this field , but i have gathered enough to know that, to prepare for CAT and other competitive exams after joining my industry would be near to impossible as the hours of work we have to put out is normally 12+, so if its further studies, its now or later on resign the job and prepare for CAT,etc.
To be frank, i really have no idea of the validity of an MBA after my course, also the fact that i have been separated from maths and formulaes for 3 years might make me a bad option even for the colgs to consider!
Due to the fact that i opted out of engineering, really made me an odd one among my people , and further the social status of "just a degree in hotel management" aint good either and all this makes me turn to further studies
I hope someone can comment on my doubt here,as t-bhp has people from every field, or people really knowledgeable to comment upon, i couldnt think of a better place to put my doubts out!

TIA
Avinash Warrier


"

[asliarun]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi Friends,

My cousin brother is doing BCA (Bachelor of computer applications) from Vivekananda institute of professional studies, IP University (Delhi). He is in final year, but the problem is that he has four back papers; this means he will not be able to take admission to MCA or MBA.

He is good in studies but due to some situations he could not study well which resulted in back papers.

Please give me your advice, what should he do in the one year period till he clears his backlog.

What options he has to do? What other course he can do from the period of July 2011 to April 2012?

Please suggest.

I'll throw in my two cents, on the basis that I am heavily involved in recruitment (for my company).

In India, a lot of us take bad career decisions based on what's "hot". I like to call this the scarcity syndrome - we are so scared of lack of jobs and get so caught up in trying to secure our future, that we forget everything else.

Long term, the degree won't matter, the commitment and passion will. Short term, I still argue that expertise will matter much more than the degree.

In today's job market, the people who succeed are people with deep expertise in a given area, not jack of all trades. What are your cousin brother's passions? Even in IT, there is a huge range of job profiles - software development, QA, hardware, networking, telecom, design, technical writing, etc. Instead of asking which of these fields has more money in it, it is much more important to find out which field he is passionate about.

If he doesn't have a clue as most people of his age group would be, he should figure this out for himself, and decide fast. Talking to other people working in different kinds of roles helps. Finding out about these roles from articles, blogs etc. also helps.

Once he has figured this out, he should start working backwards - identify his dream companies in which he can play this role, read job postings by these companies to find out what minimum qualifications and expertise they require, then identify the degree or certification or training that he still needs to complete in order to even reach the interview stage.

Another way to look at this would be to take a contrarian approach. Target technologies and industry segments that are still unfancied or not popular - they will have lesser competition and it will be easier to shine. For example, a family friend of mine started off with a call center job and stuck to the job while all her friends moved on to other professions like IT and banking and marketing. On top of this, she stayed in the same company in an industry that sometimes has 100% attrition rates. She is highly successful today, travels the world, loves her job, and earns an extremely good amount of money.

I'm not saying everyone should join a call center. However, one needs to have a fierce amount of focus on a specific skill or specific job function in order to succeed (and to be happy!) both long term and short term. It is pointless trying to amass degrees and hope that it will be a magical solution. The degree or training course should be the means to the end, not the end itself.

First, identify the goal.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by aravindwarrier

Hi!

I'm currently doing my B.sc in Hospitality Studies(aka Hotel Management)at D.Y Patil, Pune and am thinking , what lies in store for me after my graduation?? . I havent met with many pass-outs from this field , but i have gathered enough to know that, to prepare for CAT and other competitive exams after joining my industry would be near to impossible as the hours of work we have to put out is normally 12+, so if its further studies, its now or later on resign the job and prepare for CAT,etc.
To be frank, i really have no idea of the validity of an MBA after my course, also the fact that i have been separated from maths and formulaes for 3 years might make me a bad option even for the colgs to consider!
Due to the fact that i opted out of engineering, really made me an odd one among my people , and further the social status of "just a degree in hotel management" aint good either and all this makes me turn to further studies
I hope someone can comment on my doubt here,as t-bhp has people from every field, or people really knowledgeable to comment upon, i couldnt think of a better place to put my doubts out!

TIA
Avinash Warrier

Hi,
Hotel management is in itself a very good course. My brother had done this way back in 2004 when there were even less takers for the course. He has been working ever since and has been absolutely loving it. Of course the timings are going to be odd but then thats the case with most of the sectors today.

Regarding the only hotel management diploma thing, I dont think that its a bad thing. Yes, there will be people who will say you have only a diploma, but frankly I dont think that matters at all as you have made a good career choice and you should care as least as possible about people who are concerned that you have only a "diploma". Also, I dont know how useful an MBA degree would be in your field, especially with no actual work experience. It might help to work for a few years and then take up an MBA, but again I am not sure if it would actually help in your career advancement.

So right now my advice would be, finish your diploma, find a good place to work in and have fun working. And dont bother with the people who find a diploma to be bad

[aravindwarrier]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

Hi,
Hotel management is in itself a very good course. My brother had done this way back in 2004 when there were even less takers for the course. He has been working ever since and has been absolutely loving it. Of course the timings are going to be odd but then thats the case with most of the sectors today.

Regarding the only hotel management diploma thing, I dont think that its a bad thing. Yes, there will be people who will say you have only a diploma, but frankly I dont think that matters at all as you have made a good career choice and you should care as least as possible about people who are concerned that you have only a "diploma". Also, I dont know how useful an MBA degree would be in your field, especially with no actual work experience. It might help to work for a few years and then take up an MBA, but again I am not sure if it would actually help in your career advancement.

So right now my advice would be, finish your diploma, find a good place to work in and have fun working. And dont bother with the people who find a diploma to be bad

Thanks for reassurance abt the course, ever since i took this course i have been thiking whether i made a mistake in it or not, not because i dont like it( i absolutely enjoy this field) but because of the "oh..., u are doin hotel management ,huh?" but i donot understand y the "oh" and "huh" Its a B.sc degree from one of the largest university in the world! Its as good as a B.sc from any science subjects! Actually, we have more in job experience than most courses as we work at a hotel for 6 months during our 4th Sem!


btw Wer is ur brother working now?

TIA
Avinash Warrier