Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Only 10% of graduates employable, says VC

CHENNAI: Hardly one per cent of the education offered is quality education, even though the country produces millions of graduates every year. Only 10 per cent are readily employable graduates, said University of Madras Vice-Chancellor S. Ramachandran here recently .

Delivering his presidential address after releasing the ‘Placement Brochure’ (Recruiter’s Guide 2008-09) of Department of Management Studies (DoMS), he said, “the higher education system in our country is not equipped to produce employable graduates. ”

Observing that three job fairs were held on campus since 2006, Prof. Ramachandran said that nearly 70 companies interviewed 60,000 graduates and were able to find only 9,000 suitable. This prompted University of Madras to start soft skill courses as part of the curriculum at all levels to improve the performance of the students in placement.

Dr. Ramachandran handed over the first copy of the Placement Brochure to Energy Secretary Smita Nagaraj. The brochure contains educational qualifications of 81 final year students of DoMS.

In her address, Ms. Nagaraj said the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board might consider taking part in the campus recruitment process next year.

She also urged University of Madras to send two or three graduates every year to take up project work with the TNEB.

When NASSCOM Regional Director K. Purushothaman asked the students if they were willing to pursue higher studies instead of taking up job immediately, most replied in the negative.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu