About 40 per cent students say they prefer safer subject options such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics
Students with international exposure emerge as preferred choice for jobs in India, says survey. Conducted by the International Career and College Counseling (IC3), it further elaborated that 56 per cent of universities feel that high schools need to play a bigger role in the smooth transition of students to universities.
The survey includes opinions of ‘High Schools and Counselors’, ‘Students’, ‘Universities and Global Academic Institutions’ and ‘Industry Leaders’.
Ganesh Kohli, IC3 conference chair, president and chief mentor, KIC UnivAssist 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.”
The survey revealed that 98 per cent of universities feel that more information and counseling at the school level would better prepare students for university/college. It also highlighted that 58 per cent of universities’ prime focus area while interacting with high-schools is “relationship-building/engagement” and 41 percent 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 enrolment this year and 45 per cent of them feel it is the same as last year.
What doesn’t come as a surprise is that 46 per cent of educators feel that students and parents are very stressed about career-related decisions with 35 per cent of pupils prefer their parents as a key source in terms of college selection. Only 33 per cent, take help of Internet.
Due to lack of proper career and college counselling, students prefer opting for traditional courses in India are still not at par with the international standards.
About 40 percent students say they prefer safer subject options such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, followed by 22 percent opting arts, entertainment and sports, 1 percent choosing business and finance, and 17 percent for health and medicine.
However, keeping the the recent trends in mind, there is a growing eminence of technology in the field of career-counseling and 38 percent 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 enrolment has gone up in the international markets with 45 percent of students preferring U.S. as their study-abroad destination, followed by 14 percent Canada, 13 percent U.K., 10 percent Australia, 8 per cent South East Asia and 7 percent Europe.
