Due to economic slowdown, only 18% students get jobs: ASSOCHAM

Economic slowdown, stalling of new projects and investors' apathy towards several key sectors like infrastructure, hotels, financial services, realty and retail have led to drying of job opportunities for a large numbers of students from the b-category business schools which are struggling hard for placement so far with only 18% of students landing with employment offers, reveals the ASSOCHAM latest survey.

There has not been any response from the manufacturing sector but the services sectors such as financial, IT & ITES are offering some jobs, reveals the ASSOCHAM recent paper.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recent paper on "Appetite for MBA tumbles down" reveals that the grim placement scenario is reflected in b-school campus hiring which has gone down severely and only 18% of students got placement this year. The salary packages which are offered at b-schools and engineering colleges are also being curtailed by 40-45% as compared to last year.

While releasing the ASSOCHAM paper Mr. D S Rawat said, "Many parents and students are re-thinking on investing 2-3 years and several lakhs in a course, with the dem¬and and placement of MBA graduates not as good as before due to slowdown. Around 450 institutions have become defunct as they are not getting enough students to be viable".

Mr. Rawat said, a large number of the B-schools and engineering colleges are not able to attract students. More than 220 b-schools have already closed down in 2013 in the major cities Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Dehradun etc. Another 95 are struggling to survive, reveals the ASSOCHAM report.

In-spite of the increase in number of B-schools across the country, the common test for admission (CAT) to elite B-schools of the country, saw a decline of 9.5 percent in 2014 from 8.5% in 2013, adds the paper.

As per the ASSOCHAM recent findings, while the total number of applicants stood at 1.85 lakh in 2014, compared with 1.94 lakh in 2013, the MBA seats in India grew almost four-fold from 95,000 in 2006-07 to 4,68,000 in 2013, resulting in compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30-35% and over-capacity. Unfortunately, job opportunities for MBAs have not grown in the same proportion, adds the ASSOCHAM paper.

"The biggest reason for the gap is the rapid mushrooming of tier-2 and tier-3 management education institutes that have unfortunately not been matched by commensurate uplift in the quality of management education. Most of the students prefer to choose cheaper AICTE - approved programs rather than B-schools," said Rawat.

The demand has begun to deflate now as the quality of education provided by B-schools has come under scanner. The B-schools should not be considered as placement agencies. The main purpose of a B-school is to provide quality education. Mr. Rawat said, the root cause of the problem is that institutes only focus on filling up seats and do not consider the quality of students at the time of intake. Consequently, students think that the entire responsibility lies with the institute.

Mr. Rawat also commented that the global uncertainly has certainly affected the placement pattern at b-schools & engineering colleges. This year, the number of placements are fewer and there is also no hike in the average pay packages and hence it will be difficult for the several business schools to get 100% placement in future.

The paper also stressed that nowadays students are not concerned about the quality of education in an institute, they only want to know the placement and salary statistics and discounts offered on the fee structure and this has spoiled the entire education system, adds Secretary General.

ASSOCHAM has advised the institutes to improve the infrastructure, train their faculty, work on industry linkages, and spend money on research and knowledge creation and making students employable rather than employed.

Stay tuned with Careerindia on: Entrance Exams, Admissions, News, Value Read, Online Courses, Educarewiz