Skill mapping towards enhancing employability among final year graduate and post graduate students (A case study of some selected instututions in Sambalpur and Shillong)

Abstract

By 2020, India is set to become the world's youngest country with 64 per cent of its population in the working age group. Recognizing this as a challenge as well an opportunity, the Twelfth Plan strategy in India hinges on improving the employability of young labor force through skill development and creating high value employment in primary and secondary sectors.The main objective of the present study is to skill map final year graduate and post graduate students towards enhancing employability, who are studying in some selected institutions in Sambalpur and Shillong. Two institutions each are selected opportunistically from Sambalpur and Shillong town respectively which are offering Graduates and Post graduates courses. Within each selected institution respondents are selected by purposive sampling and information regarding enhancing employability is collected through semi structure Questionnaire and Free listing.Findings reveal that 70% of the total respondent from Sambalpur and 60% from Shillong have the desire for Govt executive's jobs. About 91% of the respondent from Shillong and 80% from Sambalpur expressed about the need of skill enhancement courses for securing a good job. Only 23.5% of the respondent mentioned to have attended skill enhancement trainings and more females has attended such training. Economic status of the respondents can be a detrimental factor in the enhancement of skill. In conclusion, in order to enhance the employability of the youths, concreted efforts have to be made to enhance the skill development infrastructure in the manner that all those who enter the labour force acquire relevant skills beforehand.