In today’s competitive world order, being educated is one thing and being able to get employed is something else. Therefore, higher education needs to concentrate more on employability than on anything else.

• How far can you endorse this view?

Anyone can get educated if there is will, but getting employed is not that easy in these days of survival of the fittest. Obviously, the type of education one gets needs to be more employability oriented, though education as such has other implications.

Getting a qualification, landing in an entry level job and climbing the upper rungs of the career are the basic minimum dream of any educated these days. This is not to say that everyone is after such a dream. The majority are. This majority mindset demands that higher education needs to concentrate more on employability. For example, today education is highly expensive, and for many it is an investment for quicker and long terms returns. In such a scenario, an education that fails to satisfy the employability quotient of an incumbent is no education at all.

Second thing is that the lion’s share of modern employment opportunities is generated by private sector enterprises, both local and international. The businesses are out looking for workers who are a cut above the rest. Here a job seeker needs meet the ever changing requirements and expectations of competing employers. For example, a qualified hand needs to be qualified in the real sense of the term defined by an employer. Obviously, higher education has a role here.

However, not everyone dreams for a job while getting educated. Education is a process of learning, becoming, evolving and enlightening oneself. But their number in these days of materialism is very small.

In short, barring a few who get educated for the sake of education, most of the people are out for a job after education. So I find it right to greatly support the view that higher education needs to put in some extra emphasis on employability of the candidate.


Ajaypeesdoc 20.01.11
280 words