World Youth Skills Day: Does college impart skills for real world? Gen Z answers

Is the higher education system whose objective is to prepare students academically and professionally for life after college succeeding in fulfilling its responsibility Are colleges equipping the youth with the skills and knowhow to navigate realworld challenges Are lectures assignments latenight exam preparations and social events helping students develop practical skillsItrsquos tough to reach a clear verdict given the diversity of courses and curriculums that exist However therersquos a need to bring focus to the current educationemployability and academiaindustry gap in the countryAnalysing data from 2500 colleges and 440000 students Indiarsquos Graduate Skill Index 2023 report by the talent assessment company Mercer Mettl found that only 45 per cent of graduates in India are employable The Global Skills Gaps Measurement and Monitoring Report 2023 by International Labour Organisation states that 466 per cent of Indian workers are underqualified for their jobsThese statistics present a worrisome picture necessitating discourse around collegesrsquo capability to prepare the youth for what comes next Besides joboriented competencies the youth also need to be equipped with other necessary skills to navigate daytoday challengesOn the occasion of World Youth Skills Day middaycom hears about this conundrum from the horsersquos mouth We speak to the youngsters of the country ndash the Gen Z ndash to get answers to the questions posed aboveDid college prepare you for the real worldldquoThe answer is both yes and nordquo says Harshit Agarwal a 23yearold Software Engineer working in BangaloreldquoAlthough the college coursework has provided the foundation of technical skills we need for our job most of the skills we apply in our daily work are learned on the job itselfrdquo he clarifiesSome Gen Zers believe that college canrsquot prepare every student for future challenges since each one sets out on a different pathArhya Singh a finalyear Computer Engineering student and intern says ldquoI think college hasnrsquot prepared me for the real world per se But again I never expected that in the first place because we all have different experiences when we step out of our academic life and I think therersquos no set techniques or methods to prepare yourdquoThe notion of having subjective experiences after college is backed by Vishvesh Trivedi a Mumbaibased copywriter He says ldquoTo be honest the academics were not that big of a help because having studied BMM Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia and Mass Communication I realised that the realworld applications of the subject are diverse and different from the theoretical curriculum Itrsquos not like MBA that is taught in a very specific manner Itrsquos very subjective Professors give you a perspective on it But when you start working you see a completely different lifestylerdquoWhile some believe college prepared them partially for the outside world others refuseldquoWhat college teaches you is way different from what actually happens It is mostly bookish knowledge with more focus on history than what one can implement in the real worldrdquo feels Mitali Lakhotia a BCom graduate and Fashion Communication postgraduateAishwarya Zombade a 24yearold psychologist and educator agrees saying ldquoIn a lot of courses practical skills are the most important However colleges often tend to just focus on grades and unhelpful assignmentsrdquoBut college canrsquot be all that bad rightWhat skills did you develop in college that have realworld applicationsCollege life is often characterised by many opportunities and events apart from academics These impart soft skills that have realworld applicationsldquoCollege did allow me to learn how to communicate and function cohesively with other people So in some way it helpedrdquo feels SinghLakhotia has a similar experience ldquoOne skill that I have learned from college is communication When you can communicate well your ideas and thoughts reach more people During college times we had to do a lot of presentations and communication was key You had to put your point forward and navigate through questions and explanationsrdquo she elaboratesldquoI was an introvert earlier How to interact with people is something I have learned in collegerdquo she addsThe people one meets in college also help in skillbuildingldquoThrough the help of our seniors and taking part in various club activities we gained experience of working in a team and how to tackle difficult situations which helps us in the real worldrdquo states AgarwalldquoThe way you end up making contacts in college the way you are pushed to build connections that helps in the real world I have noticed that I have been able to connect with people and spot growth opportunities due to this College fests activities and projects helped me build that skill There were also times when you had to connect with other people and make use of their skills and your skills to create something That has been fruitful for merdquo reveals TrivediImage for representational purposes only Photo Courtesy iStockSingh also believes that college has enabled her to introspect and grow ldquoI learned patience and accountability College basically for me was 4 years of learning how to be patient with yourself and others around you and it also taught me how Irsquom the only one who is responsible for what happens to me It kind of helped me get over the fact that the world is unfair and some things donrsquot go according to your perfect life planrdquo she saysWhat needs to changeldquoMost of the skills apart from technical are learned through seniors or various clubs If college can include these skills in the coursework it will be much more impactful because not all students take part in club activitiesrdquo Agarwal is quick to respondEvery Gen Zer we spoke to feels that practical knowledge should be given more importanceldquoIrsquom from a field computer engineering where the requirements change almost every day but the courses in the college are rarely ever updated to accommodate said changes instead they make us mug up whatever is in the books Whatever colleges teach is too theoretical and a practical approach would overall be much betterrdquo says SinghldquoI think the intense focus on academics leaves most of us in a position where we know what wersquore supposed to do but we canrsquot because we only know things theoretically Also colleges rarely ever teach us how and where to apply what we learned which kind of makes everything pointlessrdquo she addsTrivedi also recommends a more practical approach to assignments and projects ldquoI would recommend colleges to include a lot more collaborative assignments and projects that actually involve interaction with the industryrdquo he suggestsldquoRealworld applicationbased assignments help understand how the industry works and how much effort you are supposed to put into something All the theory is important and fine to a certain level but the practicality is lacking in college curriculumsrdquo he addsOne skill you wish you learned in college but didnrsquotldquoManaging financesrdquo comes the recurring answerldquoCollege should teach about finances ndash how to manage and grow moneyrdquo feels LakhotiaWhile some believe that personal finance should not be taught in colleges because it doesnrsquot relate to every curriculum one cannot deny that it is a necessity irrespective of the course one opts for When you are preparing for a job the natural next step is to prepare for managing money that comes from the jobldquoInstead of solely focusing on grades and getting first place in class colleges should start teaching students how to get a job how to manage finances how to take care of yourself and your mental health These are the basicsrdquo says ZombadeHowever she also believes that these life skills should be imparted at the school level ldquoI strongly believe that whatever you teach someone in school or in college stays with them forever So life skills should be taught in schools and reiterated in collegesrdquo she concludesIt wonrsquot be fair to put every course and college in the same mould However the broader situation calls for action to better facilitate skillbuilding for the real world in colleges both academically and beyond academics