Linking Degree Programme Curricula and Employability: Need of Innovation in Higher Education Institutions of India

Dr.A.Vimala; S.Murugaia; V.Senthil Kumar

Volume : III, Issue : VII, July - 2014

Linking Degree Programme Curricula and Employability: Need of Innovation in Higher Education Institutions of India

Dr. A. Vimala, S. Murugaia, V. Senthil Kumar

Abstract :

Employability implicitly refers to the full-time student who enters higher education at around the age of 18 and who graduates at the age of 21 or 22, and deals with matters beyond the boundaries of the subject discipline(s) concerned. For older students (many of who will opt to study part-time), employability may take on a different colouring, since they may well have experienced employment and/or voluntary work prior to (or whilst they are) engaging in higher education. For them, the emphasis that they give to employability may be on the development of subject-specific understanding to complement what they have already learned about employability in general. There is also a need to acknowledge the employment-relevant learning that ostensibly full-time students derive from part-time employment as they seek to fund their passage through higher education. Students, therefore, will develop their employability in ways that reflect their particular circumstances. One of roles for the higher education (HE) sector is to supply suitably skilled graduates to the work place. However, the ability of the HE sector to achieve this task has been questioned. Consequently, for HE to meet this role some degree of change within HE curricula might be required.