A leading market entry specialist has said universities welcoming international students from India need to market themselves more to Indian employers after data shows they don’t value an international degree over a domestic one.
“Indian companies don’t think that international students bring anything new to the table”
In a survey of 71 companies across the IT, finance and education sectors carried out by Sannam S4, a third of respondents said that they would not hire new graduates with international degrees.
A further third said that they do not recruit candidates with an international degree and no prior experience.
“Indian companies don’t think that international students bring anything new to the table,” Sannam S4’s Head of Education, Lakshmi Iyer, told The PIE News. “They think that your skillsets are on par with anybody that they pick up from an Indian campus.”
Sannam S4, which provides market intelligence and on-the-ground support for international institutions in India, China and Brazil, also surveyed 559 Indian graduates who studied in the USA, UK, Australia and Singapore. Around 45% said they do not believe their international degree helped them get their first job in India.
The report showed that 20% of employers surveyed believe that graduates had returned to India because they were unable to secure a job overseas.
“The biggest challenge is that employers think that first you left the country to pursue an education abroad because you couldn’t get into a top institution here, and then you have come back because you couldn’t find an employer there to employ you,” Iyer said.
She added that, other than a few notable exceptions, most Indian employers would not know even high-ranking foreign institutions.
Employers also expressed concern that international graduates would expect higher remuneration than those who had studied domestically.
“The biggest challenge is that employers think you have come back because you couldn’t find an employer abroad to employ you”
“This report highlights the gaps between expectations of international alumni and employer perceptions that exist in India,” added Adrian Mutton, CEO of Sannam S4.
The study concludes that foreign universities must make more of an effort to market themselves to Indian employers, adding that universities that build relationships with employers in India are likely to be more attractive to Indian students.
It also suggested that universities should better equip students to market themselves to employers after 30% of graduates said that they would most value better career guidance.
“There is definitely a requirement for International institutions to look at organisations that are locally available that can [build relationships with businesses] to ensure that their students have some level of standing when it comes to Indian companies who are so used to picking up students from their local colleges,” Iyer commented.
