The Hindu Business Line : `Today's graduates don't suit knowledge industry'

Mr N. Raghuraman, Vice-President, (Corporate Development), Slash support India, addressing a BL Club meeting in Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering and Technology.

Chennai , April 13

The bulk of the graduates working in the knowledge industry is not really suited to its needs, said Mr N. Raghuraman, Vice-President (Corporate Development), Slash Support India Pvt Ltd, Chennai.

Inaugurating the Business Line Club at Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering and Technology in Tirupachur, near Chennai, he said, "Their communication skills, confidence level, depth of subject knowledge and application orientation are found lacking. `The ability to learn new concepts comes under heavy scrutiny and one gets the feeling that four years' education was not utilised to the hilt — they seem bookish."

He listed 12 strategies for the students to make themselves market-oriented: Know yourself; know the world around you; the time you have, the resources, the opportunities; assess your learning constantly; benchmark and plan; understand the environment and re-set expectations; execute plans and review actions; find mentors and peer groups; practice new virtues - patience and perseverance; and prepare for the longer run."What is my learning style? Do I read for marks or knowledge? How practical is my understanding? Should I change? Can I change? And how much can I push myself? are good questions to ask oneself," he said.

In understanding the market, one has to look at whether there are opportunities other than IT and whether one is succumbing to herd mentality, he added.

Emphasising that one spends four years of studies for over 40 years of career, which is hardly 10 per cent, he asked, "Can you guess the density of movies, TV, hanging out during your tenure of serious academic pursuit?

Is it comparable with your visits to the library/research activity? How often/have you ever, do `knowledge' hang-outs?" On attitude, Mr Raghuraman quipped, "Practice impatience with your progress and patience in your desires and constantly check your attitude as it will ground you in reality."

For the faculty he had this to say, "Create the climate for self-learning; don't accept sub-standard performance; make the progress known in your contact circles; meet industry champions often and not just during placement pressure."

In addition to 300 students of MBA, MCA and BE, others present were Dr K. C. Vasudevan, Chairman, Dr Kathir Viswalingam, Principal, Dr G. Vijayakumar, Head of the Department of Management Science and Mr S. Sridhar, Assistant Regional General Manager (Circulation), The Hindu, Chennai.

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