Unpacking Placement Programs: Student Readiness, Weaknesses, and Placement Rates in Chhattisgarh, India

Employability of graduates has been a major concern in India, and the focus has majorly been towards ‘skills’ and ‘employability’. This paper attempts to present an alternate way of looking at the problem with a new concept of ‘graduate Identity’ which will capture the need for ‘industry ready’ graduates. It questions the mainstream paradigm of employability as a set of strictly technical competencies while explaining the significance of an array of cross-disciplinary competencies that are so vital to the modern economy. Recently there have been major changes in the Indian educational system to incorporate industry nurtured and student- centric, operative techniques which offers technical knowledge as well interlinking skills like communication, problem-solving abilities as well as adaptability. Thus, placement programmes as existing in Chhattisgarh play the role as the bridge between the institutions and the industry. However, such programs are experiencing a decline in enrolment of students in particular. The purpose of this paper is to identify possible causes for this trend in relation to student preparedness, competence and performance in regards to placement destinations. In this study the researcher aims to pinpoint challenges already present and to recommend measures to address them in engineering colleges such as Rungta College of Engineering and Technology, Bhilai Chhattisgarh. The paper provides several suggestions to the different stakeholders with the view of enhancing the placement process so as to ensure that a pool of competent professionals is developed to fit in the knowledge economy.