Social impact big on hiring checklist

While analytical thinking and innovation, active learning, and complex problem-solving, etc will remain sought-after skills, new research has revealed that employers are also increasingly looking for university graduates who can demonstrate leadership and social impact skills.

Called the Global Employability University Ranking and Survey (GEURS) 2023-24 – produced by French consultancy Emerging and published with Times Higher Education (THE) – it shows that employers want graduates who will be more involved in society, can transform organisations and thereby grow their country’s economy. “Such qualities are particularly sought from graduates from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, and also appear as top-five requirements for all countries, including those studying business, engineering and IT,” it noted.

The GEURS added that employers are also looking for graduates with digital skills and studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. This was evident in the ranking with the first two positions taken up by tech schools: California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which tops the table, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), at second. In addition, 40% of the top 50 positions are taken up by tech schools.

A former HR head of an MNC told FE that soft skills such as the ability to work in a team, as well as a cooperative spirit, are highly prized by employers.

Having anticipated this trend in advance, top business schools in India have long been focusing on soft skills. The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), which recently toppled IIM Calcutta as India’s third-best B-school (NIRF 2023), has been building social capital in its students through various curriculum based and extracurricular activities.

Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIMK, told FE that the thumb rule at IIMK is “intellectual capital multiplied by social capital builds our reputation capital”.

He said that a unique feature of IIMK’s three full-time PG programmes (MBA) is its in-built concern for the larger society. “When you look at the complexity of problems that managers are going to be required to solve in the future – compounded by climate change, terrorism, and other foreseen and unforeseen calamities – management graduates will require a broad range of thinking skills and awareness of the world,” he said. “In the changing landscape of education, the new face of leadership is softer and less formal. The most valuable outcome of education is the development of a competent and compassionate human being. This is also the most important skill students pick up at IIMK.”

Shreyasi Singh, founder & CEO, Harappa (an edtech company), recently told FE that the significance of cognitive, social and behavioural skills that enable professionals to succeed at every stage of their career is higher than ever before. “Skills like the ability to communicate effectively and collaborate well with others, emotional intelligence and time-management are becoming pivotal to workplace efficiency and productivity.”

The GEURS assesses the employability performance of higher education institutions and is the only survey to reveal the world’s top 250 universities for producing employable graduates based on employers’ assessment, knowledge and expectations.

It added that Chinese universities are consolidating their position in the top echelons of the ranking, with Peking University at 14th and Tsinghua University at 21st.

While no Indian universities featured in the top 10, the GEURS said these are now making steady progress.

America’s Ivy League universities (see table) are still considered the best in the world, and US universities specialising in digital and STEM subjects – such as Arizona State University and Florida Institute of Technology – are doing well. However, overall, American universities are continuing to lose ground to the rest of the world.

Top 10 universities in the Global Employability University Ranking and Survey 2023-24