College and career counselling is critical for student success: Survey
OUTREACH The survey also found that 58% of universities’ prime focus area while interacting with high schools is ‘relationship building and engagement’ and only 41% admit that their focus area is mainly ‘student recruitment’
NEW DELHI: College and career counselling is still at a nascent stage in schools in India. This is corroborated by the findings of a recent survey on the impact of career and college counselling, announced at the International Career & College Counseling (IC3) Conference held in New Delhi last week.
According to the results, 56% of universities feel that high schools need to play a bigger role in the smooth transition of students to universities while a whopping 98% of universities feel that more information and counselling at the school level would better prepare students for university or college.
The IC3 survey also found that 58% of universities’ prime focus area while interacting with highschools is “relationship-building and engagement” and only 41% of universities admit that their focus area is mainly “student recruitment.”
Despite recent political shifts in different countries, 31% of universities have observed marginal increase (nearly 3-9%) in their international student enrollment this year and 45% of them feel it is the same as last year. Not surprisingly, 35% of pupils prefer their parents as a key source in terms of college selection – followed by the Internet at 33%. Additionally, 46% of educators surveyed feel that students and parents are very stressed about career-related decisions.
Talking about the opportunity gap, Ganesh Kohli, IC3 Conference Chair and President & Chief Mentor, KIC UnivAssist said: “As the survey insights state, Indian students have not been able to gain preference in comparison to the overseas students due to lack of exposure and right counselling at the right age. We really need to step up the counselling practices in India to help them gain the desired position in the international markets.”
Even today, students prefer opting for traditional courses as the career and college counselling practices in India are still not at par with the international standards.
This is majorly due to lack of awareness and opportunities that the vocational courses offer in comparison to conventional following. 40% students say that they prefer safer subject options such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math followed by 22% opting for art, entertainment and sports, 18% choosing business & finance and 17% health and medicine.
Some of the recent trends illustrate growing eminence of technology in the field of careercounselling and 38% of students have reported that their counsellor uses some form of technology to guide them.
Also, the global political issues and complexities don’t seem to stop the aspirations of the students, as per the survey insights. The student enrolment has gone up in the international markets with 45% of students preferring U.S. as their study-abroad destination, followed by 14 % Canada, 13% U.K., 10 % Australia, 8% South East Asia and 7% Europe.
Added Kohli: “The problem with career counselling is that it has been outsourced to a great extent and that is a challenge. It’s alright to use some help but we need to build these departments, after all we don’t outsource Maths teaching and English teaching!”
The IC3 conference is a platform that brought school leaders, college counselors, teachers, and university representatives from 300 high schools and 170+ university delegates from 20 countries including India, US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Hong Kong and UAE to discuss issues that drive sustainable and inclusive counselling practices focused on student success.