Quality of undergraduates not up to mark these days: Ficci

India Inc is staring at a severe crunch in quality manpower availability, as the arts, commerce and science undergraduates being churned out these days by various educational institutions are just not up to the mark, a Ficci survey said.

"The new undergraduates fall short of the expectations of the employers with regard to self motivation, self discipline, empathy for other workers and management, willingness to learn, good written communication and basic computer skills," a Ficci-CVoter survey said.

"GenNext is woefully short of soft skills and vocational training to take on the responsibilities of corporate sector management," it said.

Only three out of ten respondents said they were completely satisfied with new undergraduates hired in the last 12 months.

About 60 per cent of the 300 respondents said the fresh graduates lack the important ability to identify and solve workplace problems.

Similarly, "about 83 per cent respondents acknowledge the need for good written communication as a key skillset for performing the job. However, only about 60 per cent feel that their present employees have the desired skill set", it added.

About 70 per cent said that they are not satisfied with the basic computer knowledge of their new employees.

"Asked about the presence of the willingness to learn –- which almost all the respondents considered a must-have quality for their employees -– in their present crop, only about 65 per cent of them answered in the affirmative," it added.

The survey is an eye-opener for Indian higher educational institutions and highlights the urgent need to upgrade and revise the curriculum for undergraduate programmes by intregating vocational training modules.