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CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. GLOBALIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON ENGINEERING EDUCATION

‘When the winds of change blow, some people build walls

others build windmill.’

In this era of globalization researchers, academicians and economists

have predicted a very challenging future ahead and engineers of the future need to

develop a whole gamut of skills and abilities to emerge successful. They will need to

adapt to changing technologies, learn to work in multi cultural teams and find

solution for issues and problems that occur quite suddenly. Science and technology

is moving at a fast pace and there is a major revamp every ten years in all major

fields. As far as industries are concerned product cycle takes much less time than

before, thanks to the fast and new emerging technologies that become obsolete at a

still faster rate. Studies in field of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information

technology will be at the fore front of engineering education in the future. Ageing

population, scarcity of natural resources, energy crisis will be few of the problems

that the engineers have to be prepared to face.

There is a shift in the way universities are functioning specially in Asia

and South Asia where the focus is on research and development. Changes are taking

place in a massive way and engineering education is developing at a very fast

unimaginable pace. Globalization in this ‘knowledge era’ is a matter one has to

comprehend with because it is not a matter of choice. To adapt to this fast paced

change in the globalized era, it is essential that each one must have skills that will

help them to adapt, face challenges, have the openness and willingness to learn, be

creative and explorative. Such skills are indeed essential to make them global

citizens.

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1.1.1. Changing Paradigm of Workforce Abilities

Cutting edge competition at the global level has raised the bar on the

level of products or services. The rate of innovation is such that adaptability is the

key word in all spheres of the organization. One can easily observe that knowledge

workers and experts are available everywhere, but what sets them apart is the skill or

competencies that they can put to best use. Talking about competencies, team work

is the most essential one. Most often complex situation requires deep thought and a

team’s decision definitely proves better than individuals.

Interpersonal competencies, the ability to influence, build strong

relationship is very crucial in today’s workplace situation. If this is the situation at

the work place front, universities too need to be aware of the importance of

imparting such training programmes and thus empower the work force that can

easily adapt and contribute to the growth of an organization.

Graduate attribute is the term in the recent year where universities strive

to develop ‘lifelong learning ability’ in students and thus enable him/her to be

successful. The term ‘generic graduate attribute’ looks at an all encompassing skill

set which would help graduates to attain success. Students who graduate from

Engineering courses must be able to demonstrate certain crucial skill, for example,

they must be able to communicate effectively, solve problems, work in teams, be

creative and think critically. They should be flexible and adaptable to changing

needs.

Employability is basically having the required skill set, adequate

knowledge, desirable personal attributes that helps one to choose the profession in

which they can sustain. According to Yorke, (2006) “a set of achievements – skills,

understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain

employment and be successful in their chosen occupations which benefits

themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy”.

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The knowledge and skill required for workplace is further detailed

clearly in the SCANS Report on America 2000 entitled, “What work requires of

schools.” The higher education system is therefore completely relevant to the

economy and government world over. Few decades before the relevance of skill and

ability were known as human capital development.

1.1.2. Present Scenario in Engineering Education

Change is inherent in every walk of life and adapting to it is a real

challenge. The field of Engineering and Technology proves to be the backbone of

such changes and provides the required support for sustenance. The last half century

has seen a sea of changes with the Internet celebrating its 50th year. Technological

advancement has blurred barriers and the ‘global village’ has to combat many

challenges. Engineering education of various countries need to look in the same

direction to develop a common platform which will serve the needs of a very

demanding future.

Engineers of the future need to develop professional competencies which

do not stop with mere ‘technical knowhow’, but would also mean an individual’s

ability to cope with situation that are beyond the walls of what is taught in

classrooms. Engineers no longer work within the framework of their specialization

in their own country. There is always a need to sustain in places crossing

geographical borders and adjust in places with varied cultural differences.

The information super highway has strengthened the knowledge era and

is taking engineering education to levels higher than it was ever dreamt of.

Economic slowdown has had its share of impact but things have bounced back

enabling the future to look much brighter. Engineering education needs to definitely

look at widening the horizon of students by creating in them an interest to explore,

innovate and have a deep thirst to contribute to the development of society.

Engineers need to necessarily develop intuition that helps them take critical

decisions and become successful strategic planners. Educational institutions must

incorporate the required skill sets by bringing in apt curricular reforms at the right

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time. Interdisciplinary studies aimed at making the world a better place by

combating environmental issues and planning for a sustainable world would

definitely be a challenge as far engineering education is concerned. Geographical,

political, social and cultural borders should fade when looking at the larger picture.

Most government looks to educational institutions to provide human

resource with right skill and knowledge. It is the responsibility of higher educational

system to enable a smooth transition to knowledge economy and advanced level of

information technology. Each country must ensure that they are ready to empower

their workforce who will fit the requirement of the industry and thus ensure that

their country has an edge over the others. Therefore, ensuring that the young

workforce has the necessary skill and competency to succeed in their jobs has now

become the major responsibility of the educational institutions. Statistics according

to UNESCO’s data reveals very striking information. Though enrolment data shows

a double in the past two decades with an increase of 151 million in tertiary

education, the ILO’s global employment trends report also shows a disturbing trend

of how the financial crisis of 2008 has affected employment levels and only close to

74.8 million youth has been employed in 2011 because of economic crisis. But the

fact to be noted is that in order to increase their chance of getting employed the

young productive workforce has to equip themselves with the necessary ‘new’ skill

sets to meet the demand of work place. The ‘new’ engineering skills could also be

called global professional skills.

Two important systems, the Washington Accord and Bologna process

have outlined the required engineering profile and listed criteria for accreditation

and quality assurance of engineering education. The Washington Accord

encompasses countries like the USA, UK, Australia and South Africa, as well as

Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Germany. The accreditation process enables the

recognition of engineering degree in the above said countries thus enabling students

to enter into engineering practice across the above said countries. The Bologna

process covers the European countries and aims to create a European Higher

Education Area. Both systems aim to promote accreditation systems and thus foster

the internationalization of higher education process. To succeed in today’s global

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market, engineers today need, not only theoretical hard skills, like fundamentals of

science, mathematics and engineering but also soft skills like communication skills,

managerial skills, negotiation and interpersonal skills; being able to work on

multidisciplinary teams find solutions for global issues and be empathetic.

An initiative of the National Academy of Engineering, the report

entitled, The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century ( 2005)

deals at length as to how the engineering education need to be reengineered so as to

prepare the next generation of students for effective engagement in the engineering

profession by 2020. It begins by identifying the desired outcome, and then designing

what the outcome is supposed to look like and the processes required to implement

it. Quality is the key factor and the desired outcomes should include an enhanced

educational experience for engineering students.

Two recent efforts at comprehensive innovation in engineering

education are those launched by the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Engineering Education Coalitions and the revision of the Engineering Accreditation

Criteria by ABET, Inc. (ABET, 2004b). With regard to ABET, it is noted that in

addition to addressing the traditional educational topics, the revised criteria place

particular emphasis on the stakeholder goals and objectives as reflected in the

institutional mission and great emphasis on the outcome of the programs.

A few examples of the Program Outcomes as deemed necessary by

ABET are listed below:

e. an ability to function effectively in teams

g. an ability to communicate effectively

j. a respect for diversity and knowledge of contemporary professional,

societal and global issues

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1.1.3. Engineering Education in India

Education system in India is seeing a total overhaul; especially the

higher education. There is an unimaginable explosion of volume of students,

expansion in the number of institutions and an increase in public funding. The 11th

Five Year Plan looked at inclusive education, trying to correct social imbalances.

The 12th Five Year Plan aims at improving excellence and creating opportunity for

equal access to quality education. To overcome the challenges the University Grant

Commission (UGC) has ensured greater regional and social equity and this can be

seen by the expansion by setting up 16 new Central Universities, and 374 Model

Colleges. The focus was also to increase the Gross Enrollment Ration (GER).

Figure 1.1: Growth of Higher Education in India

Engineering institutions in India currently account for intake of more

than 5,00,000 students in Bachelor’s program, around 30,000 in Master’s program

and less than 1000 in PhD program. The number of institutions has also grown by an

order of magnitude in the last two decades, over the next decade, India will have two

significant opportunities in the form of manufacturing and engineering services

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outsourcing in addition to growing opportunities in business process outsourcing and

information technology outsourcing. In order to meet the growing demand, the

capacity of engineering education needs to be tripled while simultaneously

enhancing quality. Currently, most graduates do not possess the skills needed to

compete in the global economy, and industries have been facing a consistent skills

deficit, mostly in the private sector. Engineering Education is administered by the

MHRD through the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). AICTE

provides the guidelines for starting new programmes in technical education and is

also charged with accrediting the programmes through the National Board of

Accreditation (NBA). Constant dialogue among Educational Institutes, Industries

and Government through seminars and workshops is necessary to keep each other

informed about the latest trends and issues. Many consortia like National

Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), Confederation of

Indian Industries (CII) etc have created a major workforce development platform

and launched several initiatives, in partnership with the Government and academia

that aim to bring positive changes to the Indian education system. Finishing schools

run jointly by educational institutions and industry can train graduates especially in

soft skills to make them more suitable for employment.

On the one hand government and institutions of higher learning are

taking many initiatives, but from the industry perspective, certain reports are very

alarming. Though there is a huge demand for fresh engineers on the industry side, on

the other side quite some students are unemployable. The McKinsey Report and

Nasscom Report (2005), talks of the state where most engineering graduates lack the

basic skill required for being employable. According to the management and

consulting firm, McKinsey, Indian factories will need 73 million workers by 2015,

50% more than today. The IT sector is on a hiring spree, targeting a higher intake,

based on the rising needs. The National Association of Software and Services

Companies, Nasscom-McKinsey Report predicts India will confront a huge shortage

of skilled workers in the next decade. The importance of soft skills as distinct from

hard skills or domain knowledge is increasingly being recognized in several sectors

of today’s highly competitive market place. Research in many fields such as sales

and marketing, software development, engineering and law, has shown that to be

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successful in the workplace, knowledge alone is not enough. Soft skills are needed

to deal with the external world and to work in a collaborative manner with one’s

colleagues. Studies by Stanford Research Institute and the Carnegie Mellon

Foundation among Fortune 500 CEOs found that 75% of long term job success

depended on people skills and only 25% on technical skills.

The need of the hour is to ascertain the need of the industry, revamp the

curriculum, and ensure there is an equal balance of knowledge and skill in preparing

the engineering students. The curriculum and methodology should be such that it

should instil confidence in the students to face and solve real world problems.

1.1.4. Engineering Education in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu has been one of India’s most progressive states and is

amongst the top three on several economic and social indicators. The government

envisaged the preparation of a ‘Vision Document for Tamil Nadu’ that would

identify the single most important resource for achieving economic prosperity and

employment generation with inclusive growth. Success of Vision 2023 is the

availability of trained, knowledgeable and skilled manpower in Tamil Nadu.

Without a body of sufficiently skilled and balanced workforce, no economy can

hope to develop to its potential. Vision 2023 envisages training and skilling 20

million persons over the next 11 years. This will include 15 million people entering

the job market and 5 million who are already part of the working population. 65% of

the persons targeted for skill development (these persons would have studied until

secondary school) would be provided with training for basic skills for a variety of

livelihoods, about 33% would be persons who have undergone formal education as

part of vocational training programmes or in colleges, while the top 2% would be

top echelon professionals. Vision 2023 aims to achieve universal secondary

education and more than 50% enrolment in higher education (comprising of

vocational and college education).

Higher education in India and the educationally advanced state of Tamil

Nadu needs to be viewed in this fast changing global context. The State has the

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second largest intake capacity in the country in engineering education. The

Government of Tamil Nadu devotes special attention to strengthen the higher

education system in the state in response to the emerging demands of the new

century. The Government of Tamil Nadu is committed to achieving various goals,

including economic growth, distributional goals, social inclusion, etc. Higher

education is directly relevant to all these, besides the pursuit of knowledge for its

own sake. For higher education, these imply that in order to support growth, the

sector needs to be large enough, of high quality, and responsive to a rapidly

changing environment. In addition, to support distributional objectives, the needs of

the weaker sections of the society including women, rural population, socially and

economically backward communities are to be taken care of .The growth of private

engineering education has been spectacular in Tamil Nadu reflecting the global

trend. The fast growth in the private sector is on account of the fact that during the

Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85), when the central and state governments were

finding it difficult to expand technical education in the country, a few state

governments were permitted to start private registered societies and trusts to

establish and run technical institutions on a self-financing basis. As a result, a large

number of private self-financing institutions came into existence in the early 1980s.

Anna University (AU) is a technical university and one of the oldest

technical institutes in Tamil Nadu, India. Anna University was established on 4th

September 1978 as a unitary type of University. It offers higher education in

Engineering, Technology and allied Sciences relevant to the current and projected

needs of the society. Besides promoting research and disseminating knowledge, it

fosters cooperation between the academic and industrial communities. The

following table clearly enumerates the growth of engineering colleges in Tamil

Nadu:

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Table 1.1: Growth of Engineering College in Tamil Nadu

Year Number of Engineering colleges

1950 5

1955 8

1960 11

1965 13

1970 13

1975 13

1980 13

1985 37

1990 41

1995 77

2000 156

2005 254

2010 456

2012 525

1.1.5. SRM University

SRM University is a multi stream university offering a wide range of

certificate, diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs in

Engineering, Management, Medicine and Health sciences, and Science and

Humanities. Students have a wide choice of cutting edge programs including

nanotechnology, bioinformatics, genetic engineering, remote sensing and GIS,

embedded systems or computer forensics to choose from. In the faculty of

Engineering & Technology there are 37 Undergraduate courses and 39 Post

graduates courses. Quality is one factor that can describe the education process and

system at SRM and five courses have been accredited by ABET. The Ministry of

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Human Resource and Development of India has awarded grade ‘A’ and National

Board of Accreditation has also awarded grade ‘A’.

While looking at how different educational institutions approach the

training process SRM University has a very unique process where holistic training is

provided to empower students. Career Development Centre is a unique feature of

SRM university where grooming of all engineering students is done from the first

year onwards. The course entitled Personality Development is a credit based course

which is done for the first three years of the Engineering course. In the first year, for

the first two semesters, a soft skills program is conducted in a practical manner to

enhance the confidence and communication skills of the students. It is a pass/ fail

course where students follow a fifteen module book in which personal management

skill, social skill, team skill etc., are dealt with in a practical manner. The content of

the book entitled ‘Insight’ definitely provides insight to the student about himself or

herself and to the teachers on areas where the student needs to improve.

1.2. NEED OF THE STUDY

Over the last two decades India has become a force to reckon with in the

global context. Population explosion which had been a matter of setback for India in

the past proves to be a major advantage in the current scenario with the maximum

population in the working age group. A report released by NASSCOM titled

‘Perspective 2020: Transform Business, transform India’ shows that India has the

highest population in the working age group – about 750 million people, this would

go up to 920 million by 2020. It is this major group which contributes to the steady

growth of India. But if this growth has to sustain it is possible only if education

provides the right support in the required field. The National Knowledge

Commission (NKC) in its report has clearly outlined the need for developing the

education system in India. Among the many recommendations given one important

factor is to enhance the skills of the graduates in view of their employment.

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India has the youngest population in the world. The current median age

of India is less than 26 which is very significant because other developed nations

like Europe has 40, Japan 44, China 35. But the fact is that most graduates are not

readily employable. Studies show that they need to hone certain skills before they

are actually ready to face the job market.

2008

2020

Source: NASSCOM. Perspective 2020: Transform Business, Transform India.

Figure 1.2: Shift in Demographic Balance

In this context, the current study aims to assess the levels of soft skills of

fresh engineering graduates. The study also compares a pre test and post test of

students who have been trained in soft skills. The module followed for training

would enable students to develop their skills.

In the current scenario most colleges and institutions offer training just a

week or ten days before companies visit for recruitment. University of Madras and

Anna University too introduced modules to enhance the soft skills of students and

therefore enable them to be employed at the end of the sixth semester or as and

when companies visit the campus. This does not help students in developing the

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required skill set in such a short span of time. Therefore it was identified that what

students needed most was to develop the right attitude, gain confidence and be

developed holistically right from the beginning .They needed the time to adapt to

change from school to college life and look at the whole picture in a broad

perspective. To enable all students to have this kind of an exposure it was decided to

introduce Soft skills training in the curriculum in the year 2006 in SRM University,

right from the first year of the engineering course.

1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There is a rising demand for manpower across various countries all over

the world. Since globalization has blurred borders people move across continents to

take up employment opportunity. But at the same time it is an obvious fact that the

demand is most often for the qualified and suitably skilled manpower only. Various

studies and research have shown that soft skills or non technical competencies help

people succeed in their various ventures. This being the scenario, most institutions

of higher learning aim at incorporating soft skills in their curriculum.

India has a huge band of population in the young age group and statistics

show that most of them are professionals. The fact that they are technically

knowledgeable alone is not enough. They need to be trained in various aspects of

soft skills that would make them employable. Survey and research study show that

there is a dearth of soft skills among the fresh graduates. The problem lies in

ensuring that these professionals are employable.

Thus the problem of the study emerged as ‘An empirical study on

the impact of soft skills training given to engineering students of SRM

University in Tamil Nadu.’

For effective performance in the workplace, companies need their

employees to have not only domain knowledge, technical and analytical skills, but

also the skills to deal with the external world of clients, customers, vendors, the

government and public; and to work in a collaborative manner with their colleagues.

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1.4. DEFINITION OF TERMS USED IN THE STUDY

The idea of soft skills or key employability skills provides a link

between education and work. In a dynamic knowledge-based economy the job-

specific skills that workers need cannot be readily predicted, and are subject to

constant change. What is important, therefore, is the capacity to continually adapt

and upgrade key skills that can be applied in different settings.

Engineering Students

The students who formed the sample of the study were from engineering

stream. They were students at the entry level who had passed a qualifying school

leaving exams conducted by their respective State or Central board.

Soft Skills

Soft skill is all about how people learn and think. They are basically

behavior, personality, attitude, preferences, personal integrity, communication style,

leadership and/or management aptitude and style. Soft skills are more difficult to

observe, quantify, and measure than hard skills. Organizations often make selection

decisions based on people’s soft skills –and then provide the necessary hard-skills

training. Soft skills are intra- and inter-personal (socio-emotional) skills, essential

for personal development, social participation and workplace success. They include

skills such as communication, ability to work on multidisciplinary teams,

adaptability etc. These skills are distinguished from technical, or ‘hard skills’. They

are characterized as ‘skills’ in order to emphasize the fact that they can be acquired /

developed by suitable training efforts, and they can also be combined, towards the

achievement of complex outcomes.

Employability Skills

Transferable core skill groups that represent essential functional and

enabling knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by the 21st century

workplace…necessary for career success at all levels of employment and for all

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levels of education. Various terms have been used to describe employability skills:

key skills, core skills, transferable skills, soft skills and generic skills. Collectively,

the lists have five common elements, as listed under.

Basic Skills

This comprises of basic skill required in all fields at the basic level.

There are two major areas that students are assessed and trained in. Mathematical

ability ensures that the student is able to solve basic mathematical problems .Verbal

ability enables students to read, comprehend and arrive at logical understanding. It

also enhances vocabulary to improve communication.

Personal Skills

Personal skill is the ability to understand one self, manage stress and

extend support to others and have a positive attitude. Personal management also

looks at the combination of skills, attitudes and behaviours required to get, keep and

progress on a job and to achieve the best results. Aspects like responsibility that

exerts a high level of effort and determination towards goal attainment, Self Esteem

that’s helps to believes in one’s own self-worth and maintains a positive self-view;

Sociability – demonstrates understanding, friendliness, adaptability, empathy and

politeness in group settings.; Self-Management – assesses self accurately, sets

personal goals, monitors progress, and exhibits self control; Integrity/Honesty –

chooses ethical courses of action etc., also go on to encompass a whole gamut of

personal skills

People Skills

People skill focuses on team development and performance. Team

development refers to the ability to help the team form and finish a goal. Team

performance refers to the team dynamics and working to maintain relationships. It

also includes the capacity to interact effectively with other people both on a one to-

one basis and in groups, including understanding and responding to the needs of

others and working effectively as a member of a team to achieve a shared goal.

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Thinking Skills

Thinking skill includes the ability to recognize and define problems,

invent and implement solutions, and track and evaluate results and the ability to look

into the future and plan accordingly. It also includes creative thinking which

involves generating new idea, decision making – specific goals and constraints,

generate alternatives, consider risks, and evaluate and choose the best alternative.

Problem solving is yet another aspect of thinking skills which recognizes problems;

devises and implements a plan of action. ‘Knowing How to Learn’ is another

dimensions that helps to use efficient learning techniques to acquire and apply new

knowledge and skills; Reasoning enables one to discover a rule or principle

underlying the relationship between two or more objects and apply the same when

solving a problem.

Work Skills

Work skill includes attitude that promote and encourage change. These

behaviours include risk taking and an ethical approach in one’s work. It also

includes managing time – select goal relevant activities, rank them, allocate time,

and prepare and follow the schedule. It also involves leadership – communicate

ideas to justify position, persuade and convince others, responsibly challenge

existing procedures and policies. Another important aspect of work skills is to

negotiate – work towards agreement involving exchange of resources, resolves

divergent interests and work well with men and women from diverse backgrounds.

Gender

This refers to the distribution of sample chosen for the study in relation

to the gender. It refers to the male and female students from the population.

Academic achievement

This refer to the achievement level of students in the school leaving

exam that qualifies a student to enter college or higher education based on his or her

performance.

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Qualifying Examinations in HSc

This is the examination that a student need to appear for as he leaves

school and qualifies to enter higher education. Students often take exams conducted

by various boards like the State or Central board at the Higher Secondary Level

(HSc).

Branch of Study

It refers to the engineering course chosen by the student when he enters

the engineering field of study. With advancement in all fields, there is always a

plethora of new emerging courses for students to choose from.

Future Career Options

The choice or the plan the student has in mind regarding his plan of

action for the future. Students in current scenario often have a clear plan of idea

regarding what they want to do in future

SRM University

This is a multi stream university offering courses in Medicine and

Health Sciences, Science and Humanities and Engineering and Technology. The

sample for this study was chosen from the Engineering stream in Kattankulathur

campus located near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

1.5. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this investigation is to assess and study the impact

of soft skill training on fresh engineering students. In today’s scenario, students’

employability levels are of great concern. The present study aims to analyze the

current trend, create a module, train the students and assess the impact of training.

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The following are the objectives of the present study.

1. To identify the soft skills required for engineering students.

2. To develop a module for training the students.

3. To develop a tool to appraise the soft skills of engineering students

4. To train the students in soft skills using the module

5. To study the impact of soft skill training on engineering students by

administering pre and post test.

6. To study the distribution of responses with reference to Gender,

Academic achievement, the Qualifying examinations, the Branch of

Engineering and Future Career Options.

1.6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are based on the above objectives.

1. What are the soft skills required for engineering students?

2. What are the various steps followed in developing a module for

training the students?

3. What are the various steps to develop a tool to appraise the level of

soft skills of engineering students?

4. How was the training implemented to the students in the various

dimensions of soft skills using the module?

5. What is the impact of soft skills training on the fresh engineering

students? Is there a difference in their pre and post test score?

6. What are the differences/similarities in the responses of the students

with reference to Gender, Academic achievement, the Qualifying

examinations, the Branch of Engineering and Future Career

Options?

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1.7. HYPOTHESES

1.12.1 Hypothesis related to difference between pre and post test

1.12.2. Hypothesis related to Gain Score

1.12.3. Hypothesis related to Gender

1.12.4. Hypothesis related to Branch of Engineering

1.12.5. Hypothesis related to Academic achievement

1.12.6 Hypothesis related to Qualifying examination

1.12.7. Hypothesis Related to Future Career Options

1.8. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Engineering institutions in India currently account for intake of more

than 5, 00,000 students in Bachelor’s program, around 30,000 in Master’s program

and less than 1000 in PhD program. The number of institutions has also grown by an

order of magnitude in the last two decades and over the next decade, India will have

two significant opportunities in the form of manufacturing and engineering services

outsourcing in addition to growing opportunities in business process outsourcing and

information technology outsourcing. In order to meet the growing demand, the

capacity of engineering education needs to be tripled while simultaneously

enhancing quality. Currently, most graduates do not possess the skills needed to

compete in the global economy, and industries have been facing a consistent skills

deficit. This study is therefore very relevant as it looks into the soft skills that are

essential for enhancing the employability opportunities of engineering students.

1.9. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Engineering education is the most sought after course in the current

scenario. The development of any society depends to a great extent on the

development of engineering education. Lot of research has been done in various

areas related to engineering field, but very few studies pertain to the skills and

competencies required for engineering students. But there has been a great

realization that such skills are lacking among the youngsters of today.

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The importance of soft skills has been well understood, yet there is scope for

further research. Following are the limitation of this research:

1. The study focused only on students of the faculty of Engineering and

Technology though SRM University is a multi stream university

2. The study focuses only on first year students of engineering at the

entry level

3. The study took into consideration students from Kattankulathur

campus alone.

1.10. STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

The study has been divided into five chapters and is classified as given

below. Chapter I is the introductory chapter and deals with the current scenario as

far as engineering education is concerned. It discusses the growing number of

graduates and the need for them to develop the necessary soft skills. The definitions

of all related terms used in the thesis are outlined. The objective of the research, the

hypotheses related to various parameters has also been discussed. The problem,

scope and limitation of the study is also discussed

Chapter II deals with the review of literature related to the area of this

study. It looks at both the conceptual related studies and research based studies.

Chapter III describes the design of the study and the methodology that

has been followed in the present study. The steps followed in the design of the tools

and the process of how it was administered is dealt with at length.

Chapter IV is about analysis, the various statistical tools used, the

different interpretations and findings of data are dealt with extensively.

Chapter V presents the findings, conclusion and recommendations and

further research in this area of study.