As Assessment of the Employability of International Graduates in India

An Assessment of the
Employability of
International Graduates
Returning to India
2014
www.sannams4.com

Lateral thinking skills, specialist knowledge, superior
communication skills, and strong team skills are
priced positive attributes of individuals with
international degrees.Yet these graduates struggle to
secure employment in India. Explanations for this
anomaly may be found in the recruitment patterns
and perceptions of Indian corporate organisations.
Entry level hiring in India
Indian institutes have, for the past 15 years least,
focussed on developing links with companies and
organising placements opportunities for their
students. During these recruitment fairs, provisional
job offers are made to their students while the
students are on campus. Students with international
degrees however, miss these on-campus recruitment
opportunities to secure roles in large companies.
While there has been a plethora of reports on the
poor skills of Indian graduates, companies have
worked on elaborate in-house, management trainee
programmes, the duration of which ranges between 6
months to a year, to induct these graduates into the
culture of their work force. In this environment, an
international degree holder, who possesses the skills
that these graduate programmes try to inculcate in
their new recruits, is in a unique position to offer
employers their ideal, skilled employee. But returning
graduates have not been able to market these skills
to their prospective employers due to the lack of
opportunity to tap into the recruitment avenues used
by companies. In addition to the disadvantages faced
by the graduates in relation to entry level positions,
there are additional barriers to successful
employment. Some of these are discussed below.
Reasons for low hiring among international
degree holders
There is a large and ready pool of low cost talent
available in India. A degree overseas requires a higher
level of monetary investment by a candidate.
Organisations are likely to believe that such
candidates would expect a higher remuneration
which goes against the philosophy of ‘cookie-cutter’
hiring that often takes place for entry level positions.
There are strong offer perceptions which act as
deterrents to evaluate or hire international degree
holders, including:
Executive Summary
This report examines different aspects of the journey
undertaken by graduate students returning to India
with an international degree to integrate themselves
into the local workforce. In doing so, it details the
perceptions of hiring managers and reviews the
source of their prejudices in recruiting graduates with
overseas qualifications.This report also puts forward
recommendations on what universities could do, in
India, to enhance employability of their alumni, to
ensure that future students view international
universities as attractive education destinations
Methodology
Primary research involved online questionnaires and
telephone interviews.A total of 559 telephonic
interviews were conducted with individuals who have
returned to India post pursuing an international
degree overseas; interviews were conducted with 71
companies across a variety of industry sectors. Based
on the receptiveness of employers to hire
international graduates, we have classified them into
three categories:
 Ambassadors: Employers who are positive
about hiring international graduates.
 Fence-sitters: Employers who may be willing to
evaluate international graduates.
 Sceptics: Employers who are yet to be convinced
about the value international graduates add to
their work force.
Results of the data analysed suggest that graduates
with international qualification degrees are not
preferred over local graduates; they are less likely to
secure a job in an organisation of choice and, when
compared with local graduates of the same calibre,
returning graduates do not enjoy any advantage in
relation to securing jobs with higher starting salaries.
Given these findings it is imperative for international
educational institutions to promote their graduates’
superior employability skills.
Advantage International Education
With a practical, research oriented approach to
problem solving and innovation, candidates with
international degrees possess skills which are far
more conducive to the dynamic nature of the modern
work force.
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Sannam S4 Education Division
Sannam S4 is a specialist, single window provider of
services supporting market entry and on-going business
development of international universities and colleges in
India, China and Brazil.
Sannam S4 helps educational institutions by providing
end-to-end, on-the-ground support in-country.We
combine local technical expertise with practical advice,
to deliver low risk and cost effective solutions to enable
institutions to reach their full potential in the market.At
Sannam S4 we support the local activity of 60
institutions from 6 countries.We manage multiple cross
border institutional partnerships, alumni networks and
provide career services to returning graduates.We have
a privileged and fairly unique view of how the education
world engages with key emerging markets and vice-
versa.
In India alone we currently support over 25 educational
institutions from UK, USA, Canada,Australia and Ireland.
The number of touch points our staff members have
with the Indian market is unmatched and collectively it
is estimated that our clients attract over 2,500 students
from India to their campuses abroad.And in the process
of yielding these 2,500 students, our staff members
meet over 20,000 students in a 12 month recruitment
cycle by way of education fairs, direct lead generation
activities, outreach at local schools and colleges and
local advertising activities.
The Education Division at Sannam S4 is led by
individuals with deep expertise and knowledge about
the local market when it comes to student recruitment,
education event management, building partnerships,
alumni management and careers advisory services. Each
of our education clients undertake a unique journey in
India and our entire team comes together to support
this by offering guidance and advice based on the
experiences of others who have walked similar paths
before.
Recommendations and Conclusions
There has been very little done to highlight the quality
of international universities and their quality of
education to corporate India. As per the QS World
Rankings 2013 as well as the Times Higher Education
World University Rankings 2013, there is not a single
Indian University that features in the top 200. Most
corporates in India would be oblivious of this.
Organisations in India are willing to pay a premium for
candidates from premier Indian institutes. Due to the
lack of branding of international universities and lack
of awareness of the benefits of hiring international
degree holders, these graduates lose out on this
opportunity.
Most universities’ international agenda revolve around
student recruitment to their universities, and industry
and university partnerships. For countries like the
United Kingdom affected by changes in the Post Study
Work policy, there is a dire need to address both the
employability of their returning graduates and the
development of strong corporate relations in India on
a sustained and continuous basis. It is recommended
this be done directly by the university through hiring
dedicated personnel who will engage with corporates
to create awareness of their respective university,
promote the superior technical and soft skill
competence their candidates bring to the table and
present a value proposition.The flip side of this
approach is that the pool of candidates that can be
offered by a single university to an Indian company
would be limited. It would perhaps be far more viable
for universities to collaborate with organisations who
could represent university candidates and evangelise
on their behalf.

3
Acknowledgement
We are grateful to the 559 students who have taken the time to share their
experiences on their return to India. This research would not have been
possible without their help.
It works towards enhancing the employability of Indian
students who have undertaken a degree in the UK and
are keen to join the workforce in India. The services
include:
 Providing updates on corporate India through
industry information and employment trends in the
form of Newsletters every 8 weeks.
 Getting an understanding of the student career
aspiration, providing inputs to students on sectors
and roles they need to target their job search,based
on the job market.
 Assisting students prepare their resumes as per
standards followed in India.
 Preparing students for interviews by creating an
awareness of interview patterns followed in India.
 Working towards managing student compensation
and negotiation with corporates where possible.
 Post a student entering the work force, acting as a
mentor in ensuring the candidate stays in the
organization.
Sannam S4’s Graduate
Development Services are a part
of the value added services
provided to our university clients.
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C O N T E N T
1. Introduction
A. Review of university education in India
B. Favoured destinations
C. Popular courses and areas of study
D. State of the Indian economy and prospects for returning graduates
2. Methodology Review
A. Survey of employers
B. Survey of returning graduates
3. Results
A. Corporate Perspective:
I. Reluctance to recruit international graduates with no prior work
experience
ii. Comparison of a size of an organisation with percentage of employees who
have studied abroad
iii. Soft skills and attitude comparison with Indian degree holders
iv. Comparison of salaries and potential return on investment
v. Perceptions about why students study abroad
vi. Perceptions about why graduates return
B. Student Perspective:
i. Students choose their university based on academic reasons
ii. Time taken for international graduates to get their first job in India
iii. Perception of whether international degree helped them get their first job
Iv. Effect of looking for jobs while studying
v. What graduates thought helped them to get their first job
vi. Job application methods
vii. What extra help graduates wanted from their universities
4. Conclusions and Recommendations
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5
6
7
8
8
8
9
10
10
10
12
13
18
21
22
23
23
23
24
26
28
29
30
31
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 institutions the only beacons of established and
recognized excellence.
 Lack of quality institutions in rural areas.
Standards for higher education are determined by the
University Grants Commission (UGC), which also
allocates and distributes university grants. However,
few effective strategies have been developed to
address the issue of quality assessment and
accreditation among Indian higher education
institutions.There are over 12 million students
currently studying in universities in India, but there
are huge deficiencies in terms of quality. In the
international context, Indian universities are not
highly rated, with India being the only BRICS country
not to have a single university within the top 200 of
the international QS rankings. Even within Asia, the
universities in India are considered to be of a poor
quality, with only 11 Indian universities ranked in the
1.
top 300 With the increased demand for university
education due to the growth of the population of
young people, keeping track of the quality of
educational institutions is an increasingly difficult task.
Even among the top 22 universities in India.There is
an average faculty vacancy rate of 34%, highlighting
the difficulty Indian universities are having meeting
the demand for education.
In the light of overwhelming demand and limited
capacity of these institutions, notions of excellence
through mere admission in these institutions have
been fostered with the top jobs in the Indian industry
going to a select few.
Indian institutions offer well-structured programmes
but with little flexibility in course selection.
Institutions abroad have traditionally offered students
the benefit of choosing a combination of subjects.
Until the late 1990s international education was
either the domain of scholarship-seekers, or the rich.
1. Introduction
A. REVIEW OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN
INDIA
Sannam S4's survey of Indian employers and returning
international graduates is an important research
project initiated by its Education team.The survey
took place in the period between February 2012 to
June 2013.This survey is intended to present the
perception of foreign degrees by Indian employers and
highlight the incongruence of these perceptions with
the aspirations of the graduated students with an
international degree.
With a population in excess of 1.2 billion, India is
often heralded as a potential world power. With the
number of 15-24 year olds in India expected to rise
to 100 million by 2025, twice the number than in
North America and almost 25% more than in the
whole of Europe, the development
of this enormous young human resource through
education is a key aspiration. In sheer numbers, India
currently has the world's third-largest education
system behind USA and China. In addition to over 500
central and state government institutions, including
the elite IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIMs
(Indian Institute of Management), there are over
25,000 institutions offering higher education and
specialised skill development. However, access to
higher education for India's youth is seemingly limited
due to a number of social, economic and political
factors enumerated below:
 Students from the lower socioeconomic strata
constitute about 40% of higher education
students. Large fees involved in admission and
associated expenses of attending college make
access limited.
 While IITs, IIMs and a select number of public
universities have established an international
reputation for excellence, they collectively enrol
only a small fraction of the higher education
population, attracting the country's most talented
and ambitious students making admission
extremely competitive.
 Despite the presence of a large number of
educational institutions, few effective strategies
have been developed to address the issue of
quality assessment and accreditation among them,
with the IITs, IIMs and a handful of government
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www.sannams4.com
1
QS University Rankings Asia 2012

 Better availability of scholarships such as the
Fulbright-Nehru and TA (Teaching Assistantship)
scholarships.
 Presence of established diaspora and Indian
community, with numerous examples of Indian
success stories in the US.
 Positive perception of the value of a US
qualification and its recognition world-wide.
This is also viewed as a path to migrate to other
countries.
The decision by an Indian student on the country in
which they wish to study is often influenced by the
post study work policy (PSW) of a country and rules
on immigration.This is evident from the decline in
student enrolment in the UK during the 2012 and
2013 intakes, following a tightening in immigration
policy.
In a separate study conducted recently by Sannam S4
of 150 Indian students who graduated in 2013 from
the UK and returned to India, an overwhelming 91%
preferred to stay overseas post completion of their
degree.
Overall, those going to the traditional destinations of
the US, UK and Australia make up 81% of the Indian
students going abroad. However, the dominance of
those three destinations is being challenged. Due to
new visa restrictions introduced in the UK, mainland
Europe is becoming an increasingly popular
destination, particularly Germany and France who
don't generally charge fees and are rolling out the red
carpet to Indian students.
Although not yet significant enough to show in
(Figure1) recent years there has been an increase in
the number of students from India studying in
Singapore.This is partly due to Singapore's
geographical proximity to India and safety, but also
because of the relatively cheap cost of living,
compared to the US and the UK.
3
In 2012 over 3,000 Indian students were studying in
Singapore, while that number has been growing by
4
more than 20% annually .
A number of students look for jobs after their
degrees in the host country. However in the current
economic climate, and with increased visa restrictions
in countries such as the UK, a majority of these
graduates return to India in search for jobs.
But with the rising cost of education in India and the
increase in the reservation policy, the process of
setting aside a certain number of seats in educational
institutes for members of backward and under-
represented communities defined primarily by caste,
as well as the rise of income, a larger number of
middle class students are open to studying abroad as
self-funded students.
As a consequence, the demand for education from
international institutions has risen considerably as the
work force attempts to promote and distinguish itself.
For these reasons the number of Indian students
studying abroad increased by 256% from 2000 to
2
2009. UNESCO statistics for the 2010-2011 indicate
Indian students in excess of 200,000 are studying
abroad, constituting about 5.6% of the total number of
globally mobile student base.
(Figure 1)
B. FAVOURED DESTINATIONS
The United States has the largest share of this
internationally mobile student population with the UK
and Australia a distant second and third.There are a
number of reasons why the US is such a popular
destination for Indian students;
 Popularity of USA's education system with world
renowned professors and research.
 Large number of institutions and availability of
places in American institutions.
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2
UNESCO Institute for statistics:http://www.uis.unesco.org/EDUCATION/Pages/international-student-flow-viz.aspx
3
Asia Education News. JUNE 26, 2012. http://asia.educationnews.com/2012/06/26/welcome-to-asias-new-education-hub-singapore/
4
Shiksha.com. Singapore attracts 3000 Indian students p.a http://www.shiksha.com/singapore-new-education-destination-for-indians-article-5047-1
Figure 1: Popular destinations for Indian students
USA
57%
United Kingdom
21%
Australia
11%
New Zealand
5%
Canada
2%Russia
2%
Germany
2%

spend an average of USD 41,000 or GBP 25,000
studying abroad per annum, which is approximately
three times as much as those studying in India, so
they expect a reasonable return on their investment.
This white paper will therefore look into the reasons
why, despite the obvious advantages that an
international education brings, graduates returning
from abroad often struggle to find employment in
India.
C. POPULAR COURSES AND AREAS OF
STUDY
For the majority of Indian students, studying abroad
is something that is considered as an option for post
graduate study after completing their undergraduate
degree in India. However, the number of
undergraduates studying abroad from India has been
increasing in recent years and so the situation for
those graduating with a bachelor's degree from a
foreign university should not be ignored. In terms of
the area of study, India students studying abroad tend
to choose courses in business management,
engineering or IT, so the sectors in India employing
those who study abroad will be related to these
qualifications.The preference for business
management is particularly obvious for Indian
students studying in the UK, with 1 in 3 enrolling to
do a Masters in Business Management.
D. STATE OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY AND
PROSPECTS FOR RETURNING GRADUATES
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India's GDP was $1.842 trillion in 2012, with a
6
growth of 4.7% annually (2013).Within 15 years, India
will have the largest population in the world. But it is
not just that India's population is growing that is
significant, the number of young people is also
growing rapidly. Currently more than 80% of India's
population is under 45 years old. By 2020 India's
working population will increase by 136 million,
compared to China where it is only expected to rise
by 23 million in the same period.This increase in
people of working age is only going to increase the
number of consumers, particularly with a rising Indian
middle class, therefore boosting India's growth in the
years to come.
In 2013, the Indian Finance Minister
Mr. P. Chidambaram predicted that, with good
governance, the Indian economy could grow at more
than 8% for the next 25 years.With this booming
economy and the lack of quality of Indian educational
institutions, it might be expected that graduates from
foreign universities would have very good job
prospects when they returned to India. Making up just
1.6% of India's graduate population, those who studied
abroad should have a major competitive advantage
when they enter the job market. Indian students
7
5
The World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
6
The Economic Times. Oct 17, 2013,World Bank cuts India’s 2013-2014 GDP growth projection to 4.7%.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-17/news/43114672_1_india-s-gdp-growth-forecast-india-development-report
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Consultant
10%
Director
10%
Executive
3%
General Manager
35%
Head of business
19%
HR Executive
8%
Specialist to
industry
15%
2. Methodology Review
A. SURVEY OF EMPLOYERS: CONTACTING HR
AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF VARIOUS
SECTORS
In the interest of presenting an unbiased opinion, we
approached decision makers including HR heads and
senior managers from various companies in multiple
sectors.The survey was conducted using telephone
interviews and web tools with information validation
during each stage of the process.
The data captured through the primary survey of
about 71 firms across sectors to arrive at estimates
on different parameters.The sectors represented in
our survey are reflected in the proportions shown
below.The survey went across the majority of the
most important sectors in the Indian economy.
 IT, Media, Finance and Education sectors were
best represented in the survey.
 Sectors that were less well represented were
filtered out when comparing sectors in the results
section to ensure a reasonable, fair sample at the
time of results acquisition.
As well as many different sectors being covered in the
survey, there was also representation from a range of
different company sizes.The smallest company
surveyed had just 15 employees, while the largest
company in our sample had over 25,000 employees.
 Businesses of all sizes were well represented in the
survey.
 30% of companies surveyed had less than 100
employees.
 26% of the companies surveyed had over 1000
employees.
It is also important to check how the seniority of people
interviewed in the company is represented in this survey.
To minimise biases, owners of businesses were not
approached. Managers and key staff directly involved in
hiring process were selected to be interviewed.
 People holding a variety of different positions were
questioned for this survey.
Figure 4: Position of person questioned
Figure 2: Sectors surveyed
Figure 3: Head count in companies questioned surveyed
IT
20%
Media
18%
Financial Services
17%
Education
12%
Retail
10%
Communications
9%
Engineering and
manufacturing
8%
Healthcare
3%Other
3%
Less than 100
30%
100-250
14%
251-500
16%
501-1000
14%
1001-2000
9%
2001-5000
7%
5001 +
10%

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who graduated more than ten years ago were filtered
out.The graduation dates of the rest of the graduates
included is shown in the following figure.
B. SURVEY OF RETURNING GRADUATES
After surveying the employers in India, 559 Indian
graduates of universities in the U.S, UK,Australia and
Singapore were asked questions to see how their
experiences and perceptions matched those of
corporate India. Graduates from 22 universities were
surveyed.
Due to the small sample size of graduates from
American universities, the comparison between
countries in the results will only include Australia,
Singapore and the UK. In these countries the sample
is large enough for the countries to be compared in a
meaningful way.
It was also important to make sure that all the data
was from students who had graduated recently so
that the results would show what the current
situation is. Therefore the responses of students
Table 1: Universities included in the survey
Country
Australia
Singapore
United Kingdom
USA
University
Curtin University
James Cook University
Monash University
University of New South Wales
The University of Sydney
James Cook University
Management Development Institute of Singapore
Nanyang Technological University
National University of Singapore
Singapore Institute of Management
Glasgow Caledonian University
Queen Mary University of London
Swansea University
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Essex
University of Exeter
University of Hertfordshire
University of Leeds
University of Nottingham
University of Westminster
University of South Florida
Total
Graduates surveyed
30
17
30
12
31
34
31
29
37
14
29
21
17
28
38
29
38
34
29
13
3
15
559
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Figure 5:Year of graduation of respondent students
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2003-2008
18%
2009
11%
2010
33%
2011
34%
2012
4%

3. Results
A. CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE
I. RELUCTANCE TO RECRUIT INTERNATIONAL
GRADUATES WITH NO PRIOR WORK
EXPERIENCE
Almost 35% of respondents do not recruit candidates
with an international degree and no prior experience.
Although a majority of respondents indicated that
they had hired or were willing to hire new graduates
with international degrees, 35% gave the opposite
response. From the students’ perspective, who have
pursued expensive and evidently prestigious degrees,
the lack of commensurate enthusiasm from one third
of the decision makers in Indian companies is of
concern. Possible reasons for this are discussed
below:
 Lack of effective skill bench marking
Indian employers do not have effective
mechanisms to compare skills of graduates from
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international colleges against their Indian
counterparts as they are used to hiring from a
handful of India’s prominent schools as an annual
exercise.
 Perception of arrogance and high salary
demands
International degrees are considerably more
expensive than Indian degrees and from a purely
economic point of view, where return of
investment in education is measured only in
monetary terms, the standard starting salary in
an Indian company may result in a disgruntled and
dissatisfied employee.
 Lack of employer awareness of universities
Most Human Resource professionals are not
aware of international universities, making them
apprehensive about employing graduates from
those universities. For example, a head of
recruitment of a leading consulting firm said “The
second and third tier colleges in the US or UK
may be better than most of ours, but Indian
employers are sceptical about lesser-known
institutions”.
 Perceived high attrition levels among
students with an international degree
Securing a first job is a challenge. Once an
individual enters the job market, a move to the
next organisation is relatively easy.The need to
earn more money to repay loans and a lack of
cultural fit are perceived as reasons for high
attrition levels among international graduates,
which in turn drives some hesitation in hiring
them.We will explore this theme later in the
report.
It is important to note the type of organisation that
prefers someone who has studied abroad and those
that are reluctant.
The main findings are as follows:
Figure 7: Employers from each sector that are receptive to employing international students in percentage
Figure 6: Preference for Indian companies to recruit
international degree holders with no prior work
experience
Yes
65%
No
35%
60
29
67
70
75
91
67
40
71
33
30
25
9
33
Communications
Education
Engineering
HR
IT
Media
RetailYes
No

 Companies in the media sector are
most likely to employ those who have
studied abroad and do not have any
work experience.
 This contrasts with the results of a
2011 QS study which claimed that
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globally the media sector is one of the
least likely to employ graduates who
had studied abroad.
 Educational institutions appear to be
most reluctant to employ those who
have studied abroad, possibly because
they want their employees to have had
experience of the education sector in
India.
As well as investigating the preferences of
the different sectors for those who
studied abroad, it is worth looking at
whether the size of the company makes a
difference. demonstrates that(Figure 8)
companies of a certain size are more likely
to employ graduates who studied abroad
than others. Key findings are:
11
Figure 8: How size of business, as measured by number
of employees, may affect preference to employ
international graduates
 The larger the company, the more
comfortable they are in employing
graduates from international
universities.
 It is possible that these companies are
most likely to be international in scope
and so will value input of people who
have lived and studied abroad.
 Mid sized companies, particularly
those with between 251 and 500
employees, appear to be the least
likely to employ graduates from
foreign universities.
 Small businesses, those with less than
100 employees, do not have the same
reluctance to employing graduates
who studied abroad and appear to
have a favourable perception of them.
The views of those from differing positions on
international students is important as it may suggest
that targeting particular roles in business may be
worthwhile.
 Consultants, Directors, General Managers and
the heads of businesses have very similar levels of
preference for international students.
 HR Executives who were interviewed are the
most likely to favour international graduates.
 Those who had specialist positions that were
only relevant to their sector were the least likely
to say that their company employed graduates
from foreign universities.This could be because
this type of employee is likely to be more inward
looking due to their area of specialization in one
sector, so may not be as sympathetic to those
who had experienced other cultures in a foreign
country.
www.sannams4.com
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QS Global Employer Survey Report, 2011. http://content.qs.com/qs/qs-global-employer-survey-2011.pdf
71
60
38
70
83
80
86
29
40
63
30
17
20
14
Less than 100
100-250
251-500
501-1000
1001-2000
2001-5000
5000+
Yes No
Figure 9: Positions of people interviewed and preference
of employing graduates who studied abroad in percentage
NoYes
67 67
64
67
80
56
33 33 36 33 20 44
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Consultant Director General
Manager
Head of
Business
HR Executive Industry
Specialist

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38%
55% 56%
28%
32% 33%
19%
6% 6%5%
3%
5% 5% 4% 5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Less than 100 100-1000 1000+
Total number of employees
0% <5% 6-10% 11-20% 21-30% >31%
OverseasEducatedEmployees
II. COMPARISION OF SIZE OF AN
ORGANISATION WITH PERCENTAGE OF
EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE STUDIED ABROAD
It is useful to look at the current makeup of the
companies surveyed to see how many current
employees studied abroad. It is quite likely that the
type of companies that currently employ a lot of
international graduates will have a greater awareness
of the benefits that they can bring and so will be more
likely to employ international graduates in future.
The chart above shows the percentage of employees in each company surveyed who had studied for their
degree abroad and had no work experience when they started working for that company.
Among the mid-sized and large-sized companies surveyed, over 50% did not hire candidates with an
international degree at the entry level.
It is interesting to note in small organisations with an employee strength of less than 100, 19% of employers
surveyed had between 6 to 10% of their employees who had an international degree.
Figure 10: Percentage of employees who studies abroad in each sized business with no prior
work experience

13
www.sannams4.com
Figure 11.
Employers’ skill
perception of
graduates who
studied abroad
compared to those
who studied at
domestic institutions.
8
Geeta Anand,April 5, 2011. India Graduates Millions, but Too Few Are Fit to Hire.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703515504576142092863219826
9
Purple Leap,August 16, 2012. Most engineering graduates not readily employable. http://purpleleap.wordpress.com/2012/08/.
III. SOFT SKILLS AND ATTITUDE
COMPARISON WITH INDIAN DEGREE
HOLDERS
A major challenge which has the potential to
undermine the continued growth of the Indian
economy is the lack of skills possessed by graduates.
The number of graduates has increased by more than
800% from 1998 to 2008, (MHRD, 2009), but
employers often do not consider them to be of the
required quality for the jobs they need to fill. A
survey from the National Association of Software and
Services Companies found that 75% of technical
graduates and more than 85% of general graduates
are unemployable by India's high-growth global
8
industries’ (The Wall Street Journal, 2011 ). Indeed, a
9
2013 PurpleLeap study found that only 1/10th of
students of tiers 2, 3 and 4 engineering colleges are
readily employable.The survey was conducted across
12 states among graduates who had scored more than
60%.With this lack of skills among Indian graduates it
is worth looking at how employers perceive the skills
of those who graduated abroad, to see how they
compare. Employers were asked whether
international graduates had better, worse or the same
level of skills as domestic graduates in each area.
From their responses, documented in the below
chart , the following general observations(Figure 11)
can be made:
 Employers considered graduates who had studied
abroad to have less commitment to the job and
organisation than those who studied in India.This
could be attributed to higher levels of ambition
and desire to progress quickly which the current
organisation cannot meet resulting in higher
attrition levels. It suggests a concern that these
graduates will seek to go abroad when the
opportunity presents itself and are only looking
for a job in India because they cannot get one
abroad.
 Other than that, a majority of employers believed
that students with an international degree were
at least on par with students who studied in India
for each skill.
 Employers considered graduates who studied
abroad to have much stronger ‘lateral thinking
skills’ than those who studied in India.
24%
35%
33%
54%
28%
20%
35%
7%
7%
11%
6%
9%
11%
6%
52%
54%
52%
31%
52%
61%
50%
17%
4%
4%
9%
11%
7%
9%
Decision making
Team player
Analytical skills
Lateral thinking
Problem solving skills
Relevant skill set
Knowledge
Better than graduates from Indian universities
Worse than graduates from Indian universities
On par with graduates from Indian universities
No opinion

14
Small businesses considered international graduates
to be particularly strong at lateral thinking skills.
It might be worth emphasising these skills in job
applications as they correspond to the perceptions
this type of company already has.
Figure 12: Perceptions of small businesses with less than 100 employees in percentage
More than half of small businesses believed that
international graduates were only ‘on par’ with
graduates from domestic universities when it came to
team work.
Figure 13:
Perceptions of
medium sized
businesses with an
employee strength
between 100 to
1,000 in percentage
Whilst these observations apply to all of the
employers surveyed, it is important to note the
perceptions of different types of businesses so that
graduates can target job applications to the type of
organisation they want to work for.
35
40
45
70
35
45
25
5 5 5
20
10
3535
55
50
25
45
35 35
25
5 10 5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Decision
making
Team player Analytical
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
Knowledge Commitment
to job and
organisation
Better than graduates from Indian universities Worse than graduates from Indian universities
On par with graduates from Indian universities No opinion
31
45
24
38
28
24
21
7 10
17
10 10 10
24
55
41
55
41
55 55
52
7 3 3 10 7 10 3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation

 Medium sized businesses have lower
perceptions of the skills of international
graduates than small businesses.
 A much larger percentage of those asked
considered the skills of international
graduates to be only on par with those
who graduated from domestic universities.
 Since it was this size business that was the
most reluctant to employ international
graduates, it suggests that perception of
skills does make a difference to the
likelihood of a company employing
someone who has studied abroad.
 The difference is particularly striking with
‘Ability to think lateral’, suggesting that
this skill is highly valued by Indian
employers.
15
Figure 14: Perceptions of large sized businesses with
larger than 1,000 employees in percentage
Figure 15: Perception of employers who employed
international students in percentage
 Larger businesses had a much more
positive perception of the skills of
international graduates than those of
medium sized businesses.
 In particular, this type of organisation
tended to think graduates who had
studied abroad had strong analytical and
lateral thinking skills.
 It is particularly striking that larger
businesses, when compared to mid-
sized and small businesses, had a much
higher perception of the knowledge of
international graduates.
 Graduates should bear these differing
skill perceptions in mind when writing
job applications.
By looking at the perceptions of those
employers that employ international
graduates and comparing them with those
that do not, it is possible to observe the
skills that are valued most by those that do
employ international graduates.
The following two charts depict the skill
sets distribution of internationally qualified
Indian candidates vis-à-vis domestic
graduates according to respondent
companies who employed and didn’t employ
internationally qualified staff.
www.sannams4.com
25
19
50 50
19
56
19
13
19
6
13
6
56
63
38
25
63
44
50
6 6
13
19
25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation
28
43
36
55
29
45
17
10
12
7 10
12
7
21
50
45
52
29
52
40
50
12
5 7 7 7
12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation

16
Employers in India can broadly be classified into
Ambassadors, Fence-sitters and Sceptics based on
their conviction and willingness to employ
international graduates as below:
 The Sceptics are more likely to believe that the
skills of international graduates are on par with
those from Indian universities.
 The Sceptics perceive lateral thinking skills,
technical knowledge and team skills to be lower
than the perceptions from those who do employ
graduates who studied abroad.
 It is important to note that among the
Ambassadors 50% of those who employ
international graduates actually think their
commitment levels are similar to someone who
has been hired from a domestic institution.
 The Sceptics consider international degree
holders’ commitment to the organisation to be
higher than those who do employ them,
suggesting that this attribute is not that highly
valued.
 There is very little difference between the
perceptions for decision making and analytical
skills, suggesting that proficiency in these skills
does not lead to an increase in the chances of
being employed.
Figure 16: Categories of employers based on their
conviction and willingness to employ international
graduates
Figure 17: Skill perceptions from sceptics in percentage
35
26
39
43
26 26
30
4 9 13 9 9 9
26
48
61
43
39
57 57
39
13 4 4 9 9 9 4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation
Sceptic
Fence-sitter
Ambassador
Willingness High
Low
Conviction
Low
High

To confirm the accuracy of these results it is
useful to focus on the employers that thought
international graduates were stronger than
domestic graduates in each skill. If a large
percentage of those who say international
graduates are stronger in a particular skill do
actually employ them, then it is fair to assume
that this skill is valued by employers.
 Again, this chart shows that a high
perception of the knowledge and team
working skills of international graduates
corresponds most often to their
employment.
 The perception of being committed to
the job and organisation makes the least
difference to the chances of being
employed.
The observation that employers are not that
concerned about a graduate’s commitment to
the job and organisation is surprising as this is
often cited as a reason why employers might
be reluctant to employ international
graduates. It is therefore worth looking at this
factor in more detail.
There is evidence to suggest a perception
among some employers that students who
studied abroad will have less commitment to
the organisation. But where this perception is
present, it does not seem to make any
difference to an organisations preference to
employing international graduates.
It is possible that employers are prepared to
accept the potential lack of long term
commitment in return for the better skills
that graduates from foreign universities bring.
Equally, it is likely that the culture of
employees moving jobs on a regular basis in
India means that loyalty and commitment are
not considered to be as important as other
skills.
17
Figure 18: How perception of higher skills relates to
employment of international students in percentage
Figure 19: How perceptions of the commitment
levels of international graduates affect their likelihood
to be employed in percentage
www.sannams4.com
60
75
63
70
67
76
50
40
25
38
30
33
24
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation
Employ international graduates Don't employ international graduates
50%
60%
70%
83%
50%
40%
30%
17%
Better Worse On par No opinion
Perception of Commitment
Willing to hire international degree holders Not willing to hire international degree holders

10
Forbes India, February 12, 2014. Http://forbesindia.com/graphics/world-watch/how-much-international-students-are-really-worth/23662
18
IV. COMPARISON OF SALARIES AND
POTENTIAL RETURN ON INVESTMENT
A majority of returning international
graduates do not get higher starting salaries
from Indian companies
Forbes India estimates that the average Indian student
10
studying abroad will spend $22,650 to complete
their one year Masters degree.With the survey
results suggesting that only 22% of employers would
pay graduates from international universities more
than domestic graduates, it suggests that those who
study abroad are not getting a very good return on
their investment. With 37% of employers paying
international graduates the same as their peers from
Indian universities, it might be questioned whether the
skills they have developed while studying abroad are
valued by employers.Whilst it costs over three times
as much to study abroad, compared to studying in a
domestic institution, the average graduate from
abroad only got 1.1 times the starting wage of the
domestic graduate in the best of situation.
However, there are reasons why students who studied
abroad might expect a better return than those
figures suggest.The largest number of corporate
respondents (41%) said that the level of pay was
dependent upon the performance during the
recruitment process. Assuming that graduates have
developed more skills from attending a highly ranked
foreign university it may well be expected that they
will perform better during the recruitment process.
Equally, there is potential for international universities
to offer guidance to their students on how to
emphasise the skills they have gained during their
study. For a large majority of returning graduates, this
would be their first exposure to the job market in
India. Hence it is important that Careers Advisory
services in the universities prepare them better by
helping them contextualise Indian conditions.
Attention must be drawn to the recruitment process
followed in India which is very different to process
followed overseas. For candidates to be successful in
the interview process, it is important that universities
understand recruitment process followed in India or
tie up with organisations that can assist in preparing
returning graduates to succeed.
Figure 20: Salary paid out to international graduates
vis-à-vis Indian graduates
After these general observations, looking specifically
at each employer type will give a better idea about
the return on their investment that international
graduates will get depending on their career
aspirations.The following figure shows the percentage
of employers in each sector who are willing to pay
international graduates more than their domestic
counterparts.
Figure 21: Willingness to pay a premium salary for
international graduates by sector
Higher than their
Indian counterparts
22%
Variable*
41%
At par with the
indian counterparts
37%
*Dependent on their performance
during the recruitment process (test, interview etc)
IT 0%
HR/ Consulting 0%
Education 29%
Media 50%
PR Firms 60%
Retail 67%

19
 international graduates higher than those who
pay them more money.
 Both groups had similar perceptions about the
commitment levels of the returning graduates.
 IT and HR companies do not expect to pay
international graduates any more than
graduates from domestic universities.This
partly explains why IT companies are more
likely to employ international graduates as
they do not associate them with higher
wages.
 Companies that are involved in retail and
PR firms are most likely to pay those who
studied abroad a higher salary.
It is interesting to see the trend in the
willingness of companies to pay higher salaries
to individuals with international qualifications.
(Figure 22)
 The largest companies in the survey were
least likely to pay graduates who studied
abroad more than their domestic
counterparts.
 The mid-sized companies were most likely
to pay international graduates more than
those from India, but even in this category
less than 40% said they would do so.
It is quite revealing that the result in this chart
seems to be the opposite to the results on
whether they employ international graduates.
For example, mid-sized companies were least
likely to employ international graduates, but
most likely to pay them more than domestic
graduates.This suggests the notion that they
have to pay international graduates more may
put them off from hiring them.
To explore this theme further it is worth
looking at the relationship between the salary
budgets of employers and their likelihood to
employ graduates who studied abroad.
It is also worth looking at the skill perceptions
of the employers that pay international
graduates more than domestic students so as
to gauge the skills that employers are prepared
to pay more for.
 The Ambassadors have a much higher
perception of technical, problem solving
and decision making skills of international
graduates and thus willing to pay a higher
wage.
 Those who pay the same wages to all
graduates rate lateral thinking skills, team
work and technical knowledge of
Figure 22: Willingness amongst employers to pay
differential salaries to international graduates in
percentage
Figure 23: Skill sets of overseas scholars as perceived
by Ambassadors
Figure 24: Skill sets of overseas scholars as perceived
by employers willing to pay at par with domestic
graduates
www.sannams4.com
19
39
13
38
25
47
43
36
40
0 20 40 60 80 100
Less than 100
100-1000
1001 +
Higher than domestic graduates
On par with domestic graduates
Depending on performance during recruitment process
NumberofEmployees
29
18
35 35
41
35
1212
18
12
18
24
12
24
53
65
47
41
35
41
53
6 6 6 12 12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation
23
50
32
50
18
45
18
5 9 14 9 9 9
27
59
41
50
32
59
41
45
14 0 5 9 14 5 9
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation

20
Ambassadors seem to value the following skills the
most, and were willing to pay a premium for:
 Problem solving skills
 Domain knowledge
 Lateral thinking skills
 Analytical skills
It is worth acknowledging that starting salary is only
one way of assessing ‘value’ of an education abroad.
This does not assess ‘salary progression’ which would
be another key factor when assessing return on
investment. It is acknowledged that returning
Figure 25: Percentage who
consider international
graduates have better skills
than domestic graduates,
comparing those that pay
international graduates more
with those who pay the same
graduates find it harder to plug into the job market
and have to battle a larger set of odds. It will be
worthwhile to take a cross-section of individuals
with international qualifications and track them
over a period of a few years to chart their career
progressions, job switches and salary progression.
This can be against a control group of similarly
qualified domestic graduates. Unfortunately that is
outside the scheme of this research.
29
18
35 35
41
35
12
23
50
32
50
18
45
18
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Decision
making
skills
Lateral
thinking
Problem
solving skills
to job and
organisation
Pay international graduates more Pay international graduates the same

V. PERCEPTIONS ABOUT WHY STUDENTS
STUDY ABROAD
Corporates perceive students go overseas to
study for other reasons besides just the better
quality of education:
 One in five respondents thought that
individuals chose to study abroad as they could
not secure admission to their preferred
university in India. (Figure 26)
 17% believed students who study abroad are
‘migration orientated’, suggesting a fear that
they may not be loyal employees.
Whilst this chart gives a general impression of the
view of employers in India, when comparing the
answers of employers from different sectors the
results are likely to be more interesting:
 Among the different sectors, (Figure 27)
respondents from the IT and Media sectors
were most inclined to believe that students
study abroad for international exposure.This
could be because employers in these sectors
prefer their employees to be exposed to
foreign cultures and ideas.
 The HR and consulting sectors were most
concerned that students who study abroad are
migration orientated.
 Those in the education sector are most likely
to believe that the hands on approach to
education was the main attraction of studying
abroad, but this could well be because
respondents in this category were more
informed about the value of studying abroad
21
Figure 26: Perceptions about why students
choose to study abroad
Figure 28: Perception of Ambassadors on why
students study overseas
Figure 27: Percentage from each sector who believed
students studied abroad for international exposure
www.sannams4.com
 The Ambassadors are significantly more likely
to believe they go abroad because(Figure 28)
of a need for international exposure.The
sceptics are more likely to believe that they go
abroad because they are migration orientated.
 Suggests there may be some value in trying to
convince employers that students are not
studying abroad because they want to migrate
from India.
Need for international
exposure
31%
Course of interest not
available in India
3%
Practical
course
curriculum
15%
Family/Peer pressure
16%
Migration oriented
17%
Inability to get
admission in India
18%
Need for
international
exposure
Education 33%
Media 56%
HR/ Consulting
38%
IT
60%
54%
16%
16%
11%
3%
Need for international exposure
Practical orientated approach to
education
Migration orientated
Inability to get into university in
India
Family/ peer pressure

22
VI PERCEPTIONS ABOUT WHY
GRADUATES RETURN
Do Indian employers think graduates return
out of choice or because they are forced to
return due to other external reasons including
lack of employment opportunities in the host
country? By comparing the different sector
perceptions on this issue it is possible to
identify the biases that employers hold about
international graduates before they read their
job application or meet them for a job
interview. (Figure 29)
 Economic recession was the most popular
response given by employers as to why
international graduates return to India.
 60% believed that it was only because they
couldn’t get a job overseas, either because
of a lack of ability or the economic
recession, which was the main reason for
graduates returning.
 More promisingly, over 30% saw the
positive pull of India’s growing economy as
being the main reason.
 Medium sized businesses were least likely
to consider the positive pull of India’s
growing economy as the main reason for a
graduate to return.This partly explains
their reluctance to employ international
graduates as they consider their return to
be for mostly negative reasons. (Figure 30)
 Larger companies most likely to
understand the difficulty of finding work in
the host country with the effects of the
economic recession. (Figure 31)
A similar percentage of people from each
position believed students studied abroad to
gain international exposure, suggesting that this
perception is consistent no matter what
position the person holds. Industry specialists
are most likely to cite the practical approach
to education as they are more likely to be well
versed with the finer aspects of the job and
skills it requires. (Figure 31)
The IT and Media sectors are most likely to
believe that graduates are returning because
they want to be part of the growing Indian
economy. This suggests these companies might
be more self-confident about India as an
attractive destination for graduates, whilst also
Figure 31: Position in business and perception of why students
study abroad in percentage
Figure 29: Employers perspective on why graduates
return to India
Figure 30: How different sized businesses perceive reasons
for returning to India
being part of the reason why they employ the most
graduates who have studied abroad. HR companies tended
to think that students only return to India because they
could not get a job abroad.
IT companies are most likely to believe students return
because of the effects of the economic recession abroad.
They are likely to be more international in outlook and so
have a greater awareness of how the economic recession
has effected employment.
India is a growing
economy
Understanding of
the Indian market
prepares you to
work abroad
4%
Economic recession
affected job
market abroad
Family compulsion
Could not secure a
job overseas
31%
40%
5%
20%
4%
33%
7%
53%
7%
28%
40%
20%
29%
6%
24%
41%
India is a growing
economy
Understanding of the
Indian Market
prepares you to work
overseas
Economic recession
affected job market
Could not secure a
job overseas
1000+
100-1000
Less than 100
50
56
50
50
10
17
11
33
11
10
28
11
20
17
6
11
10
0 20 40 60 80 100
General Manager
Owner/ Head of Business
HR Manager/ Consultant
Industry Specialist
Need for international exposure Course not available in India
Practical orientated approach to education Family/ Peer pressure
Migration orientated Inability to get into university in India

B. STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
After looking at the perspectives of the
employers, it is now worth looking at the
perspective of graduates from foreign universities.
This should enable us to find out where there are
gaps between what graduates believe and what
the employers believe about studying abroad.This
section also examines what returning graduates
perceive as the value of their degrees and what
they think in terms of how their host institutions
overseas could have helped them more.
23
www.sannams4.com
I. STUDENTS CHOOSE THEIR UNIVERSITY
BASED ON ACADEMIC REASONS
For all three countries, the top two reasons given
for choosing the university that they did was the
following
 The reputation of the university.
 The course.
As the quality of the university and the type of
course were the main reasons given, it does
Figure 32 : How students studying abroad choose their universities in percentage
42
4
8
31
8
3
1 1
2
OVERALL
44
39
33
6
1 1
1
2
UK
38
3
331
13
6
2 4
SINGAPORE
45
311
29
6
4
1 1
AUSTRALIA
Reputation of university
Financial considerations
Family / Peer pressure
Course
Location / good campus
Profesional advice
Affililiation
Easy admission
No reason

24
suggest that academic reasons were the main
motivation for studying abroad.There is
therefore a gap between the reasons students
gave and perceptions of employers, who
believed, that other reasons were more
important.Therefore more work needs to be
done to promote to employers the reasons why
students choose to go to university abroad.
The one country that is slightly different is
Singapore, which had a much larger proportion
(13%) of students claim they choose the
university due to the location than Australia or
the UK (both 6%). One possible reason for this
is Singapore’s geographical proximity to India,
with it taking only 6 hours for a student to fly
back meaning that it is far easier to maintain
relations while at a Singaporean institution.
Figure 33: Country comparison of time taken to secure a job post degree in India in percentage
II. TIME TAKEN FOR INTERNATIONAL
GRADUATES TO GET THEIR FIRST JOB IN
INDIA
A useful comparison is to find out how long it took
for students who studied in each country to find jobs
back in India:
 Students who studied in Singapore are the most
likely to find a job in India in the first month.This
may be partly explained by the geographical
proximity to Indian employers.
 Students studying in the UK are most likely to
take more than 3 months to get a job.
Although this is not something other countries can
change, their universities can encourage students to
stay in touch with potential employers in India while
they are studying abroad. By offering career advice
that is specifically aimed at Indian students returning
home after studying, this is something that could be
changed over time.
By focusing on those graduates with jobs in India it is
possible to find out how long it took for graduates
attempting to get jobs in each sector.The results can
provide a guide to students so they have a realistic
idea about the time scale required to get a job in a
certain area.They may also want to have alternative
options in case their original career areas are difficult
to break into.
9
19
42
21
8
2
21 22
35
14
5 3
17
11
36
25
9
1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Unemployed < 1 month 1 month to 3
months
4 to 6 months 7 to 12 months More than a
year
Australia Singapore UK

As is evident from the above chart for all sectors, except education, more graduates got their first job
between 1 and 3 months after graduating than during any other period.
Healthcare and IT sectors have the highest proportion of graduates taking more than 3 months to get
their first jobs.
While it might take a bit longer, the employers’ responses showed that a large number of IT companies
were prepared to employ international graduates and so they should not be put off aspiring for a
career in this area.
Students should therefore have plans in place with the expectation that it will take at least that long to
find their first job.
25
www.sannams4.com
Figure 34: Sector comparison of time taken to secure a job post degree in India in percentage
30
12
25
11
30
43 44
50
30
25
22
33
10
18
9 02 6
Education Engineering and
manufacture
Financial services Healthcare
21
17
24
15
36
40
52
60
27
31
14
20
12
9 103 3 5
HR/ Consultancy IT Media Retail
Within first month % 1-3 months %
4 to 6 months % 7 months to a year %
More than a year %

26
III. PERCEPTION OF WHETHER
INTERNATIONAL DEGREE HELPED THEM GET
THEIR FIRST JOB.
A large proportion of students did not
believe an international degree helped them
get a job
Graduates were asked two questions to see how they
perceived the difference their international degree had
made to their job prospects.The questions,“Did your
international degree help you get a job?” and “Did your
international degree give you any advantage compared
to students at domestic universities?” gave radically
different results.
 Overall 56% of those asked believed their
international degree had helped them gain their
first job. 44% did not believe so.This suggests that
a large number of students do not currently feel
they are gaining any benefit in the jobs market
from studying abroad.
 53% of those who studied in the UK thought their
degree helped them get a job.
 Whilst 59% of those who studied in Singapore
believed their international degree helped them
get a job, only 34% believed that it gave them an
advantage over their peers who went to Indian
universities.
 The majority of graduates did not believe that
their international degree had given them an
advantage over graduates from domestic
universities.
 Given the level of investment required to complete
an international degree, these results suggest that
more needs to be done so that students who
study abroad can make the most of their
international degrees.
While these results are concerning, it is only by putting
them into the context of the sectors graduates end up
working in that it can be seen where exactly
universities need to improve in future:
Figure 35: Student perception of the impact of an
international degree on securing a job in percentage
46 52 34 4654 48 66 54
Australia UK Singapore Overall
Advantage of international degree over a
domestic degree
Yes
No
58 53 59 5642 47 41 44
Australia UK Singapore Overall
Positive Influence of international
degree to get a job
Yes
No

27
www.sannams4.com
Figure 36: Comparison
by sector of percentage
of graduates who
thought international
degree helped them get
a job
80
58 54 47
79
56
68
75
20
42 46 53
21
44
32
25
Education Engineering
and
Manufacturing
Financial
Services
Healthcare HR/
Consultancy
IT Media Retail
Yes No
 With the exception of healthcare which scored
under 50%, a majority of graduates with jobs in
all sectors believed that their international
degree had helped them get a job.
 A majority of respondents in half of the sectors
did not believe their international degree had
given them an advantage over their peers from
domestic institutions.
 The majority of graduates in HR and IT believed
international degree helped them get a job.
 A majority of graduates with jobs in education
were satisfied that their international degree
helped them get a job and gave them an
advantage.This is surprising when such a large
percentage of employers from the education
sector said they would not employ international
graduates.
 Only 46% of graduates in the engineering sector
believed that their international degree gave them
an advantage over domestic graduates.
Figure 37: The
percentage of
graduates who thought
their international
degree gave them an
advantage over
domestic graduates
 This corresponds to the results of the
survey of employers, with 70% in HR and
75% in IT willing to employ international
graduates.
 Media and education are two sectors
where international qualifications helped in
securing a job and also offered an
advantage.
67
46
34
61 55
36
64
43
33
54
66
39 45
64
36
57
Education Engineering
and
Manufacturing
Financial
Services
Healthcare HR/
Consultancy
IT Media Retail
Yes No

28
IV. EFFECT OF LOOKING FOR JOBS WHILE
STUDYING
Students who start their job search while
studying abroad are most likely to get a job
in the first month after graduation.
 22% of those who started looking and applying for
jobs whilst at university got a job within a month
of graduating, compared to just 17% of those who
did not.
 48.5% of those studying in Singapore applied for
jobs whilst at university, compared to just 34.5% in
the UK, possibly explaining why so many more
students studying in Singapore got jobs within the
first month of graduating.
This suggests it would be advantageous for universities
to encourage students to start their job search while
they are still studying for their degree
Sannam S4 through its Graduate Development Service
works towards enhancing employability for the
returning graduates of its client universities. It
encourages students to enrol to the service
immediately at the start of their degree. Realising the
importance of students to stay connected with the
Indian market and the employment situation, Sannam
S4 provides students with information in the form of
newsletters.
Figure 38: How
looking for a job
while at university
effected time taken
to find a job in
percentage
Three months prior to their return, we will work
extensively individually with students to reduce
the gap between returning to the country and
securing their first job.The following activities are
undertaken on an on-going basis.
 Provide an update on corporate India through
industry information and employment trends
in the form of newsletters every 8 weeks.
 Help students prepare their resume-keeping
in mind what employers in India want.
 Home in on the career aspirations of the
students and their ‘dream companies’.
 Meet these companies in the wish-list and
brief them about the UK institution.
 Keep track of emerging job opportunities and
flag those up for interested candidates.
 Prepare students for interview and inform
them on expected compensation details in the
industry.
 Introduce and schedule interviews with
organisations.
22
43
26
7 1
17
46
24
11
1
Within first month % 1-3 months % 4 to 6 months % 7 months to a year % More than a year %
Started looking while at university Did not start looking while at university

21%
7%
23%
1%2%
36%
8%
2%
Academic qualification
Analytical and research skills
Communication skills
Hard work/ commitment to
organisation
International exposure
Specialist knowledge
Work experience
Don't know/ not applicable
29
www.sannams4.com
Figure 39: What
graduates believed
helped them get a job
V. WHAT GRADUATES THOUGHT HELPED
THEM TO GET THEIR FIRST JOB
Students were asked what it was that helped them to
get their first job.This is important because it
indicates the areas that they thought having an
international degree helped. It is also useful because it
can be compared with the skills valued by employers:
 Only 21% attributed this to their academic
qualification from abroad.This is reflective of the
reality that for most graduates the qualification
does not automatically open doors to a job.
Figure 40: What
graduates in each
sector thought got
them a job
 Students considered the specialist knowledge
they gained in their degree to be the factor that
most often got them their first job.
 This corresponds to the earlier analysis, which
indicated that a perception of better knowledge
levels was most likely to lead to employment.
 The second most frequent response was
communication skills, indicating that this is a skill
that an international education is effective at
developing.
27
22
20
31
15
17
17
15
18
2
9
13
6
3
4
9
24
20
19
32
22
39
20
2
3
3
5
6
6
5
45
41
26
25
26
42
35
50
5
11
13
9
17
4
5
3
6
3
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Education
Engineering and
manufacture
Financial services
Healthcare
HR/ Consultancy
IT
Media
Retail
Academic qualification Analytical and research skills
Communication skills Hard work/ commitment to organisation
International exposure Specialist knowledge
Work experience Don't know/ not applicable

30
 The largest number of graduates working in
education, engineering, IT, retail and media sectors
claimed specialist knowledge allowed them to get
a job.
 Graduates in Media and HR sectors considered
communication skills to be more significant than
graduates in other sectors.
 The healthcare sector most likely to consider
academic qualification to be most important.
VI. JOB APPLICATION METHODS
The way in which graduates successfully applied to get
their first job provides important information on the
application process for each sector. It is possible that
graduates who want a job in a certain sector are
currently applying the wrong way. Each sector has a
different culture of applications and by finding out
which methods work in each sector, universities can
provide useful advice to those who aim for a career in
each sector:
 A majority of graduates in the healthcare sector
applied directly.
 Nearly half of those in HR and consultancy jobs
applied directly.
Figure 41: How
graduates working in
each sector applied for
their first jobs
 IT sector has more of a culture of applying for
jobs through job websites.
 Engineering and retail sectors operated on
the basis of referral networks to get new
recruits. It is observed applying directly and
through references was largely perceived as
the most effective way of securing a job.
Each sector has a different culture and ritual for
attracting the right kind of candidates. Institutions
would do well to develop local linkages and need
to encourage students to develop networking
skills and keep their local contacts warm.
34
27
53
45
19
26
29
2
16
3
8
13
4
3
29
16
26
18
22
22
29
12
19
11
24
39
22
17
7
5
6
4
17
14
5
3
13
13
8
3
6
4
4
Engineering and
manufacture
Financial services
Healthcare
HR/ Consultancy
IT
Media
Retail
Applied directly % Through consultants % Job on campus %
Through reference % Through job websites % Joined previous employer %
Self employed % No data %
NOW
HIRING

31
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study underlines that finding a job in India is challenging and time consuming. In reality the degree is just
the start and graduates need much more than this to be successful when they enter the highly competitive job
market back in India.
In India, reputation is equated with direct job outcomes and salary levels. Indian students are looking at foreign
institutions through the lens of higher reputation and thus the institutions need to understand the local job
market conditions and better prepare their graduates to face the challenges.
The international qualification on its own is not what allows students who study abroad get jobs, instead it is
the lateral thinking skills, specialist knowledge, communication skills and team working skills they develop, as
well as their exposure to international cultures and business practices, that make them attractive to potential
employers.
www.sannams4.com
Figure 42: Students suggestions of what
universities could do to help
VII. WHAT EXTRA HELP GRADUATES
WANTED FROM THEIR UNIVERSITIES
Graduates who have been through the process of
applying for jobs can give useful information about
what it was they were lacking and so what extra help
the universities could give students in future:
 The most popular response was that students
wanted campus placements. In India the system of
campus placement involves organisations coming
to a university, conducting rounds of interviews
and making a provincial offer letter to candidates.
 A third of the graduates we spoke to wanted
better career guidance.
Career services needs to provide continuous
guidance to students starting at the beginning of their
study. This may well come with careers advice that is
specifically targeted at helping Indian students get jobs
when they return.
This white paper represents a start in providing
universities with the knowledge of what Indian
employers want so they can offer useful advice to
their students.
30%
47%
1%
2%
8%
11%
1%
Better career guidance
Campus Placement
Enhance brand name
Enhance course relevance to
employability
Internship support
University could do no more
No opinion

32
Employers consistently say that they are reluctant to
employ graduates who have not had any work
experience, regardless of the university they
graduated from.
Many employers do not recognise international
universities or consider their qualifications to be of
greater value than those from Indian universities
Many employers believe that graduates from
international universities have better skills than those
from domestic universities. Particularly with regard to
their communication skills, specialist knowledge and
lateral thinking skills.
Mid-sized companies are currently the least likely to
employ graduates who studied abroad and they
consider many of their skills to be no better than
domestic graduates.
A majority of employers will not pay graduates from
international universities any more than those from
domestic universities unless they particularly impress
them during the recruitment process.There is also a
link between the expectations of higher salaries and a
preference for not employing international graduates.
There is a gap between the academic reasons students
say influenced their decision to study abroad and the
employers perception of the reasons of individuals
wanting to study abroad.
Students wanted more campus placements and
careers guidance from their universities.
Key Conclusions
Prospective students should undertake some work
experience in India before leaving to study abroad.
International universities need to work harder to
market themselves to employers in India. Brand
recognition is vital.
Universities that build relationships with employers in
India are likely to be more attractive as destinations for
Indian students who want to study abroad.
Encourage students to put the ranking of the university
on their resume so that prospective employers are
made aware of the quality of the university the
individual has studied at.
Universities must advise students on the best way to
market their skills to employers in India. Employers
particularly believe graduates from international
universities have better ‘out of the box’ thinking skills
and these skills are highly valued in India, so it is worth
graduates finding ways to emphasis this skill during the
application process.
More work needs to be done with this type of
organisations to market how an international education
enables students to gain a much better skill set. It is also
recommended that universities advise students to focus
on large and small organisations.
Universities should be active participants in expectation
management.
Graduates should be counselled not to expect their
salary to be more than domestic graduates.
It is also worth stressing to employers that international
graduates do not have to be more expensive as this will
increase the chances of them being employed.
Attempt to bridge that gap so that employers have a
better understanding of the motivations behind studying
abroad.
Universities can provide specialised advice to students
returning to India, with particular emphasis on methods
to market their skills to Indian employers and starting
the job search as early as possible.
Action & Recommendations

33
www.sannams4.com
To expand a little on three key points:
Branding
Results of the survey point to the urgent need for international universities to create awareness in
corporate India about rankings and course offerings.
11
In India,university rankings quite often dictate salaries offered to new hires. A salary of GBP 100,000 was
offered to 12 undergraduates from IIT Kanpur,considered one of the most prestigious institutes in India.
However it ranks 295 as per the QSWorld Rankings 2013.
In the current scenario, due to the lack of awareness among some individuals about international
universities, really bright students with an international degree and superior technical knowledge gained
from well-established globally ranked universities lose out since organisations are unwilling to interview
them.This is driven by a total lack of awareness about their parent institutions overseas.They prefer hiring
from campuses in India.If students are given an opportunity,they are often paid salaries far lower than an
Indian graduate from a tier-2 university.
Universities need to seek dedicated support to promote their individual university or work with
organisations that could represent their interests on an on-going basis to corporate India.
StudentsCounselling
Concerns about high compensation expectations and a lack of awareness about the work culture are not
entirely off the mark.Sannam S4 has over the past two years interacted with students post their return to
India.A recent example is of a student who was offered a role in an organisation with a 98% increase in
compensation compared to her last job held prior to going to the UK to pursue her Masters.She declined
the offer since her expectation was a 400% increase in compensation. A year later she is still unemployed.
Until UK institutions create a brand for themselves,students will need to be counselled on interview skills
as per standards followed in India and how to present themselves highlighting the technical competencies
their degree imparts and most importantly to not expect starting salaries on par with overseas standards
or that offered to students from premium institutions in India.
Sannam S4’s Graduate Development Service has over the past two years worked towards changing
perception of UK universities,highlighting the technical competencies of students from these institutions,
the benefits these students bring in terms of understanding global culture,UK universities rankings vis-à-
vis Indian institutions preparing students in managing compensation expectation.We have made inroads
with student placements and support career services of our client universities with any assistance they
need to prepare their students while at the university.But a lot needs to be done before an international
degree is recognised for what it is worth.
Careerservices
It is of prime importance that the university career services be aware of the resume formats and interview
process followed in India which is very different to patterns followed across countries in Europe,the USA
or Australia. Alternatively universities need to tie-up with organisations in India that can work with
returning International graduates and provide inputs on how they can present themselves at interviews.
11
The Times of India, Dec 6, 2013.Rs 1 crore package for 12 IIT Kanpur students http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-
06/news/44862920_1_placement-drive-1-crore-three-students

34
The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any
particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no
guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in
the future. No one should act on such information without a thorough examination of the particular situation
Notes

NEW DELHI
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ONLINE
W. www.sannams4.com
E. education@sannams4.com
www.linkedin.com/
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WHO WE ARE
Sannam S4 is a specialist, single window provider of services to support the market entry and
ongoing business development of international universities, colleges, skills providers and
institutions in Brazil, China and India. Sannam S4 helps international organisations by providing
ongoing high quality, in-country support.
We combine local technical expertise with practical advice, to deliver low risk and cost effective
solutions to enable institutions to reach their full potential in key international markets.
Sannam S4 is led by an international team, who have a strong track record of establishing
successful businesses across the globe.They are complimented by dedicated local sector
specialists and service expertise in accounting, tax, inward investment, payroll, human resource
advisory recruitment experts and market research and validation consultants. Sannam S4
supports a range of international clients, from small and medium enterprises, educational
institutions and FTSE 100 / Fortune 500 companies across a variety of sectors.
Sannam S4 has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Beijing and ,São Paulo
supporting active projects across Brazil, China and India.
WHAT WE DO
Sannam S4 has successfully launched a wide range of international organisations into India by
providing an end-to-end market entry service and ongoing support mechanism. Our services
include:
 TM
Launch Pad Business Incubation Service for New Market Entrants.
 Local Market Research andVentureValidation.
 Identification and Due Diligence of Partners, Distributors and Resellers.
 Legal Entity Incorporation Advice, Structuring, and Delivery.
 Financial,Tax, and Inward Investment Advisory.
 Staffing Solutions, Recruitment and HR Advisory.
 Accounting, Payroll and Expense Management.
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 Campus Development - Business Case Proposals and Business Plans.
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 Education Fair Organization.
 Digital Campaigns, Public Relations & Other Promotional Support Including Printing
Services.
 Agent Management Services.
 Government Liaison Activities.
INDIA CHINA BRAZILI I www.sannams4.com
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