Employability Skills of Graduating Engineers Viewed with their Secondary Education

Focusing on employability skills, this paper is about the variations in the skill levels of graduating engineers on account of the different types of schooling they received and the different syllabi they had followed at their higher secondary level. The data had been collected from 619 final-year graduating engineering students of academic year 2014–2015, from five engineering colleges in Ernakulam District, Kerala State, India. The tool used was tested for reliability using Cronbach's alpha and was found to possess high reliability of 0.911. The test of significance through analysis of variance have indicated that students from government owned schools have better problem-solving skills and technical skills than those from the private schools. Students from private schools were observed as having better communication skills and better self concept than students from government owned schools. Variations in skill levels were evident with regard to the different syllabi followed by the students. The need to have more experiential learning opportunities from the school environment is highlighted. Such an intervention would iron out these variations due to school environment and would implant quality skills in them.