The side-effects of Campus Placement Process

In my previous blog, I tried to jot down some of the benefits that the campus placement process has brought. Most if not all of us would agree that campus placement has been one of the most positive development in the field of education and has increased the purchasing capacity of the Indian youth with its wide reach.

So you thought that such a process can only be considered a “shot in the arm” rather than “shooting yourself in the foot”. Well I know the second idiom is a bit of an exaggeration but nevertheless the drawbacks do exist. Let’s discuss them.

• Campus placements are more of an outcome of increasing demand for the skilled workforce in India rather than the modern education system producing industry ready individuals.
• There is no doubt that there is over-emphasis on placements nowadays. As a result basic but necessary aspects like professors, laboratories or libraries have taken a backseat. (You must have come across the buzzword nowadays: 100% placement guaranteed!).
• Even the students’ attitude towards academic activities has suffered due to the over-emphasis. The intellectual aspect of the course comes second nowadays rather it’s the economic aspect that rules i.e. will it give me a job or will it give me mere knowledge?
• It has been seen that early success say getting placed with almost an year to go for formal completion of course has resulted in lackadaisical attitude of successful students towards academic process which can sometimes bring down the overall competitive atmosphere at the institute.   
• The process that could have brought professionalism in education sector with focused placement programmes has instead made way for crass-commercialization. Institutes with good placement records are nowadays charging exorbitant fees.
• The pay packages are the new parameters of success nowadays rather than self development. After all peer pressure plays a major role in such an environment. My personal experience shows that because of the above pressure as well as that of the family, students who intended to study further or prepare for say civil services after graduating instead sit for campus placements.
• Though the placements do create awareness about profiles or say all round capabilities i.e. importance of extracurricular activities but sometimes it hampers the creativity of the activities or the task at hand. As a result the attraction could well be the glamour attached to the task or the outcomes i.e. relative importance vis-à-vis other activities. The process is pushed into the background instead.
• With the demand for jobs far outstripping the supply or let’s put it this way the supply of students much more than the availability of quality jobs even at top colleges, the firms increasingly have more options whereas the so called beneficiary the “students” have increasingly fewer (an oxymoron, isn’t it?) choices. 

Though it would be a Utopian concept that every student gets what s/he wants but effort must be made to strike the right kind of balance. The students apart from getting adequate preparation should also be taught how to deal with pressure and a realistic picture should be presented before them. Else as they say, expectation is the beginning of disappointment.