MSc

Skills are the abilities acquired through systematic efforts to carry out the
activities which require technical and scientific approach. Employability skills make
people confident in getting and performing the job in the most effective manner
throughout their professional career. The current job market is changing dramatically
and there is demand and supply mismatch between expected and satisfactory skill
level. There is a need to focus on enhancing the skills of the agricultural graduates to
empower them to manage the agricultural profession in the most effective manner.
A sample size of 120 agricultural graduates were selected using the
proportionate sampling procedure from the three agricultural colleges providing
graduation in agriculture under Kerala Agricultural University and 30 employers of
agricultural graduates were selected randomly to assess the skills demanded by the
employers of agricultural graduates. The demanded skills were grouped under three
factors viz., core employability skills, professional skills and communication skills to
compute skill gap between demanded skills of the employers of agricultural graduates
and self-assessed skill levels of agricultural graduates
The results showed that more than two-thirds of agricultural graduates were
from rural background and finished schooling in rural areas. It was observed that
nearly four-fifths of the fathers (81.66%) of the respondents had college education
and 47.50 per cent of them had government jobs as their profession, while 54.16 per
cent of their mothers were homemakers.
More than three- fourths of the agricultural graduates (76.66%) belonged to
the medium to high category of additional exposure while achievement motivation
level was found as above average among the agricultural graduates. Teaching was the
most preferred career option among agricultural graduates followed by agricultural
research and development, administrative/managerial positions, banking and
agricultural marketing jobs.
The overall skills demanded by the employers of agricultural graduates were
worked out with the composite index of 80.59, while present overall skill level among
agricultural graduates was recorded with a composite index of 66.04 and the
difference of index 14.54 was observed as the skill gap among the agricultural
graduates of Kerala. Core employability skills with an index value of 83.28 were the
most demanded skills by the employers of agricultural graduates than other skills.
Highest skill gap was observed in the case of communication skills with an index
value of 19.09.
Team work (90.80), interpersonal skill (90.20), leadership skill (88.20), self-
confidence (84.60), integrity (84.25), oral communication skill (84.20), positive
attitude (83.80), creativity (83.60), self-presentation skill (83.20) and problem solving
skill (81.60) were the most demanded top ten skills by the employers of agricultural
graduates.
Team work (79.06), empathy (77.91), integrity (76.40), responsibility (75.03),
adaptability (73.33), leadership skill (72.66), customer service skill (72.16), self-
confidence (71.98), positive attitude (70.94) and oral communication skill (70.43)
were observed as top ten existed skills among the agricultural graduates of Kerala.
The highest skill gap was observed in the case of self-presentation skill (23.32)
followed by information skill (22.71), interpersonal skill (22.47), information and
communication technology skill (21.47) and critical thinking skill (20.96). These skill
gaps invite the attention of the policy makers of higher education of agriculture sector
to enhance the skill level of the agricultural graduates. Whereas customer service skill
(1.44), empathy (1.69), adaptability (4.47), responsibility (5.37) and management of
people (5.38) had low skill gap among the agricultural graduates of Kerala.
Nature of place of education up to secondary education, educational status of
parents, occupational status of parents, additional exposure, achievement motivation
and career options of the graduates expressed a positive and significant relationship
to the skill level of the agricultural graduates of Kerala.
Considering the diversified needs of prevailing agricultural situation advanced
course curriculum may be designed to bridge the skill gap among agricultural
graduates. Establishment and effective utilization of language labs may improve the
soft skills of the graduates. Periodic professional mentoring, updating course content
regularly based on the current demands in the job market and active involvement of
placement cells for employability audit will contribute in building employability skills
of agricultural graduates.