Higher education studies are considered to support three sets of stakeholders: 1) Individuals, 2) Employers and 3) Government. This support is intended to improve human capital for individuals, through knowledge and skills development, which, it is suggested, improves productivity for
107 employers and stimulates economic growth in the knowledge economy. In India, there also appears to be an important fourth stakeholder, which is 4) The family of the individual. Each of these will be considered in turn.
Firstly, Individuals as Stakeholders: Indian students, are often motivated and supported by, and also pressurised by, parents to choose high status professions with the potential for high earnings, and especially for those with economic capital to study for their credentials abroad (AGCAS/NASES, 2010; British Council, 2010). The aim of the individual is to improve their competitive advantage, by developing their knowledge, skills and attitudes, so that they are recognised by employers and other members of society (Gambrel & Cianci, 2003; Lees, 2002).
This motivation for improvement in knowledge and skills at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, may correspond to Maslow’s Motivational Theory Model, which postulates that people are motivated by ‘unconscious goals’ (Maslow, 1943, p372), or by their individual needs to achieve levels of fulfillment. This model was developed by Maslow (1943) in the USA, but may also be applicable to other cultures. Maslow argues that ‘individuals will satisfy basic level needs before modifying behaviour to satisfy higher-level needs (Gambrel & Cianci, 2003, p144).
Figure 4.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Adapted from Gambrel and Cianci, 2003, p145)
108 Maslow (1943) further argues that, at the level of ‘self-esteem’ (see figure 4.1), people seek higher levels of success, acknowledgement and prestige for themselves and for their own independence; and, from this success, they seek status and greater respect from others. This is an outcome also suggested by Bourdieu (1989), which he refers to as ‘symbolic capital’, more of which will be discussed later in this chapter during the review of cultural capital.
Maslow further suggests that, if an individual’s needs are not achieved, this can lead to ‘feelings of inferiority, of weakness and of helplessness’ (Maslow, 1943, p382). Perhaps this is the outcome if qualifications have been gained and recognition has been given by the family or others of this achievement, then the individual does not gain the management career that was expected. This may also result in the loss of self and family respect an outcome which may be true of Indian business postgraduates if they do not achieve their or their family’s expectations. This study aimed to explore this phenomenon. Secondly: Employers as Stakeholders: higher education also supports employers, who require employees to demonstrate their achievements and attributes with appropriate skill sets, competences and capabilities to do the job (Gambrel & Cianci, 2003; Lees, 2002). Employability is often linked to skills, which were outlined in the UK Dearing Report (1997). The Report recommended that the skills of undergraduates should include ‘Communication, Numeracy, IT and Learning how to learn’, and should be a central aim of HEIs to ensure new graduates are capable and ready to work (Mason, Williams & Cranmer, 2009, p2). Other core competency skills which are also considered as important for all graduates are for example, critical evaluation, motivation and self-reliance, and knowledge of companies’ operations, and languages (Lees, 2002; Smith et al., 2010).
A more recent CIHE (2010) report also suggested the following for postgraduates: ‘HEI’s and businesses must work together to ensure postgraduates have the skills and knowledge that employers need – particularly leadership skills and work experience’ (CIHE, 2010, p3).
109 Many universities in the UK have, in fact, embedded these skills in their curriculum to develop skills for employment opportunities (ibid). Other soft skills i.e. ‘self-management or customer facing skills’ are also recognised as being important to meet the needs of employers (Brown, Lauder & Ashton, 2008, p12).
In India, it is suggested that, to ensure that graduates have appropriate skills for employers, ‘the Indian curricula must be revised periodically, the method of assessment of students changed so that it encourages the development of analytical and creative skills rather than testing memory’ (Hoda, 2008, p6). From a study by AGCAS/NASES, part of the Prime Minister’s Initiative 2 (2010), it was suggested that employment recruiters in India, have little knowledge of the content of UK degrees, other than that they are more practical and less theoretical than Indian degrees (AGCAS/NASES, 2010). It was also suggested that Indian employers identified that US education was closer to the Indian system, which may, result in returners being ‘seen more favourably in the job market’ (AGCAS/NASES, 2010, p8/9). The follow on effect may result in less job success for UK Indian postgraduates returning home from UK universities. It may, however, also be due to the fact that there are more UK postgraduates in the Indian labour market, which has led to a devaluation of the qualification and increased competition for jobs. There is current evidence which suggests that many UK postgraduates end up working in Indian call centres. This may be due to a lack of senior management positions and/or due to their proficiency in English (Sengupta & Gupta, 2011). This would be an interesting area for further research to explore. It appears that many employers and in many countries, may require higher level business qualifications, work experience and other personal qualities, for elite managerial positions and not just the achievement of holding a postgraduate business degree (Brown, 2003; CIHE, 2010). This may reflect the importance of UK HEIs to forge closer links with Indian employers to determine their employee requirements, and, for the strengthening of the UK HEI ‘brand image’.
110 Thirdly: Government as a Stakeholder: Governments need to ensure that human capital development supports the economy for further growth and global competitiveness (British Council, 2007, Drucker, 1993). The UK has advocated the creation of more highly skilled workers through life-long learning, with an expansion of tertiary education, ‘in order to sustain a shift towards more high value-added activities’ (Brown, Lauder, & Ashton, 2008, p4), with the hope that these workers will remain within the UK economy, and thus out-smart other national economies ‘whether established or emerging – in the ‘knowledge-wars’ of the future’ (Brown & Lauder, 2006, cited in Brown, Lauder, & Ashton, 2008, p4).
It is, however, clear that emerging economies, like China, are increasing their supply of highly educated workers to improve innovation and global competitive advantage. In the case of India, however, it appears that they are still limited by lack of government higher education provision (Brown, Lauder & Ashton, 2008). One problem with increased globalisation and knowledge and skills development, which has been identified in the UK, is what Brown, Lauder & Ashton (2008, p18) refer to as ‘Digital Taylorism’, a play on scientific management, where workers are now completing tasks as outlined by management from above, with no requirement for innovation from the individual. This could be detrimental to the UK, and perhaps in time, other economies too e.g. India, as Chakrabortty (2010, np) argues in his Guardian on-line article:
‘What Brown argues, it's now happening to skilled and graduate jobs: law, finance, software-engineering. From now on, believe Brown and his colleagues, "permission to think" will be "restricted to a relatively small group of knowledge workers in the UK". The rest will be turned into routine and farmed off to regional offices in Eastern Europe or India.’
Brown, Lauder & Ashton (2008, p18), further suggest that change is faster than we can imagine, and state the following:
‘the current view of education for creativity and personal fulfillment bears little relationship to the future employment of many university
111 graduates....the rise of high skilled low waged work force means increasing inequalities and unmet expectations, and challenges our understanding of justice and efficiency via the connection between education, jobs and rewards...The one dimensional view of education as a preparation for employment is not a reflection of labour market realities’.
This will be a challenge for future educationalists to address, most notably the kinds of employment and management skills that will be needed for a new digital era both in the UK and in developing countries, i.e. India (Brown, Lauder & Ashton, 2008).
Interestingly, Lees (2002, p7) suggests, that whilst things are changing for under graduates:
‘Postgraduates are rarely mentioned in the literature concerning the development of employability skills and attributes. They seem to be a forgotten group who are not explicitly encouraged to think about either their skills or career development’.
This view was endorsed by Brown & Kneale (2011) on issues in taught postgraduate programmes, and is further emphasised by Rothwell, Jewell & Hardie (2009, p3) who also suggest that there is limited research related to ‘employability in other national contexts’ another justification for this research study.
Fourthly: Family as a Stakeholder: As Das & Kemp (1997) indicate at the beginning of this chapter the family is an important factor in Indian society. The literature suggests that many Indian students are often financially supported by, and influenced or motivated by, parents, or by other family members, to achieve higher education qualifications (Agarwala, 2008; Das & Kemp, 1997). The outcomes of the study may in turn, result in the son or daughter achieving greater cultural capital, self-esteem, and respect from their parents. This may also result in greater respect and prestige for the whole family from their friends. Brown (2000, p634) argues in his ‘positional conflict theory’ that many middle class families are endeavouring to win
112 ‘positional advantage’ (ibid, 2003, p3) for their children in the labour market. Parents encourage higher education study for credentials to prevent their offspring from becoming caught in the ‘opportunity trap’ (ibid) for employment. This is a competitive strategy which parents hope will ensure that their children secure employment in the increasingly competitive labour market.
Also, as previously mentioned in chapter three, higher education is an important factor in Indian marriages and Dhesi (2001) argues that as Indian society becomes increasingly competitive, the educational achievements of the bride and groom are of considerable importance in marriage choices. Dhesi (2001) further argues that students have increased expectations of their marriage prospects, after they have completed their higher education. It also appears that in Indian society where dowry is given, the educational status of the son is, along with other personal and family attributes, related to the size of dowry/gift given by the bride’s family to the groom’s family (see the section on dowry in Chapter 3).
There is, however, limited research to identify if parents exert a covert influence to ‘push’ their offspring to study for credentials abroad, so that the cultural capital, and thus the status of the son, improves with the achievement of foreign education, which is then linked to family status, and, more importantly, to the family’s receipt of increased dowry/gift payments. This study aimed to provide knowledge of these perceptions from Indian nationals.