TITLE:
Correlates and Issues of Academic Course-Selection in Post-Secondary Education in India: Evidence from National Sample Survey, 2007-08
AUTHORS:
Chandan Kumar, S. P. Singh, D. K. Nauriyal
KEYWORDS:
Academic Course-Selection, Post-Secondary Education, Higher Education in India, National Sample Survey
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.1 No.3,
June
3,
2014
ABSTRACT: Background: With the rising educational unemployment in India, one can recognize the possibility of certain imbalance in the acquirement of tertiary education and the requirement of workforce in India. An assessment of youth’s selection of their post-secondary courses could provide a layout for the effective planning of higher education with respect to the demand of workforce in the country. This study examines a set of individual/household, institutional, and regional factors influencing the selection of academic courses in post-secondary level education in India among the population aged 29 years and younger. Methods and Findings: The study is based on the information collected by the 64th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) on “Participation and Expenditure in Education” in India during July 2007-June 2008. Using multivariate multinomial logistic regression model, the study shows that more than half of the total population aged ≤ 29 years were likely to opt for Arts/Humanities courses while controlling for selected potential factors at their mean. However, approximately one in every five students had chance to opt for Science courses, and nearly 13% and 12% students were likely to choose Commerce and Technical/Professional/Vocational (TPV) courses respectively. The selection of academic courses was significantly different by a set of individual/household factors. The study also recommends ways to deal with the imbalance in course-selection based on research studies undertaken elsewhere. Conclusion: The major individual, household and institutional factors were found significant determinants of the choice of subject-course at post-secondary level in India, which can be persuaded to make a balance between the job-market requirements and the trained workforce in order to make plans for the use of available human resource effectively as a bonus.