Fostering 21st Century Skills of the Students of Engineering and Technology

Employment opportunities are scramming from the reach of Indian engineering graduates due to their inadequate skills set. This evinces the skills gap prevailing between the workplace preparedness of the students of engineering and the exigencies of global workforce. 21st Century Skills are the competencies required from the students of present era to succeed in their life and career, in the absence of which the students encounter major employment deficit. Although, studies have been conducted on the need for 21st Century skills and on training teachers to instigate students' skills set, the inevitable focus on students' perception towards their need for career prospects has been left unexplored. Hence, the paper prospects the preparedness and potential of the students of engineering with respect to Learning and Innovation Skills and Life and Career Skills of 21st Century Skills. An online survey with self-rating questionnaire has been administered using random sampling technique among 111 final year students of Mookambigai College of Engineering and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Engineering College, Tamil Nadu, between December 2018 and January 2019. Descriptive analysis, and parametric tests have been computed to investigate the data using SPSS. The findings have indicated the dearth of students' skills set in employing 21st Century skills set. The results imply the desideratum of enhancing the students' skills set that the study eventually recommends the integration of 21st Century skills set in English classroom of engineering and technology to meet the demands of the workplace.