Bright students venture out for higher education

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Brain drain

Assam has been witnessing a considerable rate of brain drain in the last five years. Most of the bright students, who secured good marks in the board exam, are going to other states like Delhi, Bangalore and Maharashtra in pursuit of higher education.

According to some students, the primary reason for this exodus is the scarcity of seats available in local universities, engineering and medical colleges. The state has four universities two of which are Centrally owned, six government institutes of business management, two engineering institutes of national repute and six government institutes of science and technology. But all these have failed to enroll the huge number of higher education aspirants from the state.

Rakesh Dutta, who secured 80 per cent marks in the higher secondary level exam in the science stream this year, told TSI: “I will go to Delhi and take admission in any engineering colleges there. In Assam there are only three engineering colleges. Even if I get admission here, I won’t get the opportunity to prepare for competitive exams. In Delhi I have a better chance. After completing B.E, I will sit for the reputed Indian administrative service”.

Another student Saurabh Jyoti Hazarika, who passed higher secondary in 2010, also wants to go to Delhi for higher studies. “Job opportunity is nil in the state. Even government jobs are difficult to get. Moreover, to get it we have to pay money as bribe. The multinational companies also recruit outsiders. So, I have decided to go to Delhi,’’ he said. Hiranmoy Pathak, a lecturer of a junior college of the state, said: “Greater employment opportunities outside Assam have encouraged students to go outside the state.”

A large number of students are moving out from the state because of the lack of adequate infrastructure. The only way out is that the government spends more money in improving the education system.

Monalisa Gogoi

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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LOCK, STOCK, CLICK AND BUY

eBay made its India foray with the takeover of 5 year old bazee.com in 2005 and has since then relied largely on multimedia advertising on the internet. However, this is the first time that this net giant is charting a completely new route through virgin waters. According to Mohamed Rizwan, Senior Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy, a part of the creative team that worked on the campaign, “The brief was to promote eBay as a shopping destination where you get a wide range of top quality products, great deals and the ease of paying safely through a credit card. The ads communicate this in a funny, over-the-top manner in the form of a DD-esque call-in show ‘The eBay Way’ where callers are told the benefits of shopping on eBay, regardless of their problems.” However, cracking the Indian consumer conundrum won’t be easy. There are a plethora of factors that compound the complexity so evident in a rapidly transitioning Indian consumer space. Firstly, Indians are the best bargainers in the market and getting the best deals on the internet without having a chance to bargain face to face especially for used items might seem deterring to prospective buyers. Secondly, with regards to goods, Indians almost always, ‘touch’ and ‘feel’ and then buy. Though attitudes are changing, it will take a lot of time before consumers can buy high involvement products like mobiles, laptops and household appliances on eBay. As K. J. Singh, co-founder and CEO, Evolve Brands says, “For start, it should get offline as well and should have some availability in the malls where the customers go for shopping. Most of its target segment which is online also shops offline and needs to get a mindshare when offline and therefore the branding in the cluttered market is important also in case there are some offers which could be informed offline and executed offline.”

The third factor critical to the fortunes of eBay will be the variety of choices in the deals it provides to the customers. But on this, Muralikrishan B, Director, Marketing & Product, eBay India, asserts, “One of eBay India’s key advantages is the wide variety of products available – ranging from mobiles to necklaces, digital cameras to salwar kameez, diamond rings to laptops etc. The audience that comes onsite appreciates the variety and we are seeing good traction across categories as a result of this campaign.” Finally, online transactions are still perceived as a fodder for fraud by many Indians and it won’t be easy to break the taboo. Despite the fact that the campaign itself highlights the safety feature in its punch line, the starting point for the company would be to attract more and more hits to the website and slowly create the buzz through more outdoor events, follow-up TVCs and offering attractive pricing for different product categories.

However, leading brand analysts in the country do not seem to be resonating to the company’s tunes. While some have labelled the presence of Dr. Puri and Komal Singh as the uncle and aunty just pushing people to eBay, others are more sceptical of the campaign’s ability to eventually lead the visitor to actually buy from just being a casual visitor. Leading brand analyst Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consultants adds on a harsher note, “I do not believe this current spate of e-bay advertising is going to build anything much for it. I am personally not convinced that the set of retro-creatives do anything to the brand at all. At best, it causes for a perk-up in the awareness scores for the brand. I do not believe the campaign is efficient enough on the counts of building interest in the portal, stoking desire to visit and finally creating action of the actual buy.” However, how joyful will eBay’s India journey be would be clear in the coming months. If it is, it would be a marked shift in the attitudes of Indian consumers. If not, Pierre Omidyar might just realize that there are not many takers in India for broken lazer printers (the first ever product sold on eBay).

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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