The state of Kerala has witnessed mushrooming growth of professional colleges in the last decade, among which engineering colleges’ stands first. As a result, millions of engineering professionals graduate out every year from different engineering colleges across Kerala.

Number of engineering colleges and millions of professionals, but very less job opportunities

Even though millions of engineering professionals graduate out every year, the job market in Kerala has not been able to provide sufficient opportunities to them. Statistics shows that the unemployment rate in Kerala is about three times the country average. This has a created a situation where the professionals have to shift into specializations that are different from their degree course or should move to other locations outside the state in search of job.

Only one out of five get job in the area of specialization in the state

Dr. David Peter, Principal of the School of Engineering at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) says that only one out of five graduates from the institute finds job in the state, in their own field of specialization.

They follow the foot steps of their seniors

Many of the engineering professionals are thus forced to follow the footsteps of their predecessors and get into an IT job instead of pursuing a career in their area of specialization. The Information Technology sector is one which recruits the most number of engineering professionals in Kerala.

To pursue a career in IT, professionals have to forget what have been taught for four years and have to learn new things. It will be entirely different from what they have learned during their course, except for students from Computer Science stream and IT stream. The IT companies need brains who work on computers.

The increase in trend of brain drain

During the 1990s, there was an explosion in the number of young, educated workers moving away from the state in search of job opportunities. Many of them traveled to other states in India, while Bangalore was their favorite destination for jobs among other places in India. Rest of them traveled to other countries in the Middle East and Europe for better prospects. The Middle East and Europe were rich with job opportunities until recently and the compensation packages offered were pretty good. It is claimed that the living conditions of millions were improved with the help of salary earned by the non resident Indians. Experts are of the opinion that the requirements of the non resident Indian work force has led to the development of major infrastructure in India.

The NRI’s contributing to economic development in the state

The best example in this direction is the Cochin International Airport. According to V.J. Kurien, Managing Director, Cochin International Airport Limited, the airport facility has grown by 23 per cent on an average every year since its start. CIAL has grown from a 4 lakh company in 1998/1999 to 43 Lakh Company in 2010/2011. He noted that the non resident Indians from Kerala, who travels to the Middle East, have played an instrumental role in the growth of Cochin International Airport. He added that even though the increased tourism activity in the region has contributed the growth of the airport, it is the NRI workers who have been the driving force behind the expansion of the airport.

The Cochin international airport is a result of public private partnership, where the government of Kerala invested a part of the fund required. The rest of the investment was made by the NRI workers.

Efforts made by the government of Kerala to cap brain drain

The Government of Kerala is now putting effort to stop or reduce the flow of young and educated workers. The best way to retain the best and brightest professionals is by setting up business parks and knowledge cities. The main objective behind this idea is to draw attention of investors and create job opportunities in sectors such as engineering.

By making use of the Public-Private partnership model, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) is coming up with business zone in Cochin which includes various engineering companies in the field of electronics, biotechnology, etc.

The various sectors that will be included in the zone are tourism, logistics, gas based companies, and electronic hardware. It is expected that developing such zones will lead to the generation of five million job opportunities across the state.

This project is a long term project which will continue into the near future and is expected that it will develop the image of Kerala as an industrious state and reverse the brain drain that has damaged its growth.

The favorable factors that will aid growth in Kerala

The effort of the government is to retain the talent at home and promote the growth of the local economy. It is supplemented by the favorable geographical location of Kerala. In February 2011, DP world, Dubai based marine terminal operations and Development Company has begun its operations at the new international trans-shipment terminal in Cochin. The development of the infrastructure at the port has been completed partially and serves vessels operating between India and Sri Lanka.

When the port is completed and fully operational, it will be an important trade channel between India, China and European Destinations. It is expected that the port will create about 700 job opportunities, both permanent and temporary for skilled local professionals, such as engineers.

If every thing works out according to the plan, the Kerala government and the business might be on the track of turning the ongoing brain drain successfully into brain gain. It is said that the port along with the LNG terminal and the business parks will help in making the dreams of the young professionals into reality; their dream to live and work in Kerala. Most of us hope that these initiatives will help industrialize the state at a faster rapid pace and change it into a state that produce the best and brightest professionals in India and employ them at home too. Let us dream of Kerala which will be in forefront of development in the country where its professionals contribute a significant portion to its development.