In a survey conducted with over 6600 students from grades 9-12, 82 per cent of the respondents agree that career counselling is important in high school, reveals the 2021 IC3 Institute Student Quest Survey report. 

The survey, conducted in June - July 2021, in collaboration with Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR, examines the dynamics of students’ decision-making process for higher education. More than 6600 students between grades 9 and 12 from 2000 schools across India and South Asia responded to the survey. 

The report suggests that students begin thinking about their career and related job prospects early - in high school itself. 71 per cent of the students have already started thinking about their future employment. The top three factors in choosing a university include the institution’s placement record, rankings, and program design. Ranked fourth was fees, followed by location and the quality of faculty members. Interestingly, the quality of faculty as a factor for choosing a university was low-ranked by students in grades 9 and 10, while students in grades 11 and 12 ranked the quality of faculty significantly higher. When choosing a particular program, three factors seem to be most significant: about 35 per cent of the respondents said that they would choose a program based on their interests, 27 per cent favoured future job prospects, and 21 per cent give the highest importance to their own perceived strength in a particular area of study. 32 per cent of the students who preferred to study abroad favoured the U.S., followed by the U.K. and Canada (20 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively). Following the top three countries, Australia and India are similarly ranked in students’ choice of preferred country of study.