Why do STEM students in India leak out of the STEM pipeline?

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 15. Higher Education: STEM

Abstract

We explore career trajectories of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students in India who switch to non-STEM careers. A popular conceptual framework in the West describing career paths of STEM students, the pipeline model presents the metaphor of “leaky pipeline” (STEM students leaving STEM careers) through the analogy of free market by using concepts of supply and demand. We applied those ideas in the Indian context. Additionally, we believe that along with focusing on why people “leak” out of the pipeline, we should also understand why they would not leak out. To do so we use the embeddedness theory. Deriving in-depth data from four sample points and across multiple geographical regions in India, we primarily ask: why do STEM graduates opt for non-STEM professions in India? Data analyses as based on grounded theory technique reveal that the concept of leaky pipeline in India could also be explained by the notions of supply and demand but these explanations vary remarkably from those in the West. The supply side of the phenomenon is complemented with the social and familial pressures that students experience. On the demand side, we find that Indian students do not experience a non-availability of appropriate jobs, rather, they find their STEM-related jobs monotonous and demotivating. Additionally, we also add a third dimension to this supply-demand dynamics, that we call “lack of quality control” in the STEM pipeline. This study therefore extends the pipeline model and also complements it with the conceptual notions of embeddedness.

Authors

• Dina Banerjee, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur

• Saurabh Gupta, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur