Placement Training in Coimbatore

Why Use a Placement Test?

The placement tests we have are not perfect instruments, but such things as perfect instruments do not exist. No matter how one decides to place students, there always will be students who are incorrectly measured. Nevertheless, there are types of tests that might be more successful at placing students appropriately. The question that needs to be asked is "What is gained by using a test versus not using a test?" In fact, self-selection was explored early in the development of the Foreign Language Placement Testing Program and not found to be a viable option. In fact, it was because of the failure of self-selection at most of the UW institutions that the decision was originally made to create the Foreign Language Placement Tests. The effects of student misplacement were felt both in high levels of student dissatisfaction and in institutional inefficiencies
Choosing among placement tests (or even whether or not to use a placement test) boils down to a cost-benefit analysis. Under the current funding model for the Center, each of the 14 UW campuses pay a share of the Center’s budget, proportional to the size of that campus’ incoming freshman class. Individual campuses often pass this fee along to their students. In exchange for this fee, the vast majority of students are correctly placed, thereby saving the students, departments, and universities numerous hidden costs.

Benefits of a quality placement?

From the student perspective, high quality placements can bring a range of benefits and positive impacts. There is strong evidence to suggest that placements and work experience are extremely valuable to students, both in terms of their academic performance and their employability skills.1 The Wilson Review of higher education argues that such opportunities may alleviate barriers to employment for graduates, and notes that both sandwich placements and student/graduate internships hold considerable value for the students personal and professional development, and should be encouraged and provided as opportunities to all where possible. At a high level, the benefits for students include:

• Improved skills and knowledge, including ‘softer’ employability skills, and specific technical skills and competencies.
• Placements give students the opportunity to gain skills specific to their subject or industry of choice as well as the employability skills required for real-life work. It also increases their knowledge of an industry or sector, allowing them to make better informed decisions about future career choices.
  Research undertaken at the University of Aston also explored the possible causal link between placements and academic achievement, and found that placements do improve degree performance.
• However, the research suggested that more able students are more likely to undertake placements in the first place, and that degree performance is not improved by a placement per se, but by a successful placement.2
• Increased understanding and awareness of the world of work, accelerated personal maturity, self-awareness and ability to articulate skills and achievements.
  Placements provide the opportunity to be involved in team-based working, which provides a welcome contrast to the typically more individual-centric approach taken to academic study.
• This kind of experience is beneficial, and builds on the self-management and problem solving skills typically gained at university, with the ability to work collaboratively.
• A clear beneficial output for students from undertaking a placement is the ability to effectively evidence their experiences on their CV, providing documented contextual proof for their skills and abilities, coupled with a reference.
• Placements can also provide useful examples to use in competency based job applications or interviews.
• Enhanced employment prospects and ability to compete in a turbulent graduate recruitment marketplace.
• Completing a placement can sometimes lead directly to subsequent employment with the same employer following graduation. It can be “a foot in the door” that could lead to a temporary or permanent contract.
• Interaction with other professionals while on placement can also bring strong benefits in terms of networking. For example, engaging with professionals in their chosen career-field can provide a foundation of contacts on which to build and draw upon in a future career.
• Placements may also have a significant economic impact on graduates throughout their careers, and contribute to improved social mobility and success in later life.
• It is estimated that the average salary of students who have completed sandwich placements is 8% higher than those that did not, six months after graduating. Other evidence that suggests that placements can and often do lead to firm employment opportunities include the Real Prospects 2011 survey.