Indian Female Non-Business Graduate Students’ Experience: Understanding of Commercial Acumen Skills and Relevance to Employment

Abstract

Indian female graduate students have to make choices among multiple aspects of their mental and physical abilities as science students and women in a society with different gender norms in the country. However, their experiences have not been well researched within the scholarship on commercial acumen. In this study, using the phenomenological approach, we explored the phenomenon of commercial acumen in the Indian female graduates studying science course meaning non-business course. The participants were diverse in terms of their status as students, current students and alumni. A small number of employers also participated in the study. A survey with open-ended and closed questions was used to evaluate the understanding and relevance of commercial acumen skills in the female graduate students, alumni, and employers. The findings of 127 responses indicated that the female graduate students perceived being on the non-business course as a limited experience of understanding of commercial acumen in the context of employability skills. This study recommends a reflection on the part of the educators to highlight the relevance and definition of commercial acumen during degree programmes.