Influence of Digital Career-Guidance Platforms on Higher-Education Aspirations of First-Generation Learners in Hyderabad

Abstract

First-generation learners often face structural, informational, and socio-cultural barriers that limit their access to higher education and informed career decision-making. Online career-guiding platforms have become the source of significant intervention in the form of individual counseling, career tests, and information on career moves and funding opportunities in recent years. This paper looks into how online career- guidance systems impact the university goals of first-generation students in Hyderabad, India. The questions to be used in the analysis of patterns of platform use, perceived usefulness, and the effects they have on the educational ambitions and career discernment of learners are based on a structured survey, which will be filled out by the participants in the sample of undergraduate and senior secondary students. Descriptive and inferential statistics indicate that using digital career-guidance tools leads to a marked increase in awareness of increased opportunity in higher-education, enhancement in the level of confidence in academic decision-making, and change in ambitions to obtain tertiary education to a substantially favorable degree. The data also show that such characteristics of the platform as localized information, the ability to receive mentoring, and guidance in scholarships are some of the key factors that help first-generation learners. Nevertheless, there are still such issues as digital access, language barrier and level of digital literacy. The paper presents the possibilities of digital career-guidance platforms as non-discriminatory solutions to minimizing the informational disparities and fostering equal opportunities to acquire a higher education. It has significant implications on the work of educators, policymakers, and those working on platforms that aim to create specific and learner-driven digital guidance solutions in underrepresented student groups.