Missing skills: Low employability calls for academia-industry link

Synopsis:  Given the poor employability of Indian graduates, urgent steps are needed to address the skill gaps.

Introduction

The QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022 were recently released. The report reveals that no Indian Higher Education Institution is in the top 100 and only 3 HEI can make a place in the top 200. This shows the employability crisis of Indian graduates.

What is the employability status in India?

Employability report: A 2019 report by Aspiring Minds termed the challenge as “stubborn unemployability”. It concluded that the employability of Indian engineers has not changed since 2010. Only 3.84% of engineers are employable at software start-ups.

India Skills Report 2021: It estimated overall employability at 45.9%. It means least one of two graduates is not ready for the job market. In polytechnics, the employability level is as low as 25%.

GOI launched the National Education Policy (NEP) to address this problem.

What we can do further?

We can take inspiration from the models of Germany and Japan. Germany’s apprenticeship programme is a building block of its manufacturing prowess. Japan’s school system plays an important role in matching student skills with industry’s requirements

As the Indian market grows, the demand for more skilled workers will grow. So, India should invest in skilling its youth for meeting the demands of the future job market.

Source: This post is based on the article “Missing skills: Low employability calls for academia-industry link” published in Times of India on 24^th September 2021.