Provide what employers need In this column, we invite experts to describe what they think is the most pressing issue in higher education in India PROBLEM: Unemployable graduates. PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY Responsibility to create employable graduates is not just on the institutions and employers, but also on students to find the best career fit. India is renowned as one of the biggest resource pools of graduates in the world. What, then, is the impact of recent reports indicating that a majority of India’s tertiary graduates in key sectors are considered to be ‘unemployable’? NASSCOM reported earlier this year that almost 50% of engineering graduates are not fit for employment; it said that the problem is ‘quantity over quality’. The figure for unemployability in the IT sector, long considered one of the jewels in India’s skills crown, is reported to be near 70%. Businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal, report that graduate applicants are hampered by ‘overbearing bureaucracy’ and a failure of education providers to focus on workplace skills such as creativity and independent thinking. SOLUTION: Provide what employers need. In countries such as New Zealand and the Netherlands, it is commonplace for employers and education providers to work together to ensure that graduate skills meet demand. Tertiary institutions can work with employers in the relevant sectors to ensure that their graduates possess not only the academic knowledge to succeed, but also the workplace skills to put it into practice. Sector Skills Councils, currently being introduced in key sectors in India, are a vital means of linking education providers with industry; they can also advise on sectors likely to be in demand in the future. Quality of qualifications and degrees is also of the highest importance; with so many private and smaller institutions, it is often the only way of judging competence. The upcoming Qualifications Framework, which will include tertiary qualifications, and the ongoing work of the University Grants Commission, will help to address the problem of comparability and benchmarking. The responsibility is not just on institutions and employers, however. The onus is also on young people to ensure that the career they wish to follow is the best fit for them, and is likely to yield success. By seeking careers guidance from schools and relevant businesses, and investigating sectors with future demand, young people can ensure that they are not left in the unemployable pile after university, and can contribute to India’s future prosperity.

Provide what employers need

In this column, we invite experts to describe what they think is the most pressing issue in higher education in India

PROBLEM: Unemployable graduates.
PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY Responsibility to create employable graduates is not just on the institutions and employers, but also on students to find the best career fit. India is renowned as one of the biggest resource pools of graduates in the world. What, then, is the impact of recent reports indicating that a majority of India’s tertiary graduates in key sectors are considered to be ‘unemployable’?

NASSCOM reported earlier this year that almost 50% of engineering graduates are not fit for employment; it said that the problem is ‘quantity over quality’. The figure for unemployability in the IT sector, long considered one of the jewels in India’s skills crown, is reported to be near 70%. Businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal, report that graduate applicants are hampered by ‘overbearing bureaucracy’ and a failure of education providers to focus on workplace skills such as creativity and independent thinking.
SOLUTION: Provide what employers need.
In countries such as New Zealand and the Netherlands, it is commonplace for employers and education providers to work together to ensure that graduate skills meet demand. Tertiary institutions can work with employers in the relevant sectors to ensure that their graduates possess not only the academic knowledge to succeed, but also the workplace skills to put it into practice. Sector Skills Councils, currently being introduced in key sectors in India, are a vital means of linking education providers with industry; they can also advise on sectors likely to be in demand in the future. Quality of qualifications and degrees is also of the highest importance; with so many private and smaller institutions, it is often the only way of judging competence. The upcoming Qualifications Framework, which will include tertiary qualifications, and the ongoing work of the University Grants Commission, will help to address the problem of comparability and benchmarking. The responsibility is not just on institutions and employers, however. The onus is also on young people to ensure that the career they wish to follow is the best fit for them, and is likely to yield success. By seeking careers guidance from schools and relevant businesses, and investigating sectors with future demand, young people can ensure that they are not left in the unemployable pile after university, and can contribute to India’s future prosperity.