Only 45% of India’s graduates are job-ready, finds study

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That most students graduating from college in the country fall far short of employability standards is a topic that has been discussed among industry circles for long since the economic reforms were unleashed. Captains of the industry have discussed the gap in skills imparted by academic institutions and industry requirements extensively in chambers of commerce in different parts of the country for years. The pressing need for cooperation between academia and industry has been recognised and discussed threadbare. That nothing much has come of such brainstorming has become evident once again in a report by Mettl, which stated that only 45% of the graduate jobseekers in the country meet industry needs. The report surveyed as many as 4.4 lakh students from 2,500 campuses.

The Economic Times has reported that finding job-ready graduates with technical skills is extremely difficult. Locating students with high employability in non-technical skills is comparatively easier.

The report “India’s Graduate Skill Index: 2023” prepared by the online talent assessment company Mettl said only 48% of the country’s graduates in artificial intelligence/machine learning are job-ready.

Data science and data analysts fare worse. Only 39% of them are job-ready. Employability is comparatively higher in skills such as MS Office, accounting and numerical ability at 61%, 60% and 57%, respectively. The highest employability of 72% was demonstrated by applied mathematics students.

“Almost all our educational institutes have to transform themselves to equip students with the relevant skills of the future and align their learning outcomes with industry needs. Industry itself is grappling with changing goalposts given changing skill requirements. If the curriculum doesn’t catch up, then the gap gets wider,” said Siddharth Gupta, CEO Mercer Mettl.

The report has collated and analysed data obtained from campuses in more than 30 states and union territories. Samples were taken from tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 colleges as laid down by the National Institute of Ranking Framework by the Union ministry of education.

It might be mentioned that the Wheelbox India Skills Report 2023 that was published earlier this year and was done in collaboration with CII, AICTE, Pearson and other agencies indicated that compared to overall 46.2% employability of 2022, the figure improved to 50.3%. More women (52.8%) were found to be job-ready than men (47.2%).