Only 10% graduates employable
The quality of higher education in India has again come under scrutiny, as Mr. Goverdhan Mehta, the Chairman of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) executive committee, said that ‘barely 10% of the 30 lakh students who graduate every year are employable'. Speaking at the 105th convocation ceremony of the University of Pune (UoP), he also said that universities need to adopt an innovative approach to raise the employability levels of traditional arts, science, and commerce degree holders. See what Mr. Mehta said about skill-based education.
Mr. Mehta suggested that the higher education systems need to be more flexible, where skills are blended with development of entrepreneurship, and focus on education for employment. He also said that promoting liberal education and inter-disciplinary studies can help in bringing about positive changes in the existing scenario.
In April 2011, NASSCOM had said that only 10 to 25% of engineering and IT graduates are readily employable, while only 15% graduates are suitable for back-end jobs in office. Read more about it in Cisco's report.
The consulting firm Aspiring Minds presented even a more dismal scenario and stated in 2010 that only 4.22% engineering graduates were employable in product sectors while only 17% graduates were employable in IT related services.
The government has realized that it needs to escalate its efforts if it wants to cash its population dividend in an opportunistic manner. Read more about its higher education plan.
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