Higher Education Out-Turn and Industry Needs - A Demand Supply Mismatch

Abstract

There are numerous reasons to get education but most importantly it helps you build a career. Unfortunately, this connection between education and jobs seem to be getting weak. Paradoxically, our country has jobs and has unemployed youth at the same pace which indicates we do not have a job crisis but employability crisis. As per statistical evidences only 42% of worldwide employers believe that new graduates are adequately prepared for work. On the contrary, 70% educators believe kids they are graduating are ready for work but less than half of the graduates or employers agree. There is a vast skills gap in India, with several surveys showing that half of all graduates are not employable in any sector based on industry standards. This has sparked growing concern about the mismatch between universities and the needs of the job market. There is a major communication and collaboration gap between industries and institutes of learning. The educational institutes are out of sync with employer needs that build up this social crisis level. This is a serious problem to fix and there is a desperate need to take action to connect these worlds. Higher education systems and industries both have an active role to play for fixing this mismatch. The study is undertaken with an objective to highlight the role of higher education in bridging this gap, reducing mismatch and enhancing the level of employability among graduates. It also suggests a road map for higher education sector to align it to employability needs and industry requirements.

Keywords: Employability, Employers, Graduates, Higher education, India, Skill mismatch.

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