Indian Universities Lag in Preparing Students for Global Employment

A new list of the top global university says that Indian universities are lagging while preparing their students for global employment.

The “Global University Employability Ranking 2018” clearly shows what ails the Indian education system. While other countries have moved ahead by improving their educational standards, Indian universities still have a lot to do in terms of improving curriculum, prepping students for jobs, and investing more in research.

“The goal is to make students all rounded and teach them the ability to learn, and not just focus on classroom learning. We have also initiated multiple immersion programs for students so that they can get a direct exposure to problems in the society, which inspires them to look for technology solutions to these problems. Our motto is to develop human potential to its fullest extent so that intellectually capable and imaginatively gifted leaders can emerge in a range of professions,” education magazine Career 360 quoted Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi as saying.

India’s giant northern neighbor China, which also has some universities in the top rankings, too suffers from the same problem as India’s. Talking about China’s education spectrum, Jisun Jung, assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong said. “Employers today emphasize ‘transferable skills and soft skills’ more and more, but that part is lacking in Chinese universities,” adding China “very narrowly specialized with several compulsory courses [and] without much choice [for] students. That curriculum structure does not match with current employers’ demands such as cross-disciplinary thinking.”

Echoing Jung’s words, Laurent Dupasquier, Managing Partner at Emerging, said, “Today’s digital world makes for a constantly evolving workplace – the skills required in many roles will need regular updating and it has become impossible to determine which of them will change tomorrow, and how”, adding “While digital skills are increasingly valued by recruiters, more than anything, universities must instill in students the capacity to adapt and keep learning: these will be crucial skills for success not only to cope but thrive in a transforming workplace. The university-industry collaboration will also be of increasing value, in order to provide students with the necessary on-the-ground experience.”