From campus to shopfloor: Why work-integrated degrees deserve national attention

India doesn't have a jobs crisis; it has a skills crisis. Year by year, millions of students graduate with degrees, but too many sit on the sidelines of the labor market.

- KULDIP SARMA

India doesn't have a jobs crisis; it has a skills crisis. Year by year, millions of students graduate with degrees, but too many sit on the sidelines of the labor market. The issue isn't a lack of ambition or intellect; it is a misalignment between what's being taught in classrooms and what's required in the outside world.

The figures make the disconnect painfully evident. As of May 2025, the overall unemployment rate is 5.6%, but in young urban Indians, it's close to 18%. More dramatically, only 42.6% of graduates are considered employable by the latest Mercer-Mettl Graduate Skill Index. A degree, it seems, is no longer a guarantee of direction.

Why Practical Skills Can't Be An Afterthought

Nearly 80% of rural youth in India have never received any kind of formal vocational training. This leaves them doubly disadvantaged—not only are opportunities scarce, but the preparation for those opportunities is even scarcer.