Mohit Pandey

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Topic: “A Study of Higher Education System in Relation to Skill

Development & Job Market in India”

India’s higher education system has evolved a lot since its establishment in the mid 20th
century. Originally, the system comprised of only 27 universities and several hundred colleges,
but has grown rapidly since the 1980s. This period recorded an annual growth rate of about 5%
in the number of students, which was much higher than the population growth rate. The number
of universities increased to 1,168 in 2022 with more than 58,000 affiliated colleges. This
massive expansion was due to a population increase in the lower age groups and a growing
need for tertiary education as enrolment in secondary education and per capita income
increased. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education rose to about 11 percent by
the early 2000s, indicating that more people were able to access higher education. In addition,
the female students constituted approximately 40% of the total enrollment, which was a sign of
improvement in the gender parity in education.

The higher education in India is very vast and comprises state universities, central universities,
deemed universities and institutions of national importance. Although the public institutions have
been the major players in the sector, the recent decades have witnessed a significant expansion
of private education suppliers. Arts and science courses are the most popular among students,
with 64% of students enrolled in these programs, while commerce, management, and technical
education courses are also on the rise. Engineering, medical and vocational courses related to
the IT sector have shown a steep rise which is in tune with the changing job market
requirements.

Private institutions have emerged as key providers of this demand especially due to the fact that
cash starved state governments have cut down on the expansion of government aided
institutions. These private colleges and universities, however, are not of the same quality.
Majority of them are associated with public universities, which are mainly degree awarding
institutions and not teaching and research institutions.
In spite of their shortcomings, these private institutions are more flexible and more sensitive to
the needs of employers and the job Market. However, their emphasis on teaching instead of
research and the questionable quality of their institutions cause doubts about the educational
standards they offer.
Challenges in Quality and Governance

The Indian higher education system has expanded tremendously in the recent past, but it has its
own set of problems, especially with regard to quality. Research performance, infrastructure,
and graduate employment prospects point to the fact that the system is not well equipped to
address the needs of the learners and the market. For instance, the performance of India in the
global university rankings is rather disappointing, with only a handful of universities entering the
top 200 or 500, and these are mostly specialized in engineering and technology. This scenario
is in stark contrast to China where an attempt to enhance the quality of higher education has
seen a significant rise in the number of PhDs and research papers much higher than India.

Higher education participation in China and India (gross enrolment ratio 1991–2006, * official targets for 2017
and 2020) Source: World Bank (2008); Government of India; Government of China

Another factor that has been attributed to the low quality of higher education in India is the
compartmentalization of research and teaching. India in the 1950s made a conscious policy
decision to create separate research organizations outside the university system. As the
universities got more and more politicized, many researchers moved to these specialized
institutions and the division diluted both teaching and research in the universities. This division
has led to the deterioration of the quality of education and a crisis of leadership in the higher
learning institutions. The public universities are most affected by bureaucratization, lack of
autonomy, and politicized appointments, which have pushed out the best brains from the
system and have not been able to attract new talent.

Another major concern is the dilemma of increasing enrollment and access to higher education
and at the same time ensuring quality. Although attempts to expand enrollment, particularly of
students from low income marginalized backgrounds, are politically desirable, they are usually
achieved at the cost of quality. Measures like reservation and scholarships to ensure that the
socially disadvantaged students get a chance to study are important for social justice but these
have not been complemented by measures to ensure that all students get quality education.

The increasing privatization of higher education has also brought new issues into the picture.
Private institutions have also expanded to meet the growing demand for higher education
especially in the professional and technical fields, but they are accused of operating for profit
rather than providing education. Most of the private colleges and universities are more of profit
imperative institutions than learning institutions with little or no emphasis on research and
development. This has resulted in the establishment of many substandard institutions that have
little impact on the overall development of nations and training of human capital.

Skill Mismatch and Employment Outcomes

India is producing a large number of graduates every year through its higher education system
but there is a huge gap between the skills that graduates possess and the skills required in the
job market. This has led to some questions being raised over the efficiency of the current
education system in preparing students for employment. Despite the relative economic
development and tradition of higher education, the quality of graduates has not met the demand
of industries especially in the areas that call for specialized skills.

One of the major problems is that the content of most higher education programs is still
traditional and does not meet the current and future needs of the global and domestic labor
markets. Most graduates, particularly those from non-technical and non-professional courses,
are often unprepared for the job market. The emphasis on rote learning, theoretical knowledge
and memorization, as opposed to problem-solving and critical analysis, prepares students
poorly for the contemporary world of work. This is especially so in arts, sciences, and commerce
disciplines where the curricula has not been updated fairly to meet the modern skills and
competencies.

Moreover, there is a great disparity in the quality of education that is offered in various
institutions. While the IITs and IIMs churn out quality human resource that is sought after in
India and other developed countries, the rest of the institutions provide inferior education that is
not acceptable in the market. This has created a scenario where only a few of the graduates are
marketable to the leading companies, while the rest are left to fend for themselves in the job
market.

Source :Scroll.in, Data:Metti Campus Hiring Report 2018

The private sector which has expanded in the last decade due to the need for expansion of
higher education has not adequately dealt with this problem. Private institutions are more
sensitive to market demands, but they are oriented to immediate financial returns rather than
educational effectiveness. Most private colleges are nothing but ‘degree plant’ that produce
graduates without any concern for the quality of education they offer. This has resulted in
flooding the job market with degrees that are almost worthless in terms of job placement.

Also, there is the problem of relevance of higher education to the various sectors of the
economy. For instance, the IT and engineering sectors have experienced significant growth and
demand for human capital, while other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and social
sciences have not been given the same attention in terms of curriculum and skill development.
This has led to the production of more graduates in some areas of specialization and less in
others, thus worsening the issue of unemployment and underemployment among the young
people.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that most Indian students expect to get a government job
or a stable, highly paid position in a domestic or international company, rather than start a
business or seek a job in a new field. This is because these individuals have been trained to
believe that traditional careers are more secure and prestigious than non-traditional careers,
and they have not been exposed to other career options during their education.

Compounding this is the fact that the number of Indian students pursuing education in foreign
countries is relentlessly on the rise. This trend has been occasioned by factors like perceived
quality education in the foreign countries, the rising standard of living and the desire of the
Indian families and the social prestige that comes with education from the foreign countries. The
enrolment of Indian students in foreign universities has increased significantly with the US, UK,
Australia and Canada being the most preferred countries. This trend of students, especially at
the undergraduate and master’s levels, is indicative of the increasing discontent with domestic
education and the pull factor of exposure to the global environment and opportunities.

No. of Indian Students Going Abroad Over Past 5 Years. Source: UniAcco, Data: Ministry of External Affairs

Policy Implications and the Way Forward

Moreover, success in the job market does not necessarily mean success in knowledge creation.
India has not paid adequate attention to its knowledge requirements in areas that have large
public good externalities such as climate change, health economics, infectious diseases, and
agricultural technologies. The structure of higher education in India has shifted more towards
professional education and away from research and training in liberal arts and pure sciences.
The long-term implications of this trend are still hard to determine, especially in light of the
controversy surrounding the role of tertiary education – as a producer of workforce, incubator of
innovation, agent of social mobility, or a generator of national elites. The prognosis for the
system may be less rosy if it tries to accomplish all of these objectives at once.

To overcome the skills deficit, India has to improve the quality and standards of education in the
country. The poor quality of education has led to increased unemployment among graduates
including those in the professional fields. There is need to enhance accreditation and ranking of
universities and colleges to deliver quality education. Although the private institutions are
gradually coming up and contributing towards the enhancement of the quality of higher
education, only a handful of institutions in India have made their mark on the global map.

Globalization, advancement in technology, and competition have further exposed the skill gaps
in India. Despite the large and young population of the country, there is a skills mismatch
between the demand of employers and the supply of graduates. The manufacturing sector
which was expected to generate employment after the structural adjustment in the 1990s has
not been able to absorb the increasing population. This has worsened the problem of
unemployment among the educated youth.

Some of these gaps have been filled by the private sector through the formation of corporate
universities and training institutions. Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have
created elaborate training programs within their organizations to prepare the fresh graduates for
employment. These efforts are meant to close the gap between the traditional university
education and the marketable skills in the current job market. However, this approach is not
without its problems because it mainly works in the favor of large firms and may not be easily
applicable in all sectors.

However, the skill gap in India is a major problem that requires immediate attention. In contrast
to the developed countries where education systems incorporate skill development, Indian
education policies do not address the gap between the acquired and the needed knowledge.
Other factors such as technology and lack of proper training also contribute to the widening of
this gap. Thus, there is an imperative need for policy changes to prepare the workforce for the
future of India. For example, while the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS)
National Skill Development Mission, Skill India, and the NEP 2020 are designed to encourage
vocational training and incorporate skills development into education, the effectiveness of these
measures has been rather low and their scope is still quite narrow. Possible changes could
include increasing the role of industries in the development of curricula, offering more incentives
for the private sector to invest in skill development, and improving the quality and availability of
vocational training. Changes to these policies should therefore aim at developing more
specialized and regionally relevant skills development initiatives, increasing research and
development funding in emerging industries and ensuring that the education system is flexible
enough to meet the dynamic market demands. This approach can help to achieve a closer
correlation between the results of education and the requirements of the labor market.

In conclusion, India needs to revitalize its higher education and skill development policies to
address the emerging employment needs. Thus, India can learn from the flexible and supportive
education systems of the developed countries and prepare its workforce for the future
challenges and make sure that the economic growth of the country is followed by the growth of
the skilled workforce.

References:

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%3DOut%2520of%2520over%252058%2520thousand,diploma%2520certification%2520rather
%2520than%2520degrees

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