The NITI Aayog's recently released report, Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat 2047, has highlighted a disconnect between India's higher and technical education system and the changing requirements of the labour market.
The report states that curricula in most institutions remain outdated and are not aligned with evolving industry requirements. As a result, degrees, diplomas, and certificates do not consistently translate into employability.
The Economic Survey 2024-25 noted that only 8.25 per cent of graduates are employed in roles aligned with their qualifications.
The report also highlighted high levels of educated unemployment. According to the report, 13 per cent of all graduates and 20.4 per cent of graduate women are unemployed, compared with the national unemployment rate of 3.2 per cent.
Over 2 Crore Students Enrolled In BA, BSc, BCom
The report also flags the heavy concentration of students in generic degree programmes with weak job linkages. Of the 3.4 crore students enrolled in undergraduate programmes, 1.13 crore are enrolled in BA programmes alone. The combined enrolment in BA, BSc and BCom programmes exceeds 2 crore.
According to the report, many students pursue these degrees primarily to remain eligible for government jobs. Between November 2024 and July 2025, 1.86 crore applications were received for just 55,000 government posts.
NITI Aayog said this structural imbalance across degree colleges, industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics highlights the need to reorient higher education through greater industry participation and public-private partnership (PPP) models.
"These partnerships are critical to modernising curricula, embedding job-linked learning, and ensuring that skilling remains current, relevant, and connected to real employment outcomes," the report states.
NITI Aayog Calls For Job-Linked Degree Programmes
NITI Aayog has called for structural changes in the way higher and technical education programmes are designed and delivered.
According to the report, the focus should shift from generic degree pathways towards specialised, job-linked programmes, particularly in high-enrolment degrees such as BA, BSc, and BCom. It recommends applied specialisations such as BA Hospitality, BCom Analytics, and BSc Applied Technology that are aligned with industry demand.
The report also calls for the significant expansion of work-integrated and apprenticeship-embedded degree programmes (AEDPs). While frameworks such as AEDP have been introduced, their adoption remains limited compared with the size of the higher education system, restricting students' opportunities to graduate with demonstrable work experience, it states.
The report further stresses the need for more flexible modes of education, including modular, part-time, hybrid, and earn-while-you-learn models. These formats would allow students to combine education with work.
"Delivering these shifts requires more structured industry participation than is currently embedded within most public higher education institutions. Accordingly, the focus is to drive industry-led skilling through public-private partnership (PPP) models and broader private-sector engagement, enabling programmes that are outcome-linked, industry-integrated, and modular by design," the report states.
