Unlocking the intersection of education and employment

Questioning the employability of Indian youth and the absence of requisite skill sets in them has become cause célèbre for quite some time. Unemployment is connected with the dearth of abilities in job seekers. The deficient abilities appear a fair reason and augur well, resulting in the education sector facing the brunt. Undoubtedly, the rejection of individuals on the grounds of failing to secure employment warrants contemplation. The India Skill Report 2023 points to a +3.8% change in the total employability of youngsters compared to the previous year and attributes it to be due to the increase in the knowledge and skilling infrastructure. But this cannot alone solve the monstrous unemployment problem due to the prevailing youth bulge. 

Employability must go along with the job opportunities however; it is perceived differently by different individuals. For some employability is related to ease of getting employed and employment outcome, while for others it is related to domain knowledge, soft skills, individual characteristics, interpersonal aptitude, ability to acquire new skills, matching with competencies required by employers, etc. 

Quantity vs. Quality

From time to time, attempts are made to enhance the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) to facilitate higher education to a sizeable population. The present GER hovers around 27 and is aimed to be taken to 50 by 2035 as per National Education Policy 2020. This ought to be done by increasing the intake of existing higher education institutions (HEIs) and setting up of new HEIs. The desire to expand higher education is in coherence with the public aspirations in democracy but the moot point is the worthiness of the programmes run in them whose insufficiency eventually thwarts the attempt due to the non-employability of passouts. The proliferation of HEIs has been creating a lot of degree holders with qualifications that may open new vistas for them, which is unfortunately not happening as many employers complain about their suitability. However, these remarks about the employability of students passing out from HEIs have numerous dimensions emanating from quality issues. The quality of  

Need analysis

Present-day employers largely depend upon education providers to provide employment-ready graduates. But this issue calls for introspecting it from the perspective of the purpose of education to impart knowledge and make students ready for knowledge application and creativity instead of merely serving global capitalism. It is unreasonable on the part of employers to expect the graduates to be armed with the required skill sets for being put on the job directly. The employer must be ready to make appropriate investments in the training of raw graduates.  Employability has duality in itself due to its dependence not only upon individual capabilities but also on the competitive environment, affordability, social background, and gender. Strengthening employability demands strengthening the key attributes of individual identity, self-awareness, awareness of opportunities, problem-solving abilities, crisis management, decision-making, competence transfer, continuous learning, attitude, and adaptability. Special attention to knowledge, skills, and abilities along with these attributes is mandatory for securing the first job and sustaining the upward career trend. 

Besides, the comprehensive dialogue between HEIs and employer groups on demand and supply patterns of human resources in each major sector is essential to remodel education programmes.  HEIs shall have to understand the variations amongst the learners in terms of their capacity, cognitive skills, and socio-economic diversity. Devising suitable strategies to inspire and handhold them to be successful in fulfilling their aspirations and smooth education-to-work transition. Also, employers ought to invest their time and resources on training the raw human resources coming out from academia. Which will also boost employee loyalty for the particular organization and make it good employer.

Nevertheless, in all circumstances, the graduate learning outcomes have to match the skills expected from the potential employers by overcoming the gaps between curriculum, teaching-learning processes, and pedagogical training for arriving at respective job readiness. Ultimately, the students must be able to appreciate that the knowledge and skills acquired in educational institutions correspond to their work /employment requirements in the global marketplace.  

Opportunities 

As per reports, the potential employment sectors include, digital services, financial services, health services, hospitality, consumer retail, e-commerce, energy sector, MSME sector, startups, etc. out of which the digital technology sector alone can fetch the maximum jobs slated to be around 65 million digital skill-based jobs by 2025. But, the manufacturing sector’s contribution to India’s economy needs to be augmented which will eventually open up job opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

The dearth of employment opportunities is key issue impacting the employability.  It is worth noting that despite poor employability, the employers are getting human resource as per their requirements.  However, the rigour of hiring could be quite high due to the number of aspirants being very large and very less numbers being suitable for being hired. Quite likely, the issue of employability will not be that serious, if the employment opportunities are in abundance. 

In the absence of sufficient job opportunities, self-employment through entrepreneurship becomes inevitable. Howbeit, the risks associated with entrepreneurship deter a large segment from moving ahead. Under these circumstances, intrapreneurship emanating from the conceptualization from  intra-corporate entrepreneurship in 1978 by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth S. Pinchot  must be capitalized along with entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur and intrapreneur differ in their objectives as the former envisages a company and the latter strives to improve the existing company by radical interventions in processes, products, services, etc. 

With entrepreneurship being tried for many decades in HEIs, it’s an opportune time for the HEIs to come forward and create an intrapreneurial framework.  The intrapreneurial ecosystem must collaborate with startups and existing enterprises for better quality graduate outcomes and simultaneously enrich job opportunities, innovations, and  incubation.  This can also alleviates the continued onslaught on the HEIs regarding the relevance of their offerings. Concurrently, the intrapreneurship in HEIs will manifest in revenue generation, on-the-job experience for the students, and the creation of new ventures. By adopting intrapreneurship along with entrepreneurship, the  Indian HEIs will be influencing the employability and well being of their students, help a little bit in the financial autonomy of HEIs due to the internal revenue generation, active engagement of teachers and staff in academic extension activities to establish the relevance of academic research and tangibly contribute in knowledge-driven economy. Likelihood of commercialization of knowledge and technology transfer from HEIs can strengthen the educational ecosystem along with the wellbeing of students in particular and all other stakeholders in general.