Column | Colleges Must Bring Work Into the Degree, says TeamLease Services Co-founder Manish Sabharwal

It is both, but I would put the blame at roughly 70/30. India has a jobs problem, but more fundamentally it has a good-jobs and employability problem. The evidence is revealing—graduate youth unemployment for those below 25 was 39.3 per cent in the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2023-24, while Mercer|Mettl finds only 42.6 per cent of graduates are employable. But demand is not absent. TeamLease EdTech’s latest second half of 2026 survey puts fresher hiring intent at 75 per cent, while Naukri reported white-collar hiring up by six per cent year on year in June 2026. The real mismatch is that we produce degrees faster than we produce employability and productive firms. We need both better graduates and more productive enterprises.

A B.A. or B.Com is still worth three years if it builds human capital instead of simply consuming three years. The false choice is degree versus skill. India needs both breadth and employability. A good general degree should teach numeracy, writing, critical thinking and the ability to learn; an apprenticeship should teach how to apply those capabilities at work. The bigger problem is that our education system has made the classroom the destination instead of the beginning. I would tell colleges to bring work into the degree.

Engineering became a safe bet when India had an extraordinary shortage of technical graduates. That shortage has disappeared. We expanded engineering faster than the economy expanded high-productivity engineering jobs, so the degree stopped being a differentiator by itself. The labour market has moved from qualification scarcity to capability scarcity.

The MBA premium hasn’t disappeared; the institution premium has grown enormously. Deloitte India’s 2026 campus research puts the MBA pay premium over engineering graduates at 45–50 per cent, but median MBA compensation is Rs 27.4 lakh at the top 10 institutes versus only Rs 8.4 lakh at Tier-III institutes—this is not a small difference; it is a different economic proposition. For the thousands outside the top schools, another degree isn’t the answer. They need proof of work—sales, analytics, digital tools, artificial intelligence [AI], internships, apprenticeships, customer exposure and measurable outcomes. The labour market is slowly becoming less impressed by certificates and more interested in capability. That is actually good news for a capable Tier-II or Tier-III graduate. A degree can open a door, but performance determines how far you go once you’re in. The MBA premium should compound only when performance compounds.

When employers say no skills, they rarely mean someone cannot use Excel or write code. They mean the candidate cannot convert knowledge into workplace performance. That requires communication, problem-solving, learning agility, teamwork, digital fluency and responsibility.

Employers are part of the problem. Asking for experience for an entry-level job is like wanting a chicken without hatching the egg. But the cost of learning must be shared—universities provide foundations, employers provide workplace learning, students bring effort and government reduces hiring risks. Apprenticeships make this practical by combining learning with earning. Deloitte’s 2026 research shows that internship-to-offer conversion is improving by about six per cent year on year. Experience is often a product of employment, not a prerequisite. Treat the first year as an investment in human capital, not an expense to be eliminated.

The biggest reason is that India has treated education and employment as two separate systems. Germany built the bridge between them; India built two parallel roads and wondered why graduates couldn’t cross. Historically, India had only a few lakh apprentices compared with millions in Germany, Japan and China. Three things must change. Regulation must make apprenticeships simple and portable. Employers need incentives because they bear the upfront training cost, but receive the productivity benefit later. And students and parents must stop seeing workplace learning as second-class education. Degree apprenticeships solve all three by combining a qualification with real work and income.

The gig economy has done something important—it has lowered the barrier to entry the job market. For a first-time job seeker, a contract, freelance assignment or platform job can provide income, experience and a work record when the traditional employer says, ‘Come back when you have experience’. That matters enormously in a country with a huge youth population. But gig work should be a bridge, not a trap.

Yes, AI is already eating some first-rung tasks. But confusing disappearing tasks with permanently disappearing jobs is a mistake. Routine coding, testing, documentation, content production and back-office processing are exposed because AI makes workers more productive. Yet productivity can create new demand. My advice to graduates is practical—get internships, build English fluency and digital literacy, acquire a job-relevant vocational skill, practise teamwork and problem-solving and develop interests beyond academics through sport, writing or volunteering.

Don’t try to predict which AI job will exist in 2030. Become someone who can learn that job. Economies are complex adaptive systems; we cannot predict the future precisely, but we can build adaptability. For graduates from average colleges, I would prioritise five things—master one domain, learn to use AI tools, improve English and communication, build two or three real projects and gain workplace experience through internships or apprenticeships. Don’t compete with AI on speed. Learn to use AI to outperform those who don’t. Preparation beats prediction; demonstrated capability beats credentials alone.

Don’t confuse your college brand with your human-capital stock. A Tier-II or Tier-III college makes the starting line harder, but it doesn’t determine the finish line. The labour market is shifting from degree-based signalling towards demonstrated capability. So use your final year differently—master one domain, learn AI and digital tools, improve English and communication, build real projects and gain workplace experience through internships or apprenticeships.