Ajay batish

— Prof. Ajay Batish is Pro Vice Chancellor of Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala

Most graduates emerge from a HEI system designed for a bygone era. It doesn’t prepare students for the complexities of 21st century workplace challenges

India is often described as an engineering powerhouse. Every year, 1.5 million students graduate from engineering institutions across the country, creating one of the largest technical talent pools in the world. Ex facie, this should place India in a strong position to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals across sectors ranging from manufacturing and infrastructure to artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and advanced technologies.

Yet despite the large number of graduates entering the workforce, business organisations struggle to find graduates minimally prepared for employment. This paradox raises an important question: if India produces engineers at scale, why does industry continue to experience talent shortage?

The answer lies not in the number of graduates certified but in the gap between education and evolving industry expectation.

For decades, higher education institutions (HEIs) — including engineering HEIs — have successfully expanded access. They have enabled millions of young people acquire technical qualifications and pursue professional careers. However, the character of engineering jobs has significantly changed over the same period. Contemporary engineers are expected to operate in workplace environments that demand interdisciplinary thinking, digital fluency, problem-solving capabilities, adaptability, and collaboration together with technical expertise.

Unfortunately, most graduates emerge from an HEI system designed for a bygone era. This system is focused on the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, examinations, and structured problem-solving. While this remains important, it doesn’t prepare students for the complexities of 21st century workplace challenges. Employers need graduates who can apply knowledge, work across disciplines, communicate effectively, and learn continuously as technologies evolve.

This requirement has become urgent in an era when technological disruption is accelerating. Fields such as artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, and sustainability are reshaping industries at rapid pace. Technical skills are becoming dynamic rather than remaining static. What students learn in the first year of their degree programmes may significantly evolve before they graduate. As a result, employability depends less on mastery of a fixed body of knowledge and to a greater extent on capacity to learn, adapt, and innovate.

Another challenge is limited exposure to industry realities during the learning continuum. While internships have become more common, meaningful engagement between academia and industry is fragmented.  HEIs need to design learning programmes in which students actively engage with industry challenges, emerging technologies, multidisciplinary projects, and experiential learning opportunities. Project-based learning, research participation, innovation ecosystems, industry mentorship, and entrepreneurship exposure will enable students to develop skills and competencies that employers increasingly value.

Equally important are life skills. Engineering is no longer a profession practiced in isolated labs. Today, engineers work in cross-functional teams, interact with clients, collaborate across geographies, and contribute to strategic decision-making. Therefore, communication, teamwork, leadership, creativity, and critical thinking have become essential employability requirements rather than supplementary skills.

The growing influence of artificial intelligence reinforces this new reality. While AI can automate routine tasks and support technical workflows, uniquely human capabilities such as judgement, reasoning, creativity, and complex problem-solving are becoming even more valuable. Future engineers will need to combine technical expertise with these higher-order competencies to remain relevant in AI-enabled workplaces.

The solution is not for HEIs to certify more engineers. It is for HEIs to certify engineers prepared for a futuristic tech landscape.

This new paradigm mandates stronger partnerships between academia and industry, continuous curriculum upgradation, sharper focus on experiential learning, and design of educational ecosystems that stimulate curiosity, innovation, and lifelong learning. HEIs must focus not only on what students know but also on how they can apply knowledge.

With over 50 percent of its population below age 24, India is endowed with a significant demographic advantage and an enormous engineering talent pipeline. The challenge now is to ensure this talent is shaped to align with the requirements of rapidly changing workplaces worldwide. The conversation must, therefore, shift from graduate numbers to graduate readiness.

The responsibility of HEI leaders is onerous and urgent. In the coming decade, the success of India’s engineering ecosystem will not be measured by how many engineers it certifies, but by how effectively those engineers are prepared to solve real-world challenges of the future.