New Delhi: Nearly 75% of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in India are not aligned with industry needs, and only a quarter use live projects to train students, according to a new report released by TeamLease EdTech on Wednesday. Titled “From Degree Factories to Employability Hubs”, the report is based on responses from 1,071 public, private and deemed universities, as well as autonomous and affiliated colleges across India.
The report calls for making industry-aligned curricula and certifications non-negotiable, while strengthening experiential learning through mandatory internships and live projects, urging institutions to move “decisively from degree factories to employability hubs.”
TeamLease EdTech — a learning and employability solutions provider that also manages online programmes, apprenticeships and talent pipelines for HEIs — conducted a structured, close-ended survey in December last year to assess how institutions are embedding employability within their academic systems, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
“The data was collected through voluntary and anonymous digital participation and analysed using percentage-based insights to identify system-level patterns and trends, without ranking institutions or inferring causality,” the report said.
The study found that only 8.6% of institutions have curricula fully aligned with industry needs across all programmes, while 16.9% have partial alignment in select programmes. Only 36% of HEIs have embedded soft skills into their curriculum, “highlighting that curriculum alignment remains limited in scale and consistency,” the report said. In contrast, more than half (51.01%) HEIs admitted to having no alignment at all, and another 19.1% say alignment efforts are still under implementation.
“Curriculum alignment with industry needs is underway, yet remains uneven, with most institutions implementing changes at the departmental or programme level rather than through institution-wide redesign,” the report noted.
{{/usCountry}}“Curriculum alignment with industry needs is underway, yet remains uneven, with most institutions implementing changes at the departmental or programme level rather than through institution-wide redesign,” the report noted.
{{/usCountry}}Industry engagement in teaching also remains limited, according to the report. Only 23.02% of institutions involve industry professionals in classrooms, while just 7.56% have integrated Professors of Practice across multiple programmes. Over 60% of HEIs have not explored embedding industry-recognised certifications into their courses to improve graduate employability, the report said.
Mandatory internships are integrated across all programmes in only 9.4% of institutions and in select programmes in 17.4%, taking overall adoption to 26.8%, “underscoring that significant expansion is still needed,” according to the report. Live industry projects are used by just 9.68% of institutions, while 37.8% lack internship integration altogether, leaving many students with limited real-world exposure, it added.
Placement outcomes also remain uneven, with only 16.67% of HEIs surveyed achieving placement rates of 76-100% within six months of graduation, “highlighting a persistent gap between intent and outcomes,” the report said. Alumni engagement remains underutilised, with only 5.44% of institutions reporting highly engaged alumni networks.
Commenting on the findings, Shantanu Rooj, founder and CEO, TeamLease EdTech, said, “What stands out in this report is the clear gap between aspiration and execution.” He added that the system remains “structurally underprepared to deliver the outcomes it aims to achieve.”