With each passing day, evidence is piling up that supports our long-held belief — skill trumps paper degrees from universities. This is not to say that people should not pursue college degrees, but without relevant skills, finding a job will be hard today, let alone building a career that will be fulfilling in the long run. This is particularly true in the area of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

Annual dipstick surveys conducted over a period of time have continued to reveal that an overwhelming majority of engineering graduates in India are simply not employable for want of relevant skills. This challenge manifests in more than one way.

One, it puts mint-fresh engineers at a disadvantage, forcing them to start their career at bottom of barrel salaries. Two, it forces employers to include skill training when onboarding new employees, which means sacrificing the first few months on the job without any justifiable revenue to match their costs.

This has become a perennial challenge, particularly for tech companies that operate in a market that is obsessed (justifiably so) with operating margins to sustain their business.

Paucity of skilled talent

What universities and engineering colleges are doing to address this challenge is a story for another day. But this has also led to the mushrooming of a rainbow of skilling institutions that are now offering role-specific training that prepares new recruits to hit the ground running.

For now, this relatively new skilling business includes garden variety of players that promise more than they deliver and a few that offer the whole package from training to mentoring to lifelong career counselling.

This shift we are witnessing today is an outcome of the frustrations of business leaders and hiring managers unable to find a large skill pool with updated and relevant skills. These decision-makers have therefore started placing a premium on skills instead of paper degrees.

One recent survey that had reached out to some 80-odd recruiters in tech companies in India revealed three interesting trends:

• Two out of every three surveyed said they prefer skills and relevant experience in a candidate over their academic degrees;
• Half of them said they would hire a non-computer science (CS) candidate with CS upskilling course; and
• Eight out of ten tech companies have in-house upskilling programmes for employees, which is evidenced by the consistent growth in Learning and Development (L&D) spending by tech companies.

So, where do we go from here? We know what the challenge is. We also know the long-term impact if we do not address it effectively. And we have started responding to the challenge in a more systemic and organised way.

However, the quandary created by the mindless pursuit of paper degrees will persist for longer than we can put up with. Every year, India produces around 15 lakh engineers, of which 2.2 lakh specialise in computer science, one of the few areas we beat China (1.85 lakh) hands down!

Need for change

The growing interest in broader and deeper engagements between the tech industry and academia is picking some pace. But it still doesn't address the fundamental question of whether a degree is even needed in the first place.

Let's be honest and ask ourselves if we really needed those history, biology, or chemistry classes we suffered in school or K-12. Suppose someone is really interested in these subjects purely from a knowledge point of view; they can get it outside the formal education framework because there is no dearth of free, good quality content on the internet.

Further, if the original intention of starting an engineering college was to offer better and more useful higher education, it is clearly not delivering. It is looking more like a multi-billion-dollar business that is screaming a caveat emptor.

Yet, let's look at the larger ecosystem, encompassing tech and non-tech degrees. Millions of young Indians continue to make the beeline to colleges every year, expecting to get some bang for the buck. In one sense, this is also a problem that is birthed by our obsession with 'education' whether it delivers any value or not.

This needs to change. On the positive side, India's social structure is also blessed with a more extensive network of decision influencers, including parents and educators and extended family, community leaders, and alumni groups.

When the popular narrative within this powerful network assumes a more pragmatic message and tone, pushing our youth toward skills and away from paper degrees, we will know that we are witnessing a historic shift we have waited for too long.

(The writer is Business Unit Head of Careers of Scaler Academy.)