From Degrees to Competencies
- Dr Sp Mishra
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 4
Reimagining India’s Higher Education Administration (ICC Blog # 117)
By Dr. S.P. Mishra
India’s higher education system stands at a pivotal crossroads. With over 40 million students enrolled across 1,000+ universities and 40,000 colleges, we have built one of the largest academic ecosystems in the world. Yet, beneath this scale lies a troubling paradox: while degrees proliferate, competencies lag. The disconnect between academic output and workforce readiness has become too stark to ignore.
As the Ministry of Education prepares to launch the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)—a unified regulator replacing UGC, AICTE, and NCTE—we must seize this moment to embed structural reforms that go beyond administrative consolidation. The real transformation lies in rethinking outcomes, relevance, and governance. I propose three strategic interventions that can reshape the future of Indian higher education.
Outcome-Based Accountability: Measuring What Matters
For decades, our institutions have been evaluated on inputs—faculty strength, infrastructure, and enrollment numbers. Rarely have we asked the most important question: What happens to students after they graduate?
According to the India Skills Report 2025, only 54.8% of Indian graduates are considered employable. Youth unemployment in the 20–24 age group hovers around 44.5%, despite rising enrollment in higher education. These figures reveal a systemic failure to translate education into economic opportunity.
We must institutionalise Graduate Outcome Reports as a mandatory annual disclosure by all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). These reports should track:
Employability within 6–12 months of graduation
Progression into higher studies
Sectoral relevance of placements (core vs. non-core)
A centralised National Graduate Outcome Dashboard (NGOD) under HECI could benchmark institutions, guide funding decisions, and empower students with transparent data. Accreditation scores should be linked to these outcomes, incentivising institutions to align pedagogy with real-world competencies.
As Sir Ken Robinson aptly said, “The real role of education leadership is climate control—creating a climate of possibility.” That climate must be rooted in accountability.
Mandatory Industry-Academia Linkages: Making Curriculum Relevant
The second reform is equally urgent: bridging the chasm between academia and industry. While elite institutions like IITs and IIMs have long-standing partnerships with industry, the vast majority of HEIs—especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities—operate in isolation from the economic ecosystems around them.
We must mandate that every HEI establish formal partnerships with local and national industries to:
Co-design curricula
Offer structured internships and apprenticeships
Appoint “Professors of Practice” from industry
This is not merely a pedagogical shift—it’s an economic imperative. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has shown through its Academia Connect initiative that such partnerships can be scaled across sectors and regions. States like Karnataka and Maharashtra are already piloting cluster-based models that integrate MSMEs with regional colleges.
HECI should create a National Industry-Academia Grid (NIAG) to map these partnerships, track their effectiveness, and ensure annual renewal. Courses that lack industry validation should be flagged for review. This will ensure that our graduates are not just educated, but employable.
As Nandan Nilekani noted at the India Today Conclave, “India produces millions of graduates every year, but only a fraction are employable. We need to rethink how we teach and what we teach.”
Indian Education Service (IES): Professionalising Governance
The third reform is foundational: the creation of a dedicated Indian Education Service (IES) through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Education is too important to be left to generalists. We need a cadre of specialists who understand pedagogy, policy, and people.
Currently, education administration is managed by generalist civil servants, often rotated from unrelated departments. This leads to fragmented implementation, lack of continuity, and limited domain expertise. NEP 2020 rightly emphasises the need for professionalisation in education governance—but without a dedicated service, this vision remains aspirational.
An IES cadre would:
Ensure consistent policy execution across states and institutions
Bring academic and policy expertise into administrative roles
Create a career pathway for education-focused civil servants
Comparative models exist. The UK’s Department for Education and Singapore’s Ministry of Education both employ career bureaucrats with education-specific training. India must follow suit. IES officers could be deployed across HECI, NCERT, NAAC, and state education departments, ensuring coherence and accountability. Recruitment should prioritise candidates with postgraduate degrees in education, public policy, or related fields.
Conclusion: A New Architecture for a New India
India’s demographic dividend is both a promise and a responsibility. To harness it, we must move from degree-centric to competency-driven education. The reforms proposed here—outcome-based accountability, mandatory industry linkages, and a professional education service—are not incremental tweaks. They are architectural shifts.
As we prepare for the rollout of HECI and the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, let us ensure that our higher education system is not just large—but effective, inclusive, and future-ready.
The time to act is now.
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