Less than 20% colleges get 75% placements in 6 months: Study

Despite employability becoming a central focus in India’s higher education ecosystem through the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, only one in five institutions (16.67%) achieve over 75% placements within six months of graduation. The study by TeamLease Edtech reveals that while intent is strong, execution remains fragmented.

Soft skills training, widely recognized as essential for career readiness, remains absent in nearly half (49.39%) of institutions, with only 36% embedding them into curricula and just 15.75% offering continuous learning programs. This indicates that graduates are entering the workforce without critical communication and collaboration skills, weakening their job readiness.

Employer partnerships also lack depth, with fewer than 10% reporting very strong engagement and only 25% reporting strong or very strong partnerships. Alumni networks, another critical lever for mentorship and informal hiring pathways, remain underutilized, with 43.51% of institutions reporting no engagement at all. Institutions are failing to tap into one of the most accessible and cost‑effective bridges to industry.

Applied learning is still nascent, with one in four institutions frequently integrating live industry projects into coursework. Discipline-wise adoption of employability practices shows uneven progress: Management (68.42%) and Engineering & Technology (60.53%) lead, while Commerce (54.39%), Science (53.51%), and Arts/Humanities (59.65%) lag behind. These statistics point to a fragmented system where employability readiness depends heavily on the discipline chosen, rather than a universal standard.