Is your degree enough?

As the Indian workforce grows, a critical question emerges: is a degree alone enough to secure a prosperous career in today’s job market? The India Skills Report highlights a startling gap, with over 250 million young Indians set to enter the workforce by 2025, but only 5% equipped with employable skills through formal training. This gap persists despite the proliferation of higher education institutions, particularly private colleges, across the nation. In the broader context, the World Economic Forum predicts that technological advances will significantly impact 1.

1 billion jobs globally within the next decade. This wave of change, driven by automation and digitalisation, heralds the arrival of Industry 5.0, where the synergy between humans and machines will redefine labour markets.

In this era, a degree alone is insufficient; skills are the new currency of employability. Adding to this, a study by Korn Ferry predicts a significant shortage of skilled workers in 20 major countries across finance, tech, and manufacturing sectors by 2030. If left unaddressed, this shortage could result in millions of unfilled jobs and trillions of pounds in lost revenue.

The solution? Upskilling. Projections indicate that worldwide upskilling could boost the economy by £5.1 trillion, with India potentially gaining £446 billion by 2030.

As India is poised to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027-28, with a GDP surpassing USD 5 trillion, the necessity for upskilling becomes imp.