Only one in four Indian HEIs use live projects for student training: Report

A majority of India’s colleges and universities remain disconnected from workplace requirements, with limited use of practical training methods, according to a new report released by TeamLease EdTech.

The report, titled From Degree Factories to Employability Hubs, found that nearly 75% of higher education institutions do not meet industry expectations, while only about 25% use live projects as part of student training.

The findings are based on responses from 1,071 public, private, and deemed universities, along with autonomous and affiliated colleges across the country.

The study urged institutions to make industry aligned curricula and certifications mandatory and to expand experiential learning through compulsory internships and live projects.

It called on higher education providers to move “decisively from degree factories to employability hubs.”

TeamLease EdTech conducted a structured, close-ended survey in December last year to examine how employability is being embedded in academic systems in line with the National Education Policy 2020.

The company works with institutions on online programs, apprenticeships, and talent pipelines.

“The data was collected through voluntary and anonymous digital participation and analyzed using percentage-based insights to identify system-level patterns and trends, without ranking institutions or inferring causality,” the report said.

According to the findings, only 8.6% of institutions have curricula fully aligned with industry needs across all programs, while 16.9% reported partial alignment in select programs.

Just 36% of HEIs have incorporated soft skills into their curriculum, which the report said shows that alignment efforts remain limited in scale and consistency.

More than half of the institutions surveyed, or 51.01%, acknowledged having no alignment with industry needs, while another 19.1% said alignment initiatives are still in progress.

“Curriculum alignment with industry needs is underway, yet remains uneven, with most institutions implementing changes at the departmental or program level rather than through institution-wide redesign,” the report noted.

Industry participation in teaching was also found to be low. Only 23.02% of institutions involve industry professionals in classrooms, and just 7.56% have adopted Professors of Practice across multiple programs.

Over 60% of HEIs have not explored integrating industry-recognized certifications into their courses, the report said.

Internship adoption remains limited, with mandatory internships implemented across all programs in only 9.4% of institutions and in select programs in 17.4%, bringing overall coverage to 26.8%.

Live industry projects are used by just 9.68% of institutions, while 37.8% reported no internship integration at all.

Placement outcomes also varied widely. Only 16.67% of institutions achieved placement rates of 76% to 100% within six months of graduation, which the report said points to a continuing gap between intent and outcomes.

Alumni networks were also underutilized, with only 5.44% of institutions reporting highly engaged alumni.

Commenting on the findings, Shantanu Rooj, founder and CEO of TeamLease EdTech, said, “What stands out in this report is the clear gap between aspiration and execution.”

He added that the higher education system remains “structurally underprepared to deliver the outcomes it aims to achieve.”