Last Updated:August 25, 2026, 14:34 IST

Students need opportunities to build skills, colleges need to provide meaningful practical learning, and employers need to participate in training and workplace exposure.

The new college CV: Why internships, projects and skills matter alongside marks. (AI Image)

For generations, the college CV has centred on the degree, marks, grades and eventually campus placement. But as policymakers place greater emphasis on education, skills and employment, that profile is gradually expanding.

A March 2026 NITI Aayog working paper titled ‘Education and Skilling for Employment: From Credentials to Learning Outcomes’, argues that education, skilling and employment should be treated as interconnected systems. The report questions whether degrees adequately measure learning and whether curricula provide the skills required in jobs.

Its analysis of graduate employability shows significant differences across types of qualifications. In 2026, employability was estimated at 72.3% for MBA graduates, 70.2% for BE/BTech graduates and 68.2% for MCA graduates. Among general education degrees, the corresponding figures ranged from 55.6% for BA graduates to 62.8% for BCom graduates.

The report also says employability among post-school degree holders, including polytechnic graduates, increased from 47.3% in 2019 to 56.4% in 2026. It describes this as a gradual improvement, while pointing to continued scope for better alignment between higher education and labour-market requirements.

“Those graduating from Vocational institutions (VET) like Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and Polytechnics have the lowest employability, and those graduating from professional institutions such as Engineering (BE/BTech), Computers (MCA) and Management (MBA), have the highest employability. Graduates of the University-college system (BA, BCom, BSc, MA) fall in middle of the employability spectrum,” the report states.

The numbers suggest that the question facing students is no longer simply which degree to pursue, but what capabilities they will develop alongside it. One of the clearest ways for students to acquire workplace experience is through internships.

What Students Can Do

NITI Aayog describes “learning by doing” in industry as an important route for building human capital, productivity and wages. Its paper also notes that industry participation in training can help bridge the gap between classroom instruction and workplace requirements.

The paper also reports that the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme had engaged 45 lakh apprentices cumulatively, with 23 lakh completing training and six lakh certified.

The NITI Aayog paper finds that India’s skilling ecosystem still has considerable room to grow. The share of secondary students enrolled in vocational and technical training is estimated to be 13 percentage points below the international benchmark for a country at India’s per-capita income level.

The paper also found that only 7.7% of Indian firms provided formal training to permanent full-time employees in 2022, compared with 8.7% in Vietnam and 8.4% in Indonesia. That makes the college-to-career transition a shared responsibility.

Students need opportunities to build skills, colleges need to provide meaningful practical learning, and employers need to participate in training and workplace exposure. The changing college CV is therefore not really about replacing marks with internships. It is about adding evidence of learning.

For instance, a student who lists ‘data analysis’, ‘coding’, ‘digital marketing’ or ‘communication’ on a CV is making a claim. A student who can point to a project demonstrating those skills is providing evidence. For a computer science student, that could be a software application and for a commerce student, it could be a financial analysis or market study. A journalism student could showcase published work, while a design student could build a portfolio.

In 2026, what matters most is whether a student can explain the problem they worked on, the approach they took, the skills they used and what they learned.

Key Questions Answered

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How will NITI Aayog’s recommendations change college curricula?

NITI Aayog’s recommendations suggest that college curricula should provide meaningful practical learning and opportunities for students to build skills, moving beyond a sole focus on marks and grades. The aim is to better align higher education with industry demand and employment outcomes, ensuring graduates have the knowledge, practical experience, and skills required by employers.

What role do employers play in improving graduate employability?

Employers need to participate in training and workplace exposure to improve graduate employability. They can also help by shaping curricula through industry advisory boards to ensure alignment with current industry requirements.

Could vocational training become more valued than traditional degrees?

The current reporting does not indicate that vocational training will become more valued than traditional degrees. Instead, employers increasingly seek both a degree and demonstrable skills, with the degree serving as a starting point for eligibility.

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