How can HR collaborate with academia to enhance fresher employability and meet evolving industry | Piyush Nangru | Co-Founder and COO | Sunstone

The statistics are stark and sobering: only 52.3% of recent Indian graduates are prepared for employment, according to the 2024 India Skills Report. companies often find themselves investing heavily in training freshers. This creates a Vicious cycle: no internships = no practical training = less employable students, further eroding trust in the education system. This creates a devastating feedback loop: fewer companies hire from campus because graduates lack practical experience, but without internship opportunities and industry exposure, how can students gain that experience?

The Shrinking Campus Recruitment Phenomenon

Many companies have quietly withdrawn from campus recruitment, citing the considerable investment required to train fresh graduates. “We spend the first year just getting them up to speed,” admits Rajesh Kumar, HR Director at a leading tech firm. “It’s often more cost-effective to hire experienced professionals.” This retreat from campus hiring has created a vicious cycle: without industry exposure through internships and training, students remain unprepared, further diminishing companies’ faith in the education system.

HR professionals must take proactive measures to turn this challenge into an opportunity. Collaborating with academic institutions can foster innovation, bridging the gap between theoretical education and industry requirements.

Time to Break Traditional Molds

Rather than presenting another list of conventional solutions, let’s explore transformative approaches that challenge the status quo:

Mandatory “Professors of Practice” in Every Semester

The traditional academic model of Ph.D.-holding professors teaching theory needs disruption. Every semester should include at least one “Professor of Practice” – an industry professional who brings real-world experience into the classroom. These practitioners can introduce current technologies, methodologies, and challenges that textbooks can’t capture.

Consider the impact: When IIT Madras implemented this model in their Data Science program, student placement rates increased by 35% within two years. These industry professors didn’t just teach; they brought their networks, mentorship, and real project experiences into the classroom.

Making Internships Non-Negotiable

Instead of treating internships as optional summer activities, they should be mandatory components of every degree program, integrated into the curriculum with academic credit. But here’s the crucial part: these shouldn’t be mere checkboxes. Programs should be structured as “sandwich courses” where students alternate between classroom learning and industry exposure throughout their degree.

Industry Leaders as Education Stakeholders
It’s time for industry leaders to view education as a strategic investment rather than a CSR activity. Companies complaining about skill gaps should be required to “adopt” educational institutions, providing infrastructure, mentorship, and training resources. This isn’t charity – it’s building their future talent pipeline.

Some innovative approaches already showing promise:

● TCS’s “Campus to Corporate” program, where they co-develop curriculum modules with partner institutions
● IBM’s “Skills Academy” that trains faculty members in emerging technologies
● Infosys’s “Campus Connect” program that provides infrastructure and training support to engineering colleges

Breaking Free from Generic Solutions
The traditional approaches – occasional guest lectures, basic internships, or curriculum review committees – aren’t enough. We need systemic change that addresses the root causes:

1. Integration over Isolation: Instead of treating industry exposure as an add-on, make it integral to the educational experience. Every semester should have an industry component.
2. Shared Responsibility: Companies can’t just complain about skill gaps while withdrawing from campus recruitment. They must invest in building the talent pipeline they need.
3. Practical Metrics: Success shouldn’t be measured just by placement percentages but by the quality of industry integration – the number of real projects completed, patents filed, or problems solved.

Moving Forward

The solution to graduate employability isn’t more workshops or training programs – it’s fundamentally reimagining how education and industry interact. We need to move from a model of occasional collaboration to one of continuous integration.

For this to work, both industry and academia must step out of their comfort zones. Companies must view fresh graduate hiring not as a burden but as an investment in innovation and fresh perspectives. Educational institutions must be willing to radically restructure their programs around real-world exposure.

The question isn’t whether we can afford to make these changes – it’s whether we can afford not to. With automation and AI transforming industries, the cost of an underprepared workforce is simply too high. It’s time to break the vicious cycle and create a new paradigm of industry-academia.