India is a land of many things, but this identity is now set for a dramatic shift as we usher into a new era, an era dominated by innovation and unparalleled potential. Having said so, every transition requires a torchbearer, who, on its part, plays the role of a lighthouse, guiding the ship through every challenge and ensuring that it reaches the promised land sooner rather than later. But who is going to play that role for India moving forward? Well, the answer is headlined by two key elements, with the first and foremost being our country’s immense youth power. If we go by the data published across various reliable platforms, India currently has an estimated 66% of its population below the age of 35, making up the world’s largest youth population. In fact, around 26% of India’s total population still falls between 10 and 24 years old. For better understanding, this number is significantly higher than the likes of China (19 - 20%), United States of America (15 - 18%), Russia (14 - 16%), and Japan (12 – 14%). This, when combined with India’s existing median age of 28, is expected to result in well over 1.04 billion working professionals by 2030, inspiring India to contribute somewhere around 24.3% towards the global workforce over the next decade.
While the population numbers surely project a glorious future, our second element i.e. India’s university ecosystem, is going to decide how efficiently that potential actually springs to life. You see, India’s higher-education landscape is the hotspot where raw talent goes to learn, develop, and masterfully harness their capabilities for an enhanced career trajectory. Fortunately, recognizing that responsibility, Indian universities are already setting the wheels in motion to create an environment well-equipped for handling the unprecedented demands of today and tomorrow.
Talk about how universities can aid India’s talent pipeline, we begin from their role in upskilling students and helping them become job-ready for the modern employment market. In recent years, there has emerged a noticeable gap between traditional education and the kind of talent required by majority of companies on the block, leading to record high unemployment. In order to solve the given issue at its root, universities like CGC University, Mohali, are implementing an industry-centered learning experience where the entire curriculum is designed keeping in mind various ground-level operational needs of today’s commercial sector. Not just that, organizations like CGC are also packaging this curriculum with strong practical exposure. Hence, students now have the opportunity to apply their skills across dedicated simulation centers and specialized skill development zones, a facility empowering them to secure a quick and data-backed validation of their ideas. Complementing that further would be the prospect of strategic partnerships with real-world corporate houses. Under these collaborations, industry veterans from some of the world’s biggest brands join students on their journey to help them achieve a better understanding of notable job profiles, as well as to guide them in the context of leaving their own unique imprint on their work.
Once a student has upskilled to a certain level, Indian universities commit to providing them with cutting-edge innovation avenues. Here, the roadmap involves funding and supporting small research efforts geared towards addressing localized industry problems through rapid and intuitive prototyping. Another way in which such organizations elevate the cause relates to a focused startup cell on campus which has all the required resources to let students procure the necessary information, along with mandated licenses. Apart from that, universities are also conducting career-driven events like hackathons, pitch days, IP exhibitions, and more. A fitting example here could be CGC University, Mohali’s VentureNest segment. VentureNest basically makes it possible for students to pitch their ideas in front of proven investors and stand a shot at earning the proposed funding, while simultaneously unlocking access to the broader startup ecosystem, where one can interact with a host of other founders and possibly collaborate on whole new, more rewarding concepts.
Moving on, this partnership between the youth and universities can even play a particularly important role for personnel living in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Gone are the days when quality collegiate education was only accessible to people living in big metropolitan cities; as the rich and recent investment in education has expanded the said footprint by a monumental margin. When you factor that in, you realize how more than 20 to 30 million Indian youngsters aged 10 – 24, who are still living in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, now have a clear and comprehensive runway to top-notch learning. Assuming the whole effort is executed effectively, this could mark the biggest democratization of education, with India’s largest youth contingent receiving insights that were previously unreachable. Such a development, like you can guess, should orchestrate economic development by enabling more and more students to build a thriving career.
Using that as a segue, it’s time we dig into Indian universities’ revamped perspective on employability. For a good part of its history, India has prioritized preparing the youth for no more than a handful of roles. Apparently satisfactory for that period, the restrictive approach in question cannot work today. Instead, thanks to tech-led creation of new professional roles, academic institutions are encouraging students to build a diverse skill-set. In simple terms, when a data analyst masters the art of storytelling, it won’t just help them better define their data, but at the same time, it will also give their career a recession-proof edge. Besides that, there is the prospect of international exposure. Surely, the chief focus remains on developing high-end infrastructure from scratch, but Indian academic institutions are also tapping into the global stratosphere to fine-tune the student experience and nurture them to the worldwide benchmarks. For instance, at CGC University, Mohali, we run a far-reaching Global Connect Program, where one can leverage semester exchanges, international internships, joint research initiatives, and global immersion opportunities to gain insights from every corner of the world before deploying that knowledge across India’s own spectrum.
Having discussed the youth’s all-important role in India’s growth story, we now must turn our attention towards preliminary results of this revolution. The biggest hallmark of India’s youth power would be Flipkart. Co-founded by two IIT graduates, Flipkart started out from a modest apartment in Bangalore, only to become a billion-dollar company now on the cusp of its IPO.
Like Flipkart, boAt is another example of growing entrepreneurial instinct among India’s youth. Up against the likes of international companies like Sony and JBL, boAt’s founder Aman Gupta harnessed the power of influencer marketing, pop culture tie-ins, and genuine customer feedback to create a strong connection with young professionals, gamers, fitness lovers, and music enthusiasts. This approach has today propelled the company into the Top 5 Wearable Brands across the world.
Then, there is OYO, brought to life by a 19-year-old Ritesh Aggarwal, who identified a lack of budget hotels in India. With these humble roots, OYO went on to rewrite India’s hospitality playbook and become one of the most valuable startups to come from India.
Beginning from Flipkart, we close things off with another famous Indian startup giant i.e., Zomato (now named as Eternal). Initially just a menu-scanning platform meant for office-goers, Deepinder Goyal-led Zomato grew into a food delivery behemoth. Not just that, the company currently also runs one of India’s biggest gig workers’ network.
Although distinctive in their own right, all these startups indicate that India is brimming with youth potential. However, the potential on display only turns into an asset when it is given a meaningful shape. This is where Indian universities take up an integral role. Using blended education, these academic institutions are expected to very much lead our country’s pursuit of becoming a global powerhouse over the next decade.
Looking at the evolving dynamics of India’s education, I can proudly say that CGC University, Mohali, is right in the thick of things. With an AI-driven campus and a coming-of-age infrastructure, CGC paves the way for a research-rich future and a career-ready talent pipeline. The institution further supports its push through an annual research budget of 15 Cr, something which perfectly builds upon its strategic tie-ups with 300+ organizations across the world. After mentoring the students throughout their program, CGC University, Mohali, also provides noteworthy placement support to turn your professional ambitions into reality. As a matter of fact, the institution’s highest package presently stands at a staggering 1 Cr per annum.