Earn While You Learn: Indian Universities To Introduce Apprenticeship Programs

About 92% of higher education institutes in India have planned to introduce degree apprenticeships. More than regular degree programs, it is found that apprenticeships are proving to be beneficial for students, especially in the 21st century. 

With the rise in the introduction of new apprenticeship programs, the demand for apprentices by employers has increased. 

Degree Apprenticeship is a job combined with a university degree. It allows the student to work while studying. The offering of degree apprenticeship is aimed to make the student industry-ready, equipped with both, job skills as well as educational qualifications. 

A new report by TeamLease EdTech titled, ‘Future of Apprenticeship in India’ stated that in the next 5 years, India will have around 10 million apprentices. 

The report also mentioned that only 35% of the students out of the 1.2 crores who graduate are actually employable to work in the industry. Presently, India has about 0.5 million apprentices, holding employment in various sectors. As opposed to the number of apprentices in India, other countries like Germany, UK and USA have 1.3 million, 0.71 million and 0.63 million apprentices respectively. 

As reported in the Times of India, Shantanu Rooj, founder and CEO, TeamLease, said, “In India, we have a major skills crisis. Over the past few years, degree apprenticeships have emerged as a solution to this skill crisis. HEIs in India strongly believe that apprenticeship embedded degrees are proving to be more beneficial for students. In fact, as our survey indicates, 79% of universities and HEIs feel such programs provide practical hands-on skills to students making them job-ready. As they enter the workforce additionally 71% feel that students learn nuances of the corporate world better through such programs” 

India currently has four to five universities offering degree apprenticeships. The NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 too, has laid the foundation to encourage as many universities as possible to introduce degree apprenticeships. 

As per the report, 70% of universities and higher education institutes think that the launching of new degree apprenticeship programmes will not just train the students with real-time work experiences but also give rise to the demand for hiring apprentices.