Context: Recently released QS World Future Skills Index 2025 highlights India’s strong position as a forward-thinking nation with significant potential. However, challenges in its current economic and academic systems could slow progress.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: QS World Future Skills Index 2025
QS World Future Skills Index
- QS World Future Skills Index evaluates how well countries are equipped to meet the evolving demands of the international job market.
- Aim: To empower governments to align education and skills with future demand, fostering innovation, sustainable global competition and talent development.
- Released by: London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
Key criteria in the QS Future Skills Index:
India Spotlight on QS World Future Skills Index
- India’s overall rank: 25th
- India’s overall ranking puts it as a future skills contender.
- Comparison: Countries like US, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada and others in top 10 have been categorised as ‘future skills pioneers’.
- Skills Fit:
- India’s rank: 37th
- In this indicator, India scored 59.1, which is the worst among the top 30 countries overall.
- Academic Readiness:
- India’s rank: 26th
- Future of Work:
- India’s rank: 2nd only behind the US.
- This indicator measures how well the job market is prepared to meet the growing demand for digital, AI, and green skills.
- The assessment of this indicator has been largely done from the demand side. i.e., job postings. On supply side indicators, India’s ranking leaves much to be desired.
- Economic Transformation:
- India’s rank: 40th
- India scored a full score of 100 on account of economic capacity.
- India fared the worst when it came to ‘future-oriented innovation in sustainability’.
- India’s score: 15.6/100
- Comparison: G7 countries- 68.3, EU countries- 59, APAC countries- 44.7, African countries: 25.4.
Challenges for future skills in India
- Poor performance in Green Readiness:
- Green readiness is an area of relative underperformance for the Indian economy versus G20 peers.
- Whilst rising demand for green occupations and green skilled workers is clear through India's strong Future of Work score, India places 176 in the Environmental Performance Index.
- Inadequate investment and innovation:
- Gaps in investment and innovation capacity pose challenges that could slow long-term growth.
- Lack of relevant skills:
- India’s graduates are struggling to keep up with the pace of change in relevant skills required.
- India has a particularly large skills gap in ‘entrepreneurial and innovative mindset’.
- Need for higher education reforms:
- Employers across India highlighted a critical gap in the workforce’s ability to meet the demands of a rapidly changing economic landscape.
- This highlights a broader challenge for India’s higher education system which is struggling to keep pace with evolving employer needs.
Way Forward: Tapping the potential of Future Skills in India
- Invest in green skills development: Address green skill gaps by aligning curricula and learning modes to nurture the green skills necessary.
- Higher education reforms: Universities must prioritise embedding creativity, problem solving and entrepreneurial thinking into their curricula.
- Collaboration and Coordination: Industries must foster stronger collaborations with universities to better align education with workforce demands.
- Government policy intervention: Focused strategies are required to re-engage workers in continuous and lifelong reskilling programs. This ensures that skilled workers remain relevant and productivity contributors.
To fully realise its potential, India must align economic momentum with robust higher education reforms and skills development, ensuring a dynamic and competitive position in the global economy.