From classrooms to workforce gaps

2026-02-23 - 21:34

Maham Shakir EVERY year, Pakistan’s universities proudly produce thousands of graduates. Degrees are awarded, photographs are taken and families celebrate. Yet months later, many of these same graduates find themselves unemployed, underpaid, or struggling to survive in workplaces that demand skills they were never taught. On the other side, employers insist they cannot find “job-ready” talent. The irony is stark: graduates say there are no jobs, while companies say there is no talent. Somewhere between classrooms and boardrooms, something is broken. This is not a failure of students; it is a systemic failure of how higher education is aligned or misaligned with the realities of today’s job market. Degrees without direction: Pakistan’s higher education system still treats degrees as an end rather than a tool for economic participation. Curricula remain theory-driven, often outdated and disconnected from workplace realities, teaching what to think but not how to work. Graduates enter the job market lacking basic professional skills, struggling with practical tasks despite strong theoretical knowledge a gap visible across workplaces nationwide. At the same time, academic content heavily relies on international case studies that rarely reflect Pakistan’s regulatory and economic environment. Students learn how businesses operate in different systems but struggle to apply that knowledge locally, leaving them educated, yet insufficiently prepared for real-world challenges. The corporate reality: From an employer’s perspective, many fresh graduates lack essential workplace communication, familiarity with common tools and software, understanding of professional ethics and accountability, exposure to real-world problem solving and awareness of organizational processes and KPIs. Smaller organizations cannot absorb the cost of this learning curve, while larger firms often prefer experienced hires or outsourcing. The result is a cycle where graduates feel rejected, employers feel frustrated and overall productivity declines. What needs to change? • Annual curriculum reviews with active industry participation • Structured, evaluated and meaningful internships • Mandatory, field-relevant skill certifications within degree programs. • Faculty exposure to current industry practices. • Active industry advisory boards in academic departments. • Localized case-based learning using Pakistan’s business realities. • National forecasting to align student intake with industry demand The planning and regulatory gap: Pakistan lacks a consolidated system to track student enrollment by discipline, creating a mismatch between industry demand and graduate supply. While some sectors face skill shortages, others produce oversupply. Although policies on internships and industry linkage exist, weak enforcement, slow curriculum updates and limited accountability mean universities prioritize enrollment and research over employability. Bridging the gap: Students must be proactive, universities adaptive and industry engaged but real change depends on regulatory accountability. Without measurable reform, Pakistan will continue producing educated yet unemployable youth, a burden the country can no longer sustain. Education must prepare students for life beyond classrooms. Bridging academia and industry is not optional; it is an economic imperative. If Pakistan seeks growth and competitiveness, higher education must evolve into a driver of national productivity not a factory of degrees. —The writer occasionally contributes.