SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Government does not have a consolidated course-wise employability rate for graduates from government degree colleges, universities and cluster universities, the Higher Education Department has informed the Legislative Assembly.
The department said Jammu and Kashmir has 145 government degree colleges, which collectively produce approximately 25,000 to 30,000 graduates every year. However, it said employability data was not available in a standardised form for the academic sessions 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.
In a written reply to Unstarred D. No. 1/6/76, tabled by MLA Arjun Singh Raju, the department said graduate employability varies across courses and institutions and is influenced by factors including further education, competitive examinations, skill acquisition and employment opportunities in relevant sectors.
The department also acknowledged that no formal comprehensive assessment or survey mechanism is currently in place to systematically measure employment outcomes, placement rates, average salary packages and sector-wise absorption of graduates from these institutions.
It said mechanisms were being undertaken to assess employment outcomes through placement calls, career counselling and institutional-level tracking. Steps were also being taken to strengthen systematic alumni and employment-outcome tracking in line with the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020.
On courses witnessing a decline in enrolment of more than 25 per cent over the last three academic sessions, the department said district-wise, college-wise and course/subject-wise details, including vacant or leftover intake seats, had been enclosed in Annexure-A.
The department further said a committee had been constituted to rationalise subjects and introduce new programmes in government degree colleges, with a focus on industry-aligned, skill-based and future-ready courses under the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP).
The committee has identified declining admissions in a large number of government degree colleges, particularly those in rural and remote areas, as an issue requiring attention and recommended a comprehensive programme-wise review of enrolment across all government degree colleges.
It has also recommended adopting a cluster-based academic model and introducing one-year postgraduate programmes for eligible FYUGP graduates in colleges having the required academic and infrastructure facilities.
The committee has proposed new programmes in selected government degree colleges in areas including artificial intelligence, data science, cyber security and remote sensing, particularly in colleges around Jammu and Srinagar where adequate infrastructure and faculty can be developed.
The department said these measures were aimed at responding to emerging employment opportunities and future workforce requirements.
This version keeps the key institutional gap—the absence of consolidated employability and placement data—at the top while retaining the department’s proposed measures and NEP-2020-related reforms.
