When Saif (name changed to protect anonymity) graduated from a private engineering college in Madhya Pradesh, he dreamed of a career in Civil Engineering. Although he had done well in college, scoring high marks and completing a reputable internship, he was unaware of the skills required to get a job. “I was ahead of most of my classmates, but I didn’t even know what the ‘skills’ companies looked for were called,” he said.

To secure a job that paid on a par with his IIT or NIT friends, Saif had to upskill through online courses and his master’s degree - efforts he believes could have been avoided with better institutional support at the undergraduate level. After completing his Bachelor’s, Saif felt compelled to pursue a Master’s degree, not by choice, but by necessity; he lacked industry-relevant skills, exposure, and career guidance. He mentioned that the curriculum at his tier-3 college was outdated and disconnected from current market or trend needs. “I realised I had to learn the skills myself this time and not depend on the college,” he said.

Saif’s story isn’t an outlier. It is a familiar situation faced by thousands of engineering graduates from tier-2 and tier-3 colleges across India. Despite holding the same degrees as their IIT or NIT counterparts, many find themselves locked out of core industry jobs.

A systemic gap

The barriers can be numerous; a lack of practical, up-to-date skills due to rigid or outdated curricula, as Saif mentioned; lack of confidence in expression and communication; or lower motivational levels in students. Alaf Azam Khan, Senior Product Manager at Increff in Bengaluru who has interviewed 1000+ top tier engineering students for his company, noted a sharp difference in student behaviour between pre-COVID and post-COVID batches. “Our company offers Pre Placement Offers early during internships, and we used to invest significant time training interns. But with the batch just after COVID, we had to revoke PPOs because many students lacked initiative and were unwilling to learn or contribute ideas.”

Siva Prasad, a retired IIT professor, highlights a key challenge that students from tier-3 engineering colleges face during the hiring process is poor communication skills. While many are technically competent, they often struggle to express their ideas clearly during interviews or group discussions.

English or professionalism can be a problem if a student who comes from a rural background joins a tier-3 in an urban or semi-urban college. Thus the lack of fluency in English, hesitation while speaking, and difficulty structuring responses can cause even skilled and talented students to be overlooked in favour of more confident speakers, he added.

This communication gap is often the result of limited exposure to soft skill training, internships, and peer-learning (group-learning) opportunities. In many tier-3 institutions, the academic focus tends to be on rote learning and theory, with little emphasis on building confidence, public speaking, or professional etiquette.

Mr. Alaf also mentioned that recruitment drives in India often disproportionately favour students from top-tier engineering institutions, more from NITs in his company’s case, as they are significantly polished, confident and even well prepared for interviews. The ecosystem in these premier institutes often includes access to active alumni networks, regular workshops, industry and market exposure, which makes a well-structured environment that gives them a significant edge during placements.

Varadarajan Sridharan, an EdTech researcher currently pursuing a Master’s at UCL, London, and formerly associated with organisations such as Microsoft, Cognizant, and NTTF, says campus placements have increasingly become a public relations tools for the institution rather than a true indicator of academic or professional capability. Many colleges use full-page advertisements to lure students and their families, promising guaranteed jobs at the end of the four-year course. This, he noted, is often presented as a marker of the institution’s credibility.

However, the focus in such cases shifts away from building capable, curious learners to merely producing graduates who have to be hand-held to land their first job. In reality, he argued, what is needed today is not just placements but an ecosystem that first nurtures learnability. “If there is a sense of purpose built in students in their early career, then they will learn superfast,” he said.

With the current cutbacks on hiring, tier 2 and 3 students are getting squeezed out more. And the cutbacks have affected the top institutions as well. The 364th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education tabled in March highlights a sharp decline in placements at India’s top engineering institutions, including IITs, NITs, and IIITs. Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, 22 of the 23 IITs recorded a drop in placements, with 15 IITs seeing a decline of over 10 percentage points.

Imbesat Ahmad, CEO at Filo, instant tutoring platformand an IIT Kharagpur alumni, said that the rise of AI tools has reduced the need for large entry-level teams and AI tools that able to do 10x more work in terms of productivity with just five engineers. “The work which was earlier done by a team of 20+, AI is taking away mediocrity.”

Survival strategies

Shashank Malhotra, Senior Vice President (FRM) at Swiss Re, Bengaluru and an IIT Kanpur alumnus, observed that students, whether in tier-1 or tier-3 colleges, have wide access to study material and online courses, but those in tier-3 often lack proper guidance to pursue these resources effectively. He emphasised that peer and senior groups in the field can foster discussions, both, offline and online, helping students understand how to improve their odds, participate in competitions just to test the waters, and make informed decisions. He added, “The system may well take a long time to improve. Meanwhile, students should focus on the things that are under their control.”

The advice fits well with Saif’s experiences. Poor training and lack of professional exposure in his undergraduate years pushed him to pursue a Master’s degree from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal in order to stand on equal footing with his peers. He worked on 71+ government projects as a civil engineer for six years.

Help is at hand

Today tier 2 and 3 college students can benefit from skilling programs over and beyond the college and the curriculum. Government-led skill development schemes such as PMKVY (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana) and NASSCOM’s FutureSkills initiative, which is a government-industry partnership aimed at reskilling and upskilling India’s IT workforce in technologies like AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and data science.

Simultaneously, edtech platforms like Coursera, NPTEL, Scaler, and UpGrad are transforming how students access knowledge beyond the classroom curriculum. These platforms provide structured learning paths, expert instruction, mentorship, and in some cases, career support.

Some engineering colleges are now beginning to embrace innovation more proactively. Several tier-2 institutions have started setting up incubation cells, inviting startups for placements, and encouraging student-led projects or entrepreneurship. These initiatives can demonstrate that even within conventional academic structures, meaningful change is possible when institutions prioritise experiential learning and industry alignment.

At the same time, a few innovative startups and institutions have stepped in to bridge the gap left by traditional colleges. EngineersConnect, a community-driven platform founded in 2022 and recognised by the Ministry of Education, helps engineering students from smaller towns build relevant projects, join hackathons, and network with startups and recruiters. “This is a platform for everyone in the ecosystem like students, from first year to last, alumni, and recruiters.” says Bhushan Gaikwad, Founder and CEO of the startup.

EngineersConnect is a “discovery and showcase platform for both skills and talent” that offers tools like scoring systems to help students understand where they stand and how they can improve. “This is a platform for everyone in the ecosystem like students, alumni, and recruiters and provide them the opportunities that are often out of reach in traditional college settings,” he added.

Bhushan experienced this gap firsthand as a student at Wadia College of Engineering. The platform’s idea popped up in his mind when he experienced no campus placements, limited mentorship, and a lack of exposure to like-minded people. He noticed his peers and himself in a space where real skills were often overlooked during hiring because they didn’t belong to a top college or have high grades.

Masai School, for instance, is a new-age career institute in Bengaluru, that is redefining how technical education is delivered to aspiring professionals from diverse backgrounds especially those without access to tier-1 institutions. Masai’s core model is outcome-oriented and based on the principle that students should not have to pay for education there (Pay After Placement (PAP) structure), until they are gainfully employed. With its PAP structure, students pay nothing until they land a job with a minimum salary, making it a low-risk, high-impact option for learners from tier-2 and tier-3 colleges who may not have the financial flexibility.

Masai focuses on practical skills with intensive, bootcamp-style courses in Full Stack Web Development, Data Analytics and more. The school’s rigorous curriculum prioritises hands-on learning, real-world projects, and professional development, enabling students, even those from non-computer science backgrounds to transition into tech roles.

Then there’s the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), a pioneering institution known for its industry-aligned, skill-based training that goes beyond the traditional theoretical instruction. With over 66 years in the education industry, NTTF offers 24 long-term diploma programs ranging from mechanical, computer engineering, and mecha-tronics to electronics and IT along with postgraduate diploma options.

Suresh, Head of Skill Development and Digital at NTTF, told us that 80 per cent of the training is hands-on, closely mirroring real-world industrial processes, while the remaining 20 per cent covers theoretical learning. “We use the same technology that is used in the industry and I’ve never heard of a student not getting a job,” he mentioned.

Recognised by the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), NTTF continually updates its curriculum every six months to reflect the latest industry needs. The institution also actively works to bridge urban-rural disparities and ensure inclusion by reserving seats for students from rural areas and offering specific programs for women.