Why does one graduate walk into a high-value role while another begins with a compressed salary? In India, that difference is often determined long before the interview, in the quality signals attached to the degree. As the next wave of AI-driven hiring takes shape, consistency in academic preparation, not just individual talent, will decide who moves first.

International credential evaluators have repeatedly flagged inconsistencies in Indian degree programmes, affecting both graduate admissions abroad and hiring decisions for technical roles. Only a handful of business and engineering programmes in the country carry global accreditations, a weakness repeatedly highlighted by industry recruiters from global companies as a factor in campus hiring outcomes and by top-ranked foreign universities when assessing the equivalence and academic weightage of Indian degrees for Master’s and doctoral admissions. Credential evaluators at major international universities routinely consider accreditation status when determining the academic equivalence of Indian degrees. The Indian higher education system, one of the largest in the world, still boasts fewer than thirty internationally accredited business schools and only a scattering of accredited engineering and data science programmes. Without wider adoption of global quality benchmarks, graduates will continue to struggle with employability and credential portability in an increasingly competitive landscape.

A Handful of Globally Accredited Programmes in a Vast Education System

India’s scale of higher education is enormous, yet internationally accredited programmes remain remarkably few. Only 27 Indian business schools hold AACSB accreditation, a gold-standard marker earned by business schools worldwide. Similarly, just 28 institutions have AMBA accreditation and 8 hold EQUIS, reflecting the limited penetration of these benchmarks.

In engineering, the picture is equally complex. India is a signatory to the Washington Accord, which establishes substantial equivalence of degree programmes among member nations, but this functions largely as a baseline for reciprocity rather than a measure of programme-level quality. Only about ten Indian institutions offer ABET-accredited engineering programmes. These include Chandigarh University, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Bharath University, Kalasalingam University, KIIT, Mody University, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and NMIMS Mumbai. In contrast, ABET accredits more than 4,500 programmes across over forty countries, underscoring how far Indian engineering programmes must go to meet global norms.

Emerging fields show an even clearer shift away from these legacy models. While bodies such as ABET remain the benchmark for core engineering disciplines, the demands of the data and AI-driven economy have led to the rise of specialised accreditation frameworks such as those offered by the Data Science Council of America (DASCA), which defines structured Bodies of Knowledge for data science and AI-related disciplines.

Reflecting this shift, a growing number of Indian institutions, from private universities to public technical universities, are now seeking DASCA accreditation specifically for their Data Science and AI programmes. Early adopters such as SP Jain School of Global Management and SRM Institute of Science and Technology are already accredited, while institutions including OP Jindal Global University, MIT-ADT University, KL University, JSS Mysore, Kishkinda University and St Aloysius are progressing through advanced stages of review, alongside an estimated cohort of around thirty institutions expected to move through the pipeline leading up to 2026. Accreditation in these areas is rigorous and multi-layered, and as more institutions build the infrastructure, faculty capability and curriculum alignment required, a wider wave of successful outcomes is expected to follow. This momentum signals a promising shift as Indian institutions engage more deeply with global accreditation frameworks, improving the country’s overall readiness for the data and AI economy.

Implications for Campus Hiring, Portability and Employability

The shortage of globally accredited programmes is closely linked to the employment challenges faced by graduates. India produces nearly 1.5 million engineering graduates each year, yet only about 10 percent secure jobs immediately after graduation. Accreditation gaps are not the only reason for this, but they reflect deeper issues with programme consistency and graduate readiness. Surveys show that while many graduates are technically employable, only around 45 percent meet the standards employers expect, leaving more than half a million engineering degree holders each year classified as not job-ready.

The uneven quality of engineering education becomes most visible at the point of hiring,” said Sony Lazarus, CTO of Datalabs. “Too many institutions still rely on theory-heavy curricula that lag modern toolchains and production practices. By contrast, programmes built on structured Bodies of Knowledge, featuring tool-based assessments, hands-on labs and competency-driven outcomes, produce graduates who require far less retraining and contribute sooner.” This gap reflects a broader systemic challenge across India’s higher-education landscape: in the absence of internationally recognised benchmarks, degree quality is inconsistent, making it harder for graduates to signal capability, compressing starting salaries, and pushing many to seek supplemental training just to meet baseline expectations. “As AI-driven hiring accelerates, employers will prioritise job-ready talent. Graduates from academically current, globally accredited and industry-aligned programmes will be first to move into high-value roles,” Lazarus said.

Raising Standards: The Case for Global Benchmarks

Indian institutions stand to gain significantly from pursuing international accreditations and the quality improvements they introduce. Accreditation frameworks such as AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS, ABET and DASCA require stronger curricula, enhanced faculty capability and clearer measurement of learning outcomes. The benefit extends far beyond institutional reputation. Accreditation reassures students and employers that programmes meet standards recognised across the world.

Engineering and technology programmes face a similar opportunity. ABET accreditation signals that engineering education meets global expectations. Programmes built on structured Bodies of Knowledge, such as DASCA’s, help ensure that graduates develop tools, methods and competencies aligned with industry needs. As Satnam Singh Sandhu, chancellor of Chandigarh University, which recently earned ABET accreditation, noted, students gain from knowing their education meets global benchmarks at a time when companies are hiring across borders.

Moving Forward: Quality as the Key to Employability

Improving graduate outcomes in India will depend on a stronger commitment to global quality benchmarks. Accreditation demands genuine effort, but it offers institutions the chance to modernise academic practices and distinguish themselves in a crowded higher-education landscape. India’s employability gap will also require broader reforms, including modernising curricula and investing in faculty capability. Accreditation alone cannot resolve every structural challenge, but it provides a clear and tested framework for raising standards across disciplines. Strengthening academic programmes in this way is one of the most practical steps institutions can take to ensure that the degrees they award support meaningful career pathways for the large number of students entering the workforce each year.