"So knowing that a college is rigorous in its admission standards is a way to signal prospective employers that the graduates from that college are already vetted." I would say that the admission standards here in India are very rigid , going by the top two engineering entrance exams. For IITs 4k out of 150k people who write the exam get admissions whereas for the RECS and some second tier colleges the admission rate was around 15-20%. Hence i think the problem is not that the admission standards are lax. What the wsj article was hinting at a lack of basic comprehension and technical skills. Lack of comprehension skills(in English) can be explained by the fact that English is not the first language ,even though it may be the medium of instruction. The other weakness has a lot to do with lack of interest, motivation and also a sense of lethargy which sets in after going through two years of what can best be described as a bootcamp preparing for the engineering entrance exams.