There has been a rapid growth of technology in parallel with the massive growth in population since the past few decades. Higher education plays a significant role in driving growing performance and competitiveness in the national and international economies in line with such growth. The graduating students from majority of the higher education institutes often possess skillsets which stand insufficient to meet the needs of the industry propelling use of additional resources to achieve industry readiness and enabling them to work on real-time projects. The present study emphasizes on the need for value-added courses to bridge such industry–academia gap. The study is conducted on engineering students and hence the role of value-added courses on Industry 4.0 and related technologies in abridging the gap is explored. At the outset, a need analysis survey is conducted on engineering undergraduate students in order to validate their understanding of the existence of industry–academia gap, the need for short-term value-added course and also specifically the need for Industry 4.0-based courses toward abridging the gap and its role in contributing toward industry readiness. Considering the results of the need analysis survey and also uniqueness of strength and weakness of each student, an Industry 4.0-based curriculum is developed in coordination with academicians and industry experts. Further, a QAA training was provided to the academic experts which enabled the contributors to adopt non-traditional patterns in the design delivery and assessment of the course. Considering the input of the academic and industry experts the value-added course was designed and developed and further approved by the boards of studies members who also belonged to both the verticals. The course was delivered to 56 students by faculty members from Vellore Institute of Technology, India, Nottingham Trent University, UK, and also reputed industry experts who shared their real-time perceptions and knowledge pertaining to Industry 4.0 and enabling technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and digital twins. The students were assessed on traditional quizzes and digital assignments which evaluated their critical thinking and real-time problem-solving skills. The outcome assessment of the course yielded positive results wherein the students successfully attained the outcomes. The students also participated in need analysis survey post completion of the course emphasizing on soft skill development which revealed their improvement in terms of ability to focus on the main idea of the project, ability to speak and forward opinions in identifying problems and solutions, and ability to organize ideas in writing executive summary and draw conclusions from the finding. Out of 56 students who completed the course, 8 students achieved placement as interns in reputed companies which also justified the attainment of objective of the course in bridging industry–academia gap and ensuring of industry readiness.