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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Dynamics of engineering
Studying the environment
CAMPUS NOTES
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Dynamics of engineering There has been no mention of formal education of engineers till 1747 throughout the world. The French were the first to establish an engineering college, Ecole Nationale, mainly for military objectives in 1747. Then they established Ecole Polytechnic in 1794. The Germans were a little behind the French and their technical universities date back to 1825 and the great technical university at Zurich was established in 1855. America too followed France and chose Ecole as its model and established the US Military Academy for military engineering in 1802. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was established in 1861 with engineering instructions beginning in 1865 only. Though the British army started training its royal engineers in 1741, they were slow in organising civil engineering training through formal education till 1879 when Imperial College of Science and Technology was founded. The British had not started civil engineering education even in England when they established a civil engineering college in India at Roorkee in 1847. It was later known as Roorkee University and now IIT, Roorkee. Later on engineering colleges were opened in Calcutta, Madras and Poona within a span of two decades. Nehru’s dreams and policies gave tremendous boost to engineering education. The opening of IITs is the gift of that era. Scientific manpower committee and planning commission had recommended the ways to meet the shortage of engineers in the country. This led to the increased enrolment of engineering students. However, this concern wavered in the mid-60s and coincided with increased awareness of the West in understanding the importance of technical manpower for economic development. The growth of engineering institutes in the last decade shows that education coupled with skills can be helpful for personal economic development. Motivated by personal economic growth, a number of entrepreneurs have entered into the field of engineering education, providing ample opportunities to even mediocre students. However, it remains to be seen what these institutes are delivering. Institutes can be divided into three tiers—first for generating knowledge, second for educating and generating knowledge, third for educating for employability in age of knowledge. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) remains our flag-bearers of technical education. Next to the IIT—PEC, DEC, Thapar and NIT—are the second-tier institutes. The third-tier institutes constitute newly coming up engineering colleges, which will be producing more than 90 per cent of the graduate engineers. The second-tier institutes are doing a good job in creating employable engineering graduates. Students get jobs in the beginning of the final year of their degree course. Here we are confusing a guarantee of job with knowledge and education. What needs to be done is that here are a number of students from these institutes who can be educated to become generators of knowledge. So, the vision of students should be ‘beyond jobs’ even if their jobs are secured. The next level of institutions, which are mostly private initiatives, need to train the employable engineering graduate before they graduate to the next tier. However, there is a great shortage of competent teachers, as the sudden requirement of trained teachers has increased manifold. The reason is that only postgraduate engineers can become teacher. The graduates of first and second-tier institutes hardly go for a post-graduation course, as they get jobs before completing their degrees. The students going for post-graduation to first and second tier of institutes are from third-tier institutes. The lure of post-graduation in these institutes is more for the tag and campus placements than for any other reason. However, third-level institutes, which lack teaching competence for undergraduate students have started their own PG programmes. This needs to be given a serious thought by both academic planners and industry leaders as to how the supply of competent teachers can match the demand with the ever-increasing number of private ventures of engineering colleges. Before venturing into postgraduate education, these institutes should employ competent teachers for undergraduate courses. Many institutes are putting more efforts into marketing tactics than raising their standards of education. Though the number of such institutes is less but there should be some mechanism to save our innocent youth and their parents form falling into their traps. These institutes should learn that we can’t compete in the world unless we provide quality education to our younger generation.
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Studying the environment RECENTLY, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, introduced environmental studies as a compulsory subject at the undergraduate level, including professional and technical courses. The step, however, was long overdue. About a decade ago, Panjab University, Chandigarh, had introduced the subject at the undergraduate level under a general Supreme Court directive and at the behest of the University Grants Commission. However, its approach over the years has been lackluster and ineffective, failing to achieve the desired goal. For two years, no examination was conducted. Even today, teaching and learning is listless, for the students have to get through a multiple-choice paper of 50 marks any year during their three-year degree course, which they treat as an easy affair. In many colleges, teachers of arts, social sciences and commerce, who hardly have an in-depth comprehension of environmental studies, are teaching the subject. Today, the menace of environmental degradation is staring us in our faces. To grapple with this problem has been the concern of mankind the world over. International conventions have been held for the last more than three decades on climate change, global warming, ozone depletion, etc., and the dangers they pose to mankind. The fact that the Indian environmentalist and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, R.K. Pachauri, who has been jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, is an evidence of the significance the world attaches to this burning issue. In his Nobel lecture, delivered on December 10, 2007, Pachauri warned: “Neglect in protecting our heritage of natural resources could prove extremely harmful for the human race and for all species that share common space on planet earth. Indeed, there are many lessons in human history which provide adequate warning about the chaos and destruction that could take place if we remain guilty of myopic indifference to the progressive erosion and decline of nature’s resources.” There can’t be two opinions that for a country like India trying to overcome the demons of population explosion, poverty and disease, energy production and conservation, insanitation and pollution, etc., education about these issues and those of climate change and environment is of vital importance. Whereas study of other subjects is mainly based on rote cramming, study of environment is related to our day-to-day life and can be experience based, interactive and action-oriented. Three main objectives of this type of study should be to create environmental and health awareness among students, carry out awareness-cum-action programmes and promote community participation in these programmes. Under this perspective, this study can constitute a unique educational experience. The topics of study should relate to the learner’s home, neighborhood, community, region, national and global environment. These should include conservation of water and energy, use of solar energy, hazards of TV, computer, refrigerator, air conditioner and other gadgetry in our homes, pollution caused by plastics, polythene, paints, emulsions, etc., and the depletion of ozone layer due to the use of chemicals (perfumes, room fresheners, shaving foams, etc.) containing chlorofluorocarbons. The study of neighborhood environment should include sanitation, knowledge about eco-friendly plants and trees and their protection from pollutants of various kinds, and ways to eradicate congress grass. In community environment, stress should be laid on the teaching of population control, air, water and soil contamination, ailments prevalent in the area in different weather conditions and ways to prevent and cure these, pollution caused by smoke and gases emanating from vehicles and factories and noise pollution and its detrimental effects. To bring about general environmental awareness, colleges should organise activities like seminars, symposia, exhibitions, lectures by specialists, declamations, debates, quizzes, charts and poster-making contests on environmental issues, etc. Visits to slums and colonies, factories discharging dangerous effluents and emanating harmful gases, hills being recklessly denuded and mined should also be arranged. Above all, such a study should be supplemented with field and project work. Students should be asked to undertake project work on environmental issues individually or in groups and then write a project report, to which marks should be allotted. Let environmental studies turn from a stereotyped drudgery into an interesting rewarding and meaningful education.
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Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar Dr S. S. Chahal, eminent plant pathologist and former Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, has taken over as Director Research of Guru Nanak Dev University. His appointment was approved by the Syndicate of the university recently. Chahal did his doctorate from Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 1974 and started his career as assistant plant pathologist in 1975. He was elevated to the post of Professor of Epidemiology (Crops) in 1990 at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. During his stay at PAU, he held a number of prestigious assignments and superannuated as Dean Postgraduate Studies at PAU. Widely travelled, Dr Chahal has more than 30 years’ research, teaching and administrative experience. His 112 research papers have been published in national and international journals of repute. He has 14 books, monographs, bulletins and manuals to his credit. He has participated in more than 55 national and international conferences and presented his research papers there. Recognised as meritorious teacher and researcher, he is a recipient of five prestigious national awards and has a distinction of being member, fellow and president of several professional societies. Award for excellence in research instituted Guru Nanak Dev University has decided to institute a prestigious CNR Rao Education Foundation Award for Excellence in Research for eminent scientists in the areas of life sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, food science and technology, sports medicine, physiotherapy, physical and chemical sciences, architecture, planning, engineering and technology. The award will be given every alternate year. Disclosing this here, Vice-Chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh said the award recipient would be presented Rs 15,000 along with a certificate at the annual convocation function of the university. The CNR Rao Education Foundation, Bangalore, has donated Rs 2.5 lakh as corpus amount for this award, he added. Dr Singh said the university had also instituted ‘Dr S. S. Sidhu Oration’ for medical genetics and clinical applications. He said the oration would be awarded to an eminent person/research scholar annually along with a citation and a cash prize of Rs 10,000. Dr S. S. Sidhu, former Director-Principal of Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental Sciences and Research has deposited Rs 5 lakh for the purpose with the university as a corpus fund. The Vice-Chancellor said Prof M.P. Satija of the Department of Library and Information Science had donated Rs 50,000 to institute ‘Professor M.P. Satija Scholarship’ in the university. This scholarship of Rs 1,500 will be awarded to a B.Lib Information Science student who is admitted first on open merit, he
added. — Contributed by Sanjay Bumbroo |
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Agriculture Indian Council of
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TO understand the need of engineering education in the coming times, we will have to look back at the journey of engineering education around the globe.