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Engineering education needs quality boost Any academic institution, particularly technical, earns credibility from the infrastructure
it creates for learning. — Thinkstockphotos Campus notes Studyscape
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Engineering education needs quality boost Despite having more than 3,495 engineering colleges in the country, the number of entry-level engineers hired by top IT companies has dropped steadily due to lack of basic skills
INDIA trains around 1.5 million engineers every year which is more than the combined strength of the US and China. There are more than 3,495 engineering colleges in the country, with total intake capacity of 17.6 lakh students. There has been a phenomenal increase of more than 100 per cent in the number of engineering colleges and intake capacity at the graduate level in the last five years. However, mushrooming of the large number of private engineering colleges has led to a steep decline in quality. According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies, only 15–20 per cent of the graduate engineers are employable. Another report states that 30 per cent of the engineers do not have basic qualitative skills required for entry-level jobs. The number of entry-level engineers hired by the top 20 IT companies in India has also dropped steadily from around 3,50,000 annually a few years ago to 1,50,000 last year. Hiring by public sector and non-IT private companies, and students pursuing higher education constitute 25-30 per cent, but that still leaves a significantly large pool of engineering graduates without a proper job. While government-run institutions have their share of challenges due to slow decision-making processes, private institutes/universities, which were earlier perceived to be a ray of hope, appear to be less interested in improving quality. Huge unemployment of engineering graduates has severely affected the intake of students at the graduate level, and in most of the private engineering colleges up to 50 per cent or more seats are lying vacant. Southern states have been the hub of engineering education with overwhelming participation of private entrepreneurs. In 2013, around1 lakh seats in engineering colleges remained vacant in Andhra Pradesh, 80, 000 in Tamil Nadu, 50, 000 in Maharashtra and 15, 000 in Karnataka. In Andhra Pradesh, there are 720 engineering colleges with intake capacity of nearly 3.39 lakh seats. The growth of these engineering colleges skyrocketed as over 200 engineering colleges were sanctioned in a single year. According to one estimate, these new colleges added a capacity that matches the total output of engineers in several leading European countries. In North India, though private engineering colleges were mostly established in the last 10 years, the quality remains a serious concern. As per the available data, about 1 lakh seats at the graduate level are lying vacant in different engineering colleges in Utter Pradesh, 10,000 in Punjab, 8,000 in Haryana and 3,000 in Himachal at the end of the admission process for the academic session 2013-14. Engineering education in India has a history of more than 150 years. British rulers set up four engineering colleges at Roorkee (1847), Sibpur (1856), Guindy (1794) and Poona (1854) in four different corners of the country to train engineers needed for the civil and other engineering activities. At the time of Independence, there were only 24 engineering degree colleges, with a total intake capacity of 2,570 students. In the pre-Independence era, the most significant initiative was the creation of N. R. Sarkar Committee in 1945 which submitted a preliminary report recommending the setting up of four higher technical institutions. The recommendations of the committee resulted in the establishment of five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Kharagpur (1951), Bombay (1958), Madras (1959), Kanpur (1960) and Delhi (1961) as institutions of national importance by an Act of Parliament. After a gap of over three decades, the sixth IIT was established at Guwahati in 1995 and the Engineering College at Roorkee was also first made a university and then as the seventh IIT in 2001. In 2008, four more IITs were established at Patna, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Gandhinagar, followed in 2009 by four more at Ropar, Bhubaneswar, Mandi and Indore, making a total of 15 IITs. The Institute of Technology at BHU was also elevated as an IIT and thus there are 16 IITs now. In the next tier institutions, there were 20 Regional Engineering Colleges which were later renamed National Institutes of Technology (NITs). In 2009, 10 more NITs were established, and thus making a total of 30 NITs. Any academic institution, particularly technical, earns credibility from the infrastructure it creates for learning, academic strength of the faculty it employs and the absorption of its products in the industry. Government institutions more or less have a better infrastructure but even our top technology institutions are struggling to recruit the competent faculty. Some private engineering institutions have good academic standards but most of them are working with inexperienced faculty. According to a Ministry of Human Resource Development report, as many as 4,521 faculty positions are lying vacant in 16 IITs. The All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) was constituted in 1945 as an advisory body in all matters relating to technical education. In 1987, AICTE established the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for periodic evaluations of technical institutions and programmes offered by them as per the guidelines of the AICTE council. NBA was made an autonomous body in 2010, with the objective of assurance of quality and relevance of education in professional and technical disciplines. NBA has introduced a new process, parameters and criteria for accreditation. These are in line with the best international practices and oriented to assess the outcomes of the programme. Surprisingly, less than 20 per cent of the engineering institutes/ colleges in the country have obtained the certificate of accreditation from NBA till now. Here, the role of the state government becomes important as a secondary regulator to ensure quality education in these technical institutions. Himachal Pradesh has established education regulatory commissions to monitor the academic standards of private engineering and other educational institutions in the state, which is a welcome step, and such efforts with strong determination are needed in all the states.
The writer is Senior Scientist at Dr Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and
Forestry, Nauni, Solan |
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Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
184 find placement
AS many as 184 students from various departments of Guru Nanak Dev University have been placed with the multinational IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), New Delhi. These students have been selected through a placement drive conducted by the Placement Department of the university recently. Dr Hardeep Singh, Professor In charge, Placement, said a 38-member team from TCS visited the university for recruitments. He said the selection was based on an online test followed by technical and HR interviews. The selected students have been offered a package of Rs 3.18 lakh per annum. The students are from the 2014 batch of B.Tech in computer science (CS) and electronics, MCA, M.Tech in IT and CS from all the three campuses of the university — Amritsar, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur. Dr Hardeep said many companies of international repute like Capgemini, Headstrong, Infogain, Nagarro and Amdocs were likely to visit the university placements. Earlier, 476 students were selected by various companies from the 2013 batch.
Expert dwells on problems plaguing cities
Guru Ramdas School of Planning of the university recently organised special lectures on “Transforming Indian Cities” and “PEARL-Innovative Programme of Networking Indian Cities” at the Conference Hall of the Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium. Professor Chetan Vaidya, Director, School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi, and Chairman Town Planning Board, AICTE, New Delhi, delivered these lectures. Professor M.S. Hundal, Dean, Academic Affairs, presided over the programme. Balwinder Singh, Head of the Department, welcomed the chief guest. Professor Vaidya while delivering his lectures discussed the various problems being faced by urban areas. He also shared his experiences of Indore and Ahmedabad municipalities. Meanwhile, Professor Vaidya inaugurated an exhibition organised by the students of Guru Ramdas School of Planning.
Lecture on e-banking
The Department of Commerce and Business Management of the university organised a lecture on “Banking and Current Economic Scenario” at the Conference Hall of the department recently. The lecture was delivered by Tejinder Singh Khalsa, Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India. While highlighting the fact that how e-banking process has become convenient, Tejinder cautioned the audience about the hacking of password and bank account. Meanwhile, the department organised the “Road to Soft Skills Excellence” programme under the series of academic events to be organised for the students of the department to enhance their talent. A group discussion was also held for the students of MBA and MCA under the guidance of Dr Jasveen Kaur. Dr Kaur said the objective of the programme was to help improve soft skills of students and conquer their inhibitions about communication.
UGC NET coaching
from Sept 30
The All-India Services Pre-Examination Training Centre of the university will provide 11-week coaching for the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) from September 30 to December 13. According to Dr Daljit Singh Arora, Director of the Centre, a sum of Rs 4,000 will be charged as fee from the general category students, while no fee will be charged from the reserved category students. He said the application form could be obtained from the centre against a cash payment of Rs 30. The last date for the submission of application form is September 18. The interview to select students will be held on September 23 at the centre.
— Contributed by G.S. Paul
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Studyscape NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has empanelled a charitable society, Manovikas, to provide skills of different kinds to students who are differently abled, an official statement said. Students with special needs in Classes IX, X, XI and XII studying in schools affiliated to the CBSE can join Manovikas’s skill knowledge programme to gain an ability to enter diverse fields, like retail trade, information technology application, as also the cosmetic industry, hospitality and tourism fields. “It is a matter of immense satisfaction for all of us in the disability sector that our efforts at universalisation of educational and vocational studies, leading to inclusion, are bearing fruit,” said Vikram Dutt, president, Manovikas Charitable Society.
Israel to impart agri training
to Indian students
NEW DELHI: Israel, a pioneer in the farm sector, is in active consultation with the Indian government to impart postgraduate training to Indian students in agriculture, with special focus on enhanced productivity and research. As part of the initiative, students would visit Israel to do their internship during the duration of the programme to gain exposure to the advancements made there. The students would then return to India to complete their degree programme, Israel’s ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz said here, adding that talks were on with the Gujarat government for the programme. "This is something which we have never done before. It a very sophisticated venture and it is coming up in Gujarat," he said, adding that “the idea is to create a programme in which students will study agriculture with practical orientation focused on R&D and then come to Israel and acquire some kind of Israeli experience before going back”. The development assumes significance as Israel government is already sponsoring 66 post-doctoral scholars from India to pursue research at top universities under a three-year scholarship
programme. — Agencies
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INDIA trains around 1.5 million engineers every year which is more than the combined strength of the US and China. There are more than 3,495 engineering colleges in the country, with total intake capacity of 17.6 lakh students. There has been a phenomenal increase of more than 100 per cent in the number of engineering colleges and intake capacity at the graduate level in the last five years.
