Conversations ON Education
‘Large number of engineering colleges are frozen in time’
TIMES OF INDIA 13.07.2018
When Tamil Nadu was caught up in the NEET fiasco and needed an overhaul of its decade-old school syllabus, former vice-chancellor of Anna University M Anandakrishnan was roped in to head the curriculum framework committee for state board schools. He was instrumental in revamping the course material to help students adopt a concept-oriented approach and enable them to crack competitive tests. In an interview with Vinayashree Jagadeesh , the former chairman of IIT Kanpur, talks about why quantity is one of the main factors for deteriorating quality of engineers and the need for more skill development
What changes have impacted the growth of engineering education over the years?
There are major changes taking place the world over as technological revolution and technical education are simultaneously feeding into each other. This has led to manifestations in which a section of technical education has imbibed basic sciences and humanities. Another manifestation has been the more trans-disciplinary approach to engineering where students of one stream are branching out and simultaneously studying different streams. Also, technical education is becoming more product-oriented with college students increasingly coming out with innovations and products. In India, institutes like the IITs and NITs are adapting to these changes in a major way. However, a large number of engineering colleges are frozen in time, dealing with the situation is the challenge.
Is there an issue of quantity versus quality when it comes to engineering? Are too many engineers graduating a problem?
Yes, quantity is one of the main reasons for deteriorating quality of students and institutions. We have committed a major blunder in the 1980s and 1990s by mindlessly opening engineering institutions, especially in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Every year, we have 15 lakh graduates being churned out of campuses when there are jobs for only 5 lakh. The student-teacher ratio is not maintained in many colleges. Many try to manage with teachers with a bachelor’s degree, when the AICTE mandates a minimum master’s qualification. Colleges have to cut down the intake if they do not find adequate number of quality teachers. If the quality of the faculty is poor, it automatically reflects on the students. States in the south have too many engineering institutions, while others like Bihar and the northeastern states have fewer colleges than is required. This imbalance has to be corrected.
AICTE has decided to close down colleges which aren’t able to sustain the minimum required student numbers. Can closure of these institutions help in improving quality?
There have been suggestions to shut colleges, but I disagree with it. Instead, these institutions should be transformed into skill development institutions. This transformation cannot happen easily and cannot be handled by AICTE alone. In my opinion, there is an urgent need for a national commission specifically for engineering education. A commission which can focus on helping these institutes serve better and not waste the existing manpower. Many of our engineering graduates are working for ₹10,000 and do not have any marketable skills. We don’t need all colleges to become IITs or NITs, we need them to develop skills of students. Industries can be roped in to become partners in this process. The commission can also look into polytechnic colleges that train using outdated curriculum.
The National Testing Agency will be conducting NEET and JEE (Main) twice a year. Do you think this will make any significant change to the admission scenario?
Giving the responsibility to NTA is a good decision, but the concern is if it is equipped to do the job. NTA should have enough support in terms of human, technical and monetary resources before conducting any exam. Twice a year is not a practical proposition. We need to be stable, systematic and confident of conducting an exam before doing it twice. We always jump the gun when it comes to such matters. CBSE, having conducted exams for multiple years, is running into so many issues when it comes to competitive exams so with any new system, we need to be methodical.
Whether it is JEE or NEET, the counselling process has been affected due to court orders after errors were spotted. Do changes need to be made to streamline such tests?
Unfortunately, any problem today results in court intervention and becomes a major part of the process. This doesn’t happen in other countries. Errors have to be sorted out at the organisational level rather than in court. Some sort of access to the organisers would help avoid people going to court. The issue is that people don’t have faith in these organisations, be it the UGC, AICTE, CBSE, or any other body, and perhaps for valid reasons. The people running there institutions are not permanent; members change every couple of years. Hopefully, with NTA taking charge of the exams this changing of heads may be resolved.
Email your feedback to southpole.toi@ timesgroup.com
PROBLEM OF TOO MANY: Every year nearly 15 lakh graduates pass out only about 5 lakh land proper jobs
M Anandakrishnan
‘Large number of engineering colleges are frozen in time’
TIMES OF INDIA 13.07.2018
When Tamil Nadu was caught up in the NEET fiasco and needed an overhaul of its decade-old school syllabus, former vice-chancellor of Anna University M Anandakrishnan was roped in to head the curriculum framework committee for state board schools. He was instrumental in revamping the course material to help students adopt a concept-oriented approach and enable them to crack competitive tests. In an interview with Vinayashree Jagadeesh , the former chairman of IIT Kanpur, talks about why quantity is one of the main factors for deteriorating quality of engineers and the need for more skill development
What changes have impacted the growth of engineering education over the years?
There are major changes taking place the world over as technological revolution and technical education are simultaneously feeding into each other. This has led to manifestations in which a section of technical education has imbibed basic sciences and humanities. Another manifestation has been the more trans-disciplinary approach to engineering where students of one stream are branching out and simultaneously studying different streams. Also, technical education is becoming more product-oriented with college students increasingly coming out with innovations and products. In India, institutes like the IITs and NITs are adapting to these changes in a major way. However, a large number of engineering colleges are frozen in time, dealing with the situation is the challenge.
Is there an issue of quantity versus quality when it comes to engineering? Are too many engineers graduating a problem?
Yes, quantity is one of the main reasons for deteriorating quality of students and institutions. We have committed a major blunder in the 1980s and 1990s by mindlessly opening engineering institutions, especially in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Every year, we have 15 lakh graduates being churned out of campuses when there are jobs for only 5 lakh. The student-teacher ratio is not maintained in many colleges. Many try to manage with teachers with a bachelor’s degree, when the AICTE mandates a minimum master’s qualification. Colleges have to cut down the intake if they do not find adequate number of quality teachers. If the quality of the faculty is poor, it automatically reflects on the students. States in the south have too many engineering institutions, while others like Bihar and the northeastern states have fewer colleges than is required. This imbalance has to be corrected.
AICTE has decided to close down colleges which aren’t able to sustain the minimum required student numbers. Can closure of these institutions help in improving quality?
There have been suggestions to shut colleges, but I disagree with it. Instead, these institutions should be transformed into skill development institutions. This transformation cannot happen easily and cannot be handled by AICTE alone. In my opinion, there is an urgent need for a national commission specifically for engineering education. A commission which can focus on helping these institutes serve better and not waste the existing manpower. Many of our engineering graduates are working for ₹10,000 and do not have any marketable skills. We don’t need all colleges to become IITs or NITs, we need them to develop skills of students. Industries can be roped in to become partners in this process. The commission can also look into polytechnic colleges that train using outdated curriculum.
The National Testing Agency will be conducting NEET and JEE (Main) twice a year. Do you think this will make any significant change to the admission scenario?
Giving the responsibility to NTA is a good decision, but the concern is if it is equipped to do the job. NTA should have enough support in terms of human, technical and monetary resources before conducting any exam. Twice a year is not a practical proposition. We need to be stable, systematic and confident of conducting an exam before doing it twice. We always jump the gun when it comes to such matters. CBSE, having conducted exams for multiple years, is running into so many issues when it comes to competitive exams so with any new system, we need to be methodical.
Whether it is JEE or NEET, the counselling process has been affected due to court orders after errors were spotted. Do changes need to be made to streamline such tests?
Unfortunately, any problem today results in court intervention and becomes a major part of the process. This doesn’t happen in other countries. Errors have to be sorted out at the organisational level rather than in court. Some sort of access to the organisers would help avoid people going to court. The issue is that people don’t have faith in these organisations, be it the UGC, AICTE, CBSE, or any other body, and perhaps for valid reasons. The people running there institutions are not permanent; members change every couple of years. Hopefully, with NTA taking charge of the exams this changing of heads may be resolved.
Email your feedback to southpole.toi@ timesgroup.com
PROBLEM OF TOO MANY: Every year nearly 15 lakh graduates pass out only about 5 lakh land proper jobs
M Anandakrishnan
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