ENGINEERING : A lost treasure yet to be recovered

Engineering is no longer the abracadabra of academics — the magic word that opens the door to a secure and lucrative career even before a student can put B.E. or B.Tech on the résumé. The quality of engineering education has often been called into question by academics and industry, and recent figures from the studies conducted by human resource development ministry seem to buttress their point of view. In view of the changes occurring in engineering practice and research, it is easy to understand why some raise concerns that we are attempting to educate 21st-century engineers with a 20th-century curriculum taught in 19th-century institutions.

Engineering practice and its related technologies have become global in scope and scale. To be effective, today’s engineering graduate must not only be grounded in scientific and mathematical fundamentals, engineering principles and design, but must also have a global outlook and the broader skills to work in society in both, home country and internationally. Engineering education is thus challenged to prepare a technically competent graduate, as it has done traditionally, and to add several dimensions of broadening – all within a program of reasonable length. As engineering has become a more global profession, issues of quality assurance of engineering education programs have been amplified. Formal accreditation of engineering programs is today the standard by which such quality assurance is sought.

Once upon a time, engineering was considered to be the most prestigious professional course, apart from medicine; but now it has subdued due to many factors. The factors range from the preparation for engineering entrance exams, to the completion of the course and even beyond, to the job sector. Nowadays it’s pretty much a common sight of children being tutored for competitive exams like IIT-JEE/BITSAT/MHT-CET, etc. right from the 7^th or 8^th standard either due to peer pressure or because of the ambitions their parents have nurtured for them. In such scenarios students often end up learning things mechanically, rather than acquiring a deep understanding of the topic, which is very much essential in the practical world. Also, the increasing number of engineering colleges in every nook and corner of cities is of no help in nurturing a competent engineer, since students with just the passing marks can easily grab seats- either through management quota or by enrolling in remote interior colleges with no basic infrastructure requirements, inadequate and inexperienced faculty. Every year we get to read reports on how thousands of engineering seats remain vacant inspite of low cut-offs; all thanks to numerous politicians and other influential people managing to get sanctions to set up additional colleges over the existing ones. Why look at regional engineering colleges, when even the globally recognized IITs are no exceptions when it comes down to quality of education provided! Education ministers are hell-bent on setting up newer IITs in every other state when it is common knowledge that the last sanctioned ones are yet to have the infrastructure and other facilities to match the original set of 7 IITs. The next point that comes up is the syllabus followed by the various universities. Every university has a different syllabus- some still teaching the age-old methods discarded long ago in the practical world, while some others have a comparatively updated one. But no university/institute has a totally updated syllabus to go hand-in-hand with the needs of industries to face the rapidly changing technical and technological challenges. Needless to say, the quality of education automatically goes downhill, thereby bringing the nation to a technological stand-still.

The next major factor causing loss of quality control in engineering is the mind-set of the students. The course of engineering was once an affordable dream of almost every other science student. But sadly enough, for most students, today it is nothing but a basic degree before climbing vertically up the ladder for an MBA which is sure to bring in a lot more of financial perks than a simple BE/BTech or even an MTech, for that matter. Another major factor is the concept of ATKT, which surely is a great relief to majority of students but a greater threat to the quality of future engineers of the nation. Also, it is very often found that students are more interested in bunking the lectures(oh no, not to visit the library- well most of them might not even know where the library is- but to go either to the canteen/café or elsewhere) rather than attending lectures and practicals.

Another factor worth mentioning is regarding the faculty of engineering courses. Be it an IIT, NIT, or a regional engineering college, the fact that most of the professors today lack enough knowledge to impart to the youth, is common knowledge. Nothing can be more dangerous than to let inexperienced faculty handle the engineers of tomorrow. At other times, a very proficient faculty might be assigned to take lectures; but either the students aren’t interested or else the infrastructure and facilities are not sufficient for the teaching-learning process. Besides this, it’s the need of the hour to look into problems concerning the faculty-student ratio. No matter how good the faculty is, handling around hundred students in a class makes it impossible for them to ensure that the students grasp effectively what is being taught to them.

A proper and concise study of the quality of engineering education in India and other countries like the US and UK will tell us how far behind we are lagging, when it comes to producing competent engineers for the industries. This vast difference can be attributed to two main factors- (1) The education in US and UK is broadly application-oriented. The assignments and exams to be completed are not focused on learning from a prescribed book, memorizing and penning it down on the answer sheet, but rather to understand the fundamental concepts and then put the brains to use to solve application-oriented problems. (2) Engineering students in the US and UK are not only exposed to their curriculum, but also to research areas related to their stream/branch of specialization. It must be understood that research work not only introduces the budding engineer to the complicated practical world, but also opens a door to the wide world of possibilities, besides inculcating a will to acquire deeper knowledge by means of self-study and a bit of help from faculty and senior research students.

The current paradigm for engineering education seems increasingly suspect in an era in which the shelf life of taught knowledge has declined to a few years. There have long been calls for engineering to take a more formal approach to lifelong learning, much as have other professions such as medicine in which the rapid expansion of the knowledge base has overwhelmed the traditional educational process. Yet such a shift to graduate-level requirements for entry into the engineering profession has also long been resisted both by students and employers. Moreover, it has long been apparent that current engineering science-dominated curricula needs to be broadened considerably if students are to have the opportunity to learn the innovation and entrepreneurial skills so essential for our nation’s economic welfare and security, yet this too has been resisted, this time by engineering educators. Here part of the challenge–and key to our objectives–must be an appreciation for the extraordinary diversity in engineering and training to meet the ever more diverse technological needs of our nation.

All-in-all, the degrading nature of engineering education in our country is the result of the role-play of numerous factors. For India to produce engineers as competent as their counterparts in other nations, a little change here or there is not going to help. What we need is a major and rapid revolution- in the educational system, structure and curriculum of engineering in India! The youth today are growing aware of the lack of quality education and the revolution is in its early stages. It is yet to take solid root and branch out to all parts of the nation. But atleast a move has been made at last- with a goal towards making the future of engineering more glorious than it has ever been! Yet, unfortunately, the challenges of our changing world move ahead at a rapid pace despite our tendency toward procrastination. The future– indeed, the very survival– of engineering demands the exploration of new paradigms of practice, research, and education today.


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