Critical Review: Why Engineering Colleges are shutting down in India (original) (raw)

Expansion of Engineering Education in India: Issues, Challenges and Achievable Suggestions

2014

The exponential rise in the number of engineering institutions in the last two decades in India has facilitated the entry of aspiring students into engineering institutions and provided the much needed manpower for industries. But the quality of education in most of these institutes remains questionable. There may be many factors leading to this scenario, but the most important seems to be the motive of profit making than providing quality education. Though premier engineering institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology are credited with providing excellent undergraduate engineering education; yet this achievement did not reach their postgraduate engineering courses. In this review, some issues arising out of quantitative growth of engineering education are identified and an attempt is made to analyze the reasons for this condition and some achievable suggestions are presented.

Engineering Education in Private Institutions in India- Boon, Bane or Mixed Bag

India has one of the largest number of engineering graduates joining the ranks of professionals annually in the world. However, the quality of engineers is not up to the mark and by some estimates only 7-8% of the engineering graduates are employable as per the National Employability Report. In this 21st century globalized world, engineering education and the profession are facing various challenges and would continue to do so if some serious introspection and steps taken to alleviate them are not taken. The first 5 IITs were setup in the first decade or so after Independence and still continue to serve both locally and globally. During early 1980s there were about 100 engineering colleges but due to the demands of the industry during successive 5 years Plans and incoming liberalization and globalization these colleges became insufficient. This led the Government to allow and facilitate privatization in the technical set up of engineering colleges in India with Tamil Nadu being the first state to do so by opening up 50 new private engineering colleges. Post 2000, the country witnessed income growth in all spheres. Salary income increased multi-fold and self-employed persons were happy with rising income. Rural income was also on an upswing; maybe at a lesser proportion .A sizeable percentage of the poor upgraded to middle class and the middle to rich class. There was also revolution in mobile telephony, automobile, aviation, higher education, computers, etc. Ample job opportunities were created due to economic growth. Land and real estate values also appreciated. This led to a mushrooming in the number of engineering colleges and today there are around 6500+ institutions. The quality of education in many of the private colleges leaves a lot to be desired. Many of these colleges lack even basic facilities essential for good engineering education and have practically no good quality teachers. But on the other hand, some have excelled and are as good as or even better than many of the Government engineering colleges today. Deemed Universities have also mushroomed. Most of them do not belong to the same class as those recognized as such twenty years ago. Our engineers are now competing with the engineers from other countries and if they are found to be failing in their knowledge and capabilities they may be substituted by an engineer from any corner of the World, say China or Philippines or Latin America. This global challenge was not so prevalent in our country till the last decade. As Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum expresses in his book The Fourth Industrial Revolution that in 21st century technological changes will occur in a cycle of 5 years and to meet the new technological standards we need to follow up with changes in our education system otherwise India’s new generation may also miss the bus.

Indian Higher Technical Education Scenario, Issues, Challenges and Achievable Suggestion

2017

There is turbulent rise in the number of engineering institutions in the last two decades in India. In the present competitive environment, generic skills and professionalism are essential qualities for engineering graduates. The industry requires up to date skill sets from the graduates to incorporate their needs. However, in the present day it has been observed that the engineering graduates are not up to the mark to fulfill the industry requirements. This pressurizes the educational institutions to deliver the best to their students. The quality of teacher plays an important role for student's enrichment. The attitude, skill and knowledge of teacher are one of the most important factors that affect overall progress of the student. The quality of education in various institutes remains questionable, due to the profit-making approach of institute management. In this paper issues regarding quantitative and qualitative growth of engineering education are identified and analyzed i...

Developing Engineering Education Universities in India

2024

The Government of India established four Technical Teacher Training Institutes in 1964 in Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chenna, and Kolkata to develop technician education. These institutes offered both short-term and long-term faculty development programs, revised the curricula, and planned new diploma programs to meet the needs of fast-growing Indian industries. Further, they offered diverse global faculty development programs, executive development programs for government departments, master's degrees, and interdisciplinary doctoral degree programs in engineering education. This research is based on the case study/action research approach. Based on the recommendations of expert committees, the Ministry of HRD elevated these institutes to the National Institute of Technical Teacher Training and Research. After completion of 60 years, the Ministry of Education offered Deemed University. Based on the needs, a set of faulty members, departments, and new interdisciplinary global programs, offering consultancy programs for MNCs, IDAs, and industries are suggested. Shortcomings of action research and suggestions for further research have been indicated.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA

International Journal of Advanced Technology in Engineering and Science ISSN (online): 2348 – 7550, 2014

Technical Education system is dynamic in nature. It faces many hurdles in response to societal, technological and economic changes in the environment both home and foreign. The debate today is not only about the value and role of Technical education in the social and economic development of a nation but has a broader aspect. Technical education is widely recognized as a vital part of the total education and training system. The real challenge is how to reposition it by shifting towards a developmental paradigm that holds sustainability as its core. It is hoped that this paper will provide a definite idea on technical education and its importance and some useful insights on the underlying meaning, policies and choices which may help to shape the systems of technical education and training further.

International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Management Comparative Study of Government and Private Element Ary Education System Regarding Mushrooming of Technical Education with Special Reference to Odisha, India

2013

Mushrooming engineering colleges in India have outpaced the number of students they can take in. At present there are nearly 14 lakh seats avail able in India in 3500 engineering colleges. Nearly 1, 40,000 to 1, 68,000 seats are remaining v acated which contributes approximately 10% to 12% of the seats. The absence of enough eligible students is only one part of the problem. Efforts to address it by lowering the eligibility c riteria have only compounded the other, larger problem - that of quality. In a span of three years , the number of engineering colleges doubled from 1,668 in 2007-08 to 3,241 till 2010-11, and th e seats from 6.5 lakh to over 14 lakh. An estimated 1 lakh seats have been added for 2011-12, with 281 new colleges approved so far. As per The All India Council for Technical Education ( AICTE) it cannot turn down a proposal to open an engineering college, since every individual or trust has got right to open professional institute, This though doesn't seem to be ...

Changing Landscape of Higher Education in India:The Case of Engineering Education in Tamil Nadu

The self financing institutions of higher technical education in Tamil Nadu exploit the circumstances and emerge as something similar to the for-profit higher education in the United States wherein students and families buy higher education services. The private institutions have grown sporadically within a very short span covering more than 90 percent of the total engineering and management colleges in the state. Given this dominant share of private self-financing institutions in higher education with a focus on technical education, the paper attempts to look at the growth of such institutions over a period of time from 1985- 86 to 2008-09. The changing nature of higher and technical education is much more nuanced and cumulative across time but also multi-woven in terms of policy paradigms at global, macro economic, sector specific and sub-sector level. The present paper makes an attempt to look at these changing dynamics of higher education, using engineering education in Tamil Nadu as a case of reference. The paper attempts to marshal the emerging salient characteristics of private higher education focusing on technical education in the state. While doing so, it brings out the major issues of the private colleges in the state. Later, it discusses the policy responses to the changes in the higher technical education in the state.

2. ENGINEERING THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN INDIA

Engineering profession in the next two decades will undergo dramatic changes, driven by not only technological developments but also societal transformation. Besides increased globalization, more acute concern for environment for sustainable development, will characterize changes and challenges for future engineers in their roles. As industry increasingly looks at Corporate Social Responsibility, not just as mandatory but as key to success, future engineers should change their mind sets and incorporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility as key parameters in their day-today working as well as decision making framework. As roles for future engineers expect different competencies from the graduating engineers, it is the responsibility of future engineering education to reinvent itself and brace itself for a paradigm shift in the way, students are groomed to match the changed expectations. Consequently, the way the components of education namely, knowledge, skills and attitude and values, are to be imparted has to be different. Contents, as well as pedagogy, will need to be changed accordingly. This tectonic shift will pose challenges to all the stake holders, educational institutions, government, teachers and students. Each one of them, needs to gear up itself to address the challenges. It also calls for change in mindsets so that the transition is smooth and successful. Concerted and synergistic efforts from all of them will help in engineering the future of engineering education with a strong and resilient foundation.