TechEdu

Technical education and crisis of unemployment 

                                                                                                                                    Dr Satyajit Bhuyan

Higher education system of India is the third largest education system in the world, third only to China and US. There are 152 central, 316 state and 191 private universities in India. These figures change in no time. What this statistics tells us is the huge size and working capacity at this level. Under higher education category comes technical education etc, namely the engineering colleges and other institutions. Engineering colleges are categorized under the four tier system as IITs, NITs, State government engineering colleges and private engineering colleges. Over and above these, many universities like Benaras Hindu University, Jamia Millia University, Delhi University, Mumbai University, University of Calcutta etc offer various degrees in engineering. Private institutions like NIIT etc offer various technical courses. There are polytechnics, affiliated to state boards of technical education, which offer three year diploma in engineering after 10^th standard. The number of such polytechnics is 934 in Tamil Nadu, 900 in Andhra Pradesh, 739 in Maharashtra, 342 in Haryana, 310 in Madhya Pradesh, 155 in West Bengal etc. The total number stands at 5672. Institute of Engineers (India) conducts examination at different levels for working as well as non-working professionals desiring to improve their technical qualification.

Study reveals that in 2006-07 from 1511 engineering colleges in India 5, 50,000 technical graduates came out. The count went upto seven lakhs in 2011. But reality is that, many engineering graduates in India are struggling to subsist in an extremely challenging market. As per data, India trains a very big number of   engineers which is more than the US and China combined. Most of them are employed in IT sector and manufacturing industries. But as of now IT industries are very much choosy regarding recruitment of such professionals. The situation is deteriorating fast, with the establishment of newer institutes and increase in pass outs. Not even IITians enjoy cent percent employment security. For example in 2011-12 in IIT Bombay 1060 of 1389 were placed through placement process. The figure became 1005 out of 1501 for the same institute in the next year. Eighty six companies visited the institute in 2012 and this figure came down to sixty seven in the next year. This is only one example. IITs are at the helm of the above mentioned four tier system. So this situation can not reflect the overall plight of engineering college pass outs in general. For an average technical institute, the scenario is grim and somewhat unimaginable.

Before going into the details of remedial measures the reader must be acquainted to the history of technical education in India. The journey started with Thomson College of civil engineering in Roorkee. That happened in the year 1847. In 1854 College of Engineering came up in Pune. The famous Bengal Engineering College was founded in 1856. In 1906 National Council of Education was established in Calcutta. It started imparting engineering education from 1919. Then Jadavpur University came up in 1955. Five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were established in between 1950 and 1961. Then regional engineering colleges came up which are now known as NITs.

Before 1950 engineering education focused on engineering practices, design code etc. In the next fifty years, the focus was on engineering science, fundamental understanding etc. After that, in the real sense of the word, modern era of technical education began in India. Stress was laid on Team Work. Idea of integration in design and manufacturing came up. Innovativeness and new concept in every field of engineering was given top priority. Computational ability and search for newer techniques in various analyses became more or less compulsory. In spite of all these developments, many engineering graduates are spending sleepless nights in search of a dignified livelihood. In this context a few statistics may be enumerated. In America there is no more than seventy thousand seats in engineering under graduate programs. Though America commands a leading position in respect of engineering and technical education the above number is strictly maintained. To keep the standard intact the quality of education should never be compromised.

But in India this is far from true on many an occasion. Sometimes a student scoring poorly in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at 10+2 level also opts for a career in engineering education and gets oneself admitted into an engineering college. The college authority admits him or her not to fulfil his or her dream but to get the benefit of economics. It is the paradox of technical education. A student who could have excelled in some other discipline is wrongly admitted into engineering and thus lands oneself on the most uncomfortable ride of one’s life. A wrong career choice causes not only discord in personal life but also loss of manpower. That is the first problem to be addressed.

The output of an engineering college depends on the input. The students opting for engineering should be selected through a rigorous selection procedure such that they can keep up with requirements. Such improvement in intake quality will in turn lead to better performance and success through healthy yet tough competition.

Campus classroom teaching is the best method for imparting engineering education. Quality of teacher plays an important role here. But in many engineering colleges desired quality of teacher is hardly available. Reasons for such manpower shortage can be many. This problem should be solved through proper faculty recruitment procedure, imparting regular training to existing faculty, encouraging them in various ways to take teaching not only as a profession but as passion also. 

The course curriculum of engineering colleges should be based on emerging technologies. At the same time these should have relevance to rapidly changing needs of immediate environment in particular and of the whole country in general.

A few days back, there was a report on the comparative income of various skilled professionals. An electrician or a plumber can earn more compared to a new engineer. Here comes the concept of skill versus market demand. An engineer without expertise in one’s field has zero value in the competitive market. So, it should be mandatory for all engineering pass outs to go for apprenticeship in some essential sectors. Colleges should offer such opportunities to their pass outs by arranging proper institute industry interaction.

Published in SOUVENIR, 71 Foundation Day Celebration, AEI.

THE Author is working as Associate Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Assam Engineering College.