Engineering Education and Research in India

- Some aspects of its Organisation, Linkages and Content

C.N.Krishnan

Abstract: This paper presents some problems of the Engineering Education and Research (EER) sector in our country as it obtains today. The sector is analysed along its three dimensions: its Structure and Organisation in our country, its Linkages with other related entities, and its Contents and Processes. At the heart of the problem is the total neglect of the State sector (state universities and colleges, along with private colleges affiliated to state universities) which together produces the bulk of our engineering graduates, but has very little funding support or freedom to operate. All the funding, freedom, prestige and patronage go to some 80 Central institutions called Institutes of National Importance (IITs, NITs and IIITs), with some 160 Private institutions having university status too enjoying full academic, financial and administrative freedom. Despite the vastly different levels and contexts , the Engineering Curricula and Syllabi followed are virtually the same across the institutions in the country, mostly generated in the IITs who in turn draw their inspiration from the practices of N.American universities. The Curricula and the Syllabi are not derived from the needs of our industry and economy belonging to both the formal and non-formal sectors. In all respects, the core problem of EER in India is the failure to see its primary role and function as that of serving the Industry and Economy of the country. It is proposed that the solution to the problem of our EER sector has to start by giving full autonomy and freedom to the State sector to manage its EER system, along with providing the required funding support. This will create an environment and context in which the problem of Contents and Linkages , and the need to connect the EER sector to Industry and Economy, can get adequately addressed. The initiative for making this transformation happen has however got to come from the players in the State system.

While it is true that Modern Engineering Education and Practice was introduced here by the British around 150 years ago, a flourishing field of industry and engineering did exist in our country much before that, as evidenced by our achievements in the areas of Construction and Buildings, Hydrological Structures, Metals and Materials, Instruments, Implements and Tools, Shipping and Transportation, Industries and Manufacturing like in Textiles , Pottery and Ceramics, etc. The destruction of our economic and social infrastructure by the British is what led to the decay of our industry and engineering, and we are yet to significantly undo this damage even after 75 years of independence.

We analyse the problem of our EER sector at three different levels -

• The Structure and Organisation of the EER sector in the country.

• The Linkages between our EER sector and the other related entities.

• The Contents and Processes of the EER practic

Organisation of the EER sector in our country:

At the level of Organisation, it is seen that we have three broad types of EER institutions in the country:

1. The ones that come under the State Governments, including the self-financing colleges affiliated to the state universities. (Producing 85% of our Eng. Graduates.).

2. The Private Universities, including the Deemed-to-be types. (Producing 11%).

3. Institutes of National Importance (INI) consisting of the IITs, NITs, IIITs (Producing 4%).

The 3rd category of institutions that produces 4% of our engineering graduates has been receiving virtually unlimited funds (nearly 50% of the total), freedom and patronage for the last 50-60 years, and they are best known nationally and internationally for the undergraduate students they produce. Even though they have pioneered Engg. R&D work in India, there is no data on what impact their R&D have had so far on our industry and economy. The 2nd category is the purely private entities who enjoy full academic, administrative and financial freedom and autonomy, and produce about 11% of our undergraduate strength. They provide the most expensive engineering education in India, and most students join them with the explicit goal of going abroad. The 1st Category of EER institutions in the country who turn out 85% of our engineers belong to the State sector and are either directly owned and controlled by the State governments, or are private colleges academically controlled by them through the affiliation route. They receive neither any significant financial support nor any patronage from the Central Govt , but are severely regulated by Central agencies like AICTE, UGC etc (through their 'guidelines'), and evaluated/accredited by central entities like NBA,NAC etc. Severe dearth of funding , along with loss of autonomy through tight control by the Central government agencies and the State governments, have systematically brought down the quality and reputation of the State sector of our EER.The state governments and its institutions too have a large share of blame for having brought about this situation.

Linkages with other sectors

Industry and Business in India broadly falls into the Organised or Formal sector, and the non-Formal or the micro and small sector, and the EER sector is expected to have healthy two-way linkages with both of these. Though some efforts have been made by the elite institutions to connect with the Organised sector, they have largely remained as suppliers of low cost manpower to this sector, much like the rest of the EER institutions. In terms of products and technology, there is not much that the EER has delivered to the Indian Industry.

As regards the non-formal or artisanal sector of our industry and economy, no serious efforts whatsoever have been made to connect it to our EER – to the considerable loss to both the parties. “That is the job of the ITI s” is the standard response to it from our educationists!

Lack of living and functional linkages with these sectors has been a major bane of our EER sector.

Content of our Engineering Education

Content of our Engineering Education has mostly been driven by the need for its acceptance and recognition by world bodies (Washington Accord etc), especially so by the universities of N.America; and from the very start, the IITs have taken the lead in this, promptly followed by the rest. In the name of uniformity, all colleges in the country (from IITs to self-financing colleges) follow pretty much the same Regulations, Curricula and Syllabi, though there is nothing much else common between them. Contents of our EER have not been derived from the requirements of our Industry and Economy whom it is supposed to serve in the first place. In fact there is no clear and unequivocal acceptance of this fact at all, and much of our EER is organised and conducted along the lines of our HER in Arts, Sciences, Law etc. This has been brought about by the way the Regulations, Curricula and Syllabi of EER have been framed and implemented. While the INIs and the Private Universities may not feel the heat due to the protection and patronage they enjoy from our elite classes, such is not the case with the State level institutions of EER; for their very survival and staying relevant, they have to urgently overhaul the contents of their EER – the country needs it very badly too!

Some remedial steps

Here we present and discuss some concrete ideas on how we may begin remedying the flaws in all the three aspects of our EER – its organisation, its linkages and its contents. The goal is to go beyond the cosmetic changes that various commissions keep suggesting from time to time, and initiate some serious deliberations on this segment that is critical to the progress of our people and our nation.

As regards Organisation of EER in our country, it is argued that the States of India should have full control, academic, administrative and financial,over the institutions that come under its purview. They would have to make a public commitment towards nurturing quality and excellence in their institutions, wherever relevant learning from the way the IITs have done it. They will set up their own entities with functions similar to AICTE and UGC, as well as QA processes similar to NBA, NAC etc., and without any political interference. While freed of control by the Centre, the states in turn have to ensure that their EER institutions will enjoy the autonomy and freedom as the IITs have done from the very start. The goal would be to have some 2-4 EER institutions in each state of the “IIT/INI Class” - this adding another 60-70 institutions to the existing list of INIs in EER of about 80. Further technological advancement of the country would hereafter be driven by two engines , the Centre and the States.(On the question of whether the States can play such a role, one only has to recall that the USA does not have any central/federal universities; all their universities are run by the states where they are located!).

As the States are thus playing a role similar to the Center, it is expected that the Centre will pay the additional costs that the states would have to incur. Concurrently there should be a halt to further expansion of the INI s in the country since the States are now coming forward to share the burden of excellence and quality with the Centre. It will also require that the INIs are given a fresh mandate as to how to re-orient their goals and processes so that they have an impact on the Industry and economy of the country in proportion to the funds, benefits and patronage they have been enjoying.

Regarding the Contents and Linkages, the entire EER system of the country needs to take a fresh look at what has been going on pretty unchanged since independence, despite some cosmetic changes carried our periodically in the name of Curricula and Syllabi Revision. To start with, there has to be a clear and publicly enshrined statement that the primary and key purpose and goal of EER is to support and strengthen the Industry and Economy of the country – from the IITs to the self-financing colleges. For the State system, significant parts of the Curricula etc have to be derived from a detailed study and understanding of the Industrial and Economic activities of the region surrounding the location of the Engineering college, activities of both the Formal and Non-formal sectors of the Industry and Economy. The backdrop and context in which EER happens in an institution has to be the technological, industrial and economic reality of its immediate neighbourhood, defined in a suitable manner. This will be a two way process, inputs from the technological processes in the neighbourhood will influence the Curricula and Syllabi, and in turn, the R&D activities of the institution would go into supporting and strengthening the industry and economy of the region. Also, and very importantly, the students would a reasonable deep grasp of the economics, financing, business, HR, and marketing aspects of the industries of the region, especially of the MSME sector. There would be a permanent exhibition-cum- demonstration stall in the campus that present the materials, skills , technologies, industries and economy of the region, and this would be a location where considerable amount of the applied side of education takes place. The medium-large scale industries of the region too would be required to have their presence in the campus and be a part of the teaching-learning processes. Some formal arrangement comparable to today's CSR Regime would have to be put in place for this.

Present day Regulations and Curricula stipulate that 100% of the time of the students in the campus would go into the learning of the applied sciences and engineering principles of the discipline, and nothing at all on the industrial, economic, environmental and societal dimensions of the practice of engineering in our society. This has to change significantly, and their share has to come down to under 70%. The balance 30% or more of the curricula has to be of a type that will enable the engineer to add significant value to the industry and society, especially to the lives of the 85% of our people belonging to the so-called 'unorganised' sector of our economy and industry. It would however be ensured that the 70% relating to the scientific and engineering principles have enough material in it that will enable the graduate to access the job markets as is happening now. The new 30% being added now to the curricula should also open up new job opportunities in the MSME or 'non-formal sector' of the economy.

Given the requirements of the MSME and start up sectors that may often have only 2-3 engineers at best, it may also be useful to introduce UG programs of the “Integrated Engineering” type with emphasis on width rather than depth.

On the Research front too, there has to be a significant reworking of the requirements (quantity and quality wise) of the work to be carried out for the award of Research Degrees like Ph.D. , M.Phil and M.S.(By research). In place of the criterion of 'publishing a paper' (a practice that is mired in corruption, plagiarism and other malpractices), new criteria have to be evolved centred around the relevance and value of the work in the given context of our Industry and Economy.

Linkages with the organised industry as well as the artisanal industries and practices of the region once the contents of EER are transformed as proposed above.

In conclusion -A picture of our Engineering Education and Research (EER) sector has been presented here, some of the problems associated with it touched up on, and some thoughts on how these could be remedied briefly presented. The key malady of the system is shown to be the total neglect of the State System , and its remedy can only come from this system becoming the primary drivers of our EER sector. The purpose of the paper is to try and initiate some sustained discussions and debates on a topic that is crucial to our development and progress as a people and a nation.

Click here to read the full paper that goes into more details of the different aspects of the subject.

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C N Krishnan is a retired professor of engineering from Anna University Chennai, and a brief statement about him can be seen at ppstindia.in/people

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