Sansad TV Perspective: Engineering Seats : Problem of Plenty

In the series Sansad TV Perspective, we bring you an analysis of the discussion featured on the insightful programme ‘Perspective’ on Sansad TV, on various important topics affecting India and also the world. This analysis will help you immensely for the IAS exam, especially the mains exam, where a well-rounded understanding of topics is a prerequisite for writing answers that fetch good marks.

In this article, we feature the discussion on the topic: Engineering Seats : Problem of Plenty

Anchor: Vishal Dahiya

Participants:

1. Dr. BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Board of Governors of IIT, Hyderabad
2. Prof. Navin Sheth, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University
3. Prof. K.K. Agarwal, Chairperson, National Board of Accreditation
4. Prof. Rana Singh, CEO, IIIE, Sanskriti University, Mathura

Context: 

The Ministry of Education notified in the Lok Sabha about recommendations of a committee headed by Dr. B V R Reddy, chairman of IIT Hyderabad regarding the establishment of new engineering colleges in the country. 

The Background:

• The Reddy committee was set up in 2018 in order to prepare short-term and medium-term plans for the betterment of engineering education in India.
• In the first report in 2019, the committee put forth its observations on the capacity utilization during 2017-18 in undergraduate and postgraduate levels which was reported to be 49.8%.
• The committee recommended that no new capacity will be approved by AICTE from the academic year 2020.
• The data shared by the Ministry of Education revealed a sharp decline in enrolment in the engineering courses over a period of time.
• The decline in enrolment gathers prominence by setting comparisons between the time period of 2020-21 and 2013-14. 
• This contributes as a major concern as engineering courses are pivotal in generating technically skilled labors that the industries look for.

Challenges:

• Government took active participation in setting up of technical institutions and was considerably successful in its attempt for two decades. 
• Consequently the sporadic increase in the number of institutions failed to gauge the decline in the quality of education, enrolment of the students and inadequacy in the number of skilled faculties. 
• This reflected an unprecedented repercussion of expansion of institutions without any checks and balances.
• A study by Aspiring Minds estimated that 95% of engineering students were unemployable for the software industry which houses bulk engineering jobs.
• It was reported by a study of the Indian Express that 51% of the B.E/ B. Tech seats remain unfilled in the 2016-17. 
• The UR Rao committee recommended a moratorium on the approval of undergraduate technical institutions for a period of five years.
• There is emerging corruption, a complex cycle of poor infrastructure, increasing gap between industries and academia.
• Presently, India recorded a 10-year low in the number of seats offered by the engineering colleges.

Some Important Recommendations of the B V R Reddy Committee:

• It is mandatory to establish 60% NBA ( National Board of Accreditation) approved and regulated programs in 4 years
• The institutions must set up an industry institute cell
• New capacities must be reviewed every 2 years
• Capacity building for emerging and demanding technologies

Takeaways for the future: 

• Experts opined for a balanced approach towards the quality and quantity of teachers in the technological institutions while discussing the concern over the shortages of teachers. 
• The placement records of the students make it necessary to develop an ecosystem for bridging the gap between industry and academics.
• Right skills take up the essence when it comes to employability thereby demanding an upgradation of engineering education.
• There has been a recommendation by a panelist to transform and modify the disciplines that are taught traditionally in the institutes and incorporate the discipline with emerging demand for example artificial intelligence, coding, data analytics, robotics, cloud computing and so on and so forth. 
• Therefore a synthesis between the traditional disciplines and the state of the art fields will open up broader avenues of employment opportunities and generate skilled labor.
• Incorporating more internship programmes can build potential linkage between industries and the institutions.
• Modification of the content of certain disciplines in the engineering field will contribute to increase the exposure and create a research environment among students. This can be a stepping stone towards increasing quality engineering education.
• There is a significant need for the regulators of the technical institutions to undergo a paradigm shift towards an outcome based education to ensure that the engineers of the country possess an optimal blend of knowledge, skills and competencies.

Read more summaries of Perspective in the link.

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