Engineering Education In India

Question by: Vinayak Bhaurao Raut

Question

(a) whether engineering is losing its sheen in India and the students no longer want to pursue engineering; if so, the reasons therefor;
(b) whether engineering education in India is not getting upgraded as per the new requirements;
(c) whether the Government proposes to take any steps to overcome the said problem in consultation/collaboration with the educationists and experts from the industry and engineering; and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

Answer

• No, the number of intake of students in engineering in Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs) namely IITs, IIITs & NITs has increased from 106535 (2018-19) to 115022 (2019-20).
• Engineering Education is being upgraded from time to time keeping in view the requirements of the industry. Steps taken in this direction are as under:

(i) Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs): The engineering, particularly the Information Technology stream, is not losing its sheen in the country. In fact, based on the demand from the State Govts., the Government of India has opened 13 IIITs in the last 5 years out of which 12 have been opened in association with private industry and the concerned State Government, i.e. in PPP mode. These IIITs have been opened to cater to the needs of the Industry and the global markets. The Industry partner is involved in designing course curriculum as per Industry demand, imparting relevant courses or modules, providing internships, sponsored projects and placements.

(ii) National Institute of Technology (NITs): The National Institutes of Technology have been considered among the premier and the largest technical education system of the country to provide high quality education. A Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Anil Kakodkar to review the functioning of NITs system, which in its recommendations, alongwith others, also recommended to set up Industry Institute interface (i.e. involvement of industry at various level viz. collaborative research, internships and fellowships for post graduate programmes etc). As a result, in the last few years, some of the top IT companies in India have started their own academia-industry interface programs.

(iii) All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE): Whole curriculum of the technical education has been revamped by AICTE in the year 2018-19. In addition to this, in the academic year 2020-2021, the existing institutes are being allowed to initiate new programmes in Engineering and Technology only in emerging areas as per national perspective plan prepared by the experts. In order to improve the quality of engineering education and enhance the employability of students of technical institutes, AICTE has made the Internship mandatory for all technical educational programmes. In addition, AICTE is implementing schemes of Model Curriculum, Induction Program, Exam Reform, Perspective Plan, Teachers Training, Start-up Initiative, Teacher and Student Development Schemes to bring holistic changes in Technical Education and align technical know-how with industry requirements.

As per QS Rankings 2020 for Engineering & Technology, rank of 9 Indian Institutes which are in the list of top 500 Institutes has increased from previous year i.e. 2019.