Present Status of Professional Education (1)
Content
Present status of Professional Education in Telangana
with particular reference to Technical Education
By
Dr. P. Narasimha Reddy, M.E.(IISc), Ph.D.
Executive Director
Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology,
(An Autonomous Institution)
Yamnampet, Ghatkesar, Hyderabad – 501 301
e-Mail: [email protected] Cell : 09848981810
Introduction:
Pdt. Jawarhal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India was of the firm view that India’s
development is on the shoulders of Engineers and nobody else. With this in mind,
he was instrumental in starting a chain of Indian Institutes of Technology
and
Regional Engineering Colleges in different parts of India. This helped to provide
technical manpower at the level of Engineers to the growing industrial sector of the
country. He gave a great boost to heavily capital intensive large-scale industries in
the country such as, Hindustan Steel, Bharath Heavy Electricals, Hindustan Machine
Tools, Bharath Electronic Corporation, etc. which provided the muscle for growing
medium and small scale industries in the country.
Pdt. Nehru’s vision also gave birth to a number of polytechnics established in India
to provide the Supervisory cadres required in the industry. Similarly, he was also
instrumental in establishing Industrial Training Institutes throughout the country for
providing Operator / Technician level manpower to the industry. A number of Central
Training Institutes for Instructors were started by the Ministry of Labour and
Employment to provide training facilities to the teachers of Industrial Training
Institutes. On the same lines, Technical Teacher Training Institutes were established
for providing training to the teachers required at Polytechnics and Engineering
colleges. But for the Central Training Institutes which are now called as Advanced
Training Institutes operating in the country the concept of technical teacher training
had disappeared, which is one of the reasons for deteriorating quality of technical
education system in the country both at the Degree level and Diploma level.
1
The Public Sector though is running
with heavy losses has provided trained
technical manpower which has vast industrial experience in different sectors was
made available to the country for the Private sector at large medium and small scale
industrial sectors. But for their contribution the Private sector would not have
flourished and the quality of production and competitive edge for the Indian industry
in the World as a whole would not have been possible.
The need for feeding
continuously
fresh engineering graduates and diploma
holders to the industry need not be overemphasized. In spite of severe criticism
which is really true that the quality of technical education is much to be desired, the
technical institutions in India have provided the manpower to the Software sector in
India and to the World as a whole, which brought laurels to the engineering
profession of India.
The fact that the Software professionals of India are very
respected professionals all over the world cannot be discounted. The respect India
is able to get from USA, UK,
Europe, Australia and other countries
is largely
contributed by the Software professionals of India. Prof. R. Natarajan is of the view
that even without any Government initiative this miracle had happened and similar
such wonders can happen if the Government does not interfere.
The need for integrated development of Telangana depends largely on the technical
manpower available and being produced year after year. There is no doubt that the
quantitative requirement for development of Telangana is already available, largely
due to the private participation in establishing engineering colleges and Polytechnics.
Now there is a great need for looking at critically the quality of engineering graduates
and diploma holders, so that they are employable soon after their completion of
studies and the need for long induction training program which also needs lot of
money can be avoided. The following paragraphs describe the present status of
professional education in Telangana more particularly, with reference to technical
education.
There were only one Engineering college, two medical colleges and a couple of
Polytechnics in the erstwhile Telangana region of Nizam State. The number of
colleges and institutions started in the Government sector are very less even after
2
the reorganization of States in India. There is large scale expansion in number of
professional colleges in Telangana due to private participation in the last two
decades. The total number of professional colleges existing as of now in Telangana
area, based on the statistics available from A.P.State Council for Higher Education,
which are coming under the jurisdiction of Commissionerate of Technical Education
are as follows University-wise:
S.
No.
Type
of
Profession
al college
1
B. Tech.
colleges
M. Tech.
colleges
MBA
MCA
B. Pharm.
M. Pharm
Pharma ‘D’
2
3
4
5
6
7
OU
Region
(Hydera
bad,
R.R.Dist,
Medak)
KU Region
(Warangal,
Khammam,
Adilabad
MGU
Region
(Nal
gonda)
TU
Region
Nizama
bad)
SU Region
(Karim
nagar)
PU
Region
(Mehboo
bnagar)
Total
213
56
44
11
19
10
353
183
44
33
7
15
5
287
272
80
80
77
21
49
17
47
43
11
36
10
20
19
2
8
2
3
3
0
32
23
11
7
1
9
1
7
5
1
Grand Total
406
133
168
154
36
1537
The number of professional colleges established by the Government as of now in
Telangana area is hardly 15 to 20.
As stated already, the establishment of
Professional colleges in the Telangana region has increased phenomenally, mostly
because of the contributions due to private participation in Higher Education. As of
today, 95% of intake capacity is provided by Private Educational Societies and Trusts
and balance by the Government sector. A heavy investment of about
Rs. 20,000 crores would have been required for establishing these institutions in the
Government sector. This investment on the part of the Government is completely
avoided because of shouldering of the responsibility for establishing higher
educational institutions is taken over by Private Un-aided Self-financing Institutions.
1) Quality of Professional Graduates – Complaints from Industry:
Industry is not very happy with the quality of Professional Graduates including those
from Engineering and Technology disciplines. Lack of quality is considered as the
gravest danger for the industrial development and hence, the economy of the State
and the Nation suffer badly.
3
Estimates of employability of engineering graduates vary from industry to industry
between zero to 25%. .This is also estimated by a consultancy organization at the
instance of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The conclusion was
only 22 –
25% of engineering graduates are employed in the campuses. The estimate of
NASCOM also matches with this figure. Some of the selected students who have
inherent interest in higher education are pursuing M. Tech. programs in India or go
abroad for pursuing M.S. programs. The balance of graduates who are not left
behind try to improve their skills after graduation by attending various training
centres in the private sector and try to get employed.
There are some graduates
who spend about two years to get employed. The question being asked by the
industry is for whom the colleges are training the students during their education
period and why the industry has to spend a lot of time and money for training the
graduates to make them capable to take up responsible tasks.
2) An analysis of improvements to be made:
The important aspects in which the industry is having complaints about the quality of
engineering graduates are :1. Lack of application skills of the theory they learnt
2. Deficiencies in Project based and Problem based learning
3. Lack of communication skills due to language deficiency and stage fear
4. Deficiencies in team building and group activities
5. Lack of techno consciousness in students
These skill gaps are causing the industries to go for campus placements only to top
colleges and the students of Tier – III institutions, most of which are established in
rural areas are completely neglected. Unless the skill gaps are bridged in all the
technical institutions of the State,
there will be growing unemployment for
professional graduates in the State of Telangana, which may cause Socio-Political
Unrest in the State.
4
3) Need for Government Initiative.
The Government has to take initiative in making industry representatives of major,
medium and small scale industries, R&D organizations and Government
departments in which graduates are employed, to associate with the institutions so
that industry related skills can be imbibed in the students and ensure their
employability. Availability of technical manpower for industrial development can then
be ensured. The areas of collaboration between the industries, R&D organizations,
Government Departments and Technical Institutions are :
1. Curriculum Development
2. Teaching learning process
3. Faculty and Staff development
4. Student development
5. Collaborative activities in R&D
1) Curriculum Development
Though there are always some members from industry in the Boards of Study and Academic
Councils of various universities/institutions, the impact of the industry representatives on
curriculum development has been very marginal and not to the extent that is required to
make the engineering education up to date and practice oriented. This situation is much
more important today because the earlier practice of having induction training periods for
fresh graduates between 1 to 3 years, before they are given any responsible position in the
industry, is now not in vogue . There are hardly 15 – 20 days time given to the fresh
graduates to get acclimatized and to make themselves billable or useful.
The requirement of subjects to be taught in various branches of engineering are dynamic in
nature. There is a criticism from the industries and R&D organizations that new subjects and
topics are not being introduced which are essential in the current industrial situation. There is
a great need for having close collaboration between the industries and institutions so that the
skills in demand and competencies required in the industry are taken note of and are
provided to the students during their studies in the colleges. The Government of Telangana
should take initiative in constituting a Consultative Committee between industries and the
institutions at the state level so that the curriculum will not be obsolete and subjects which
5
are to be taught are incorporated in the curriculum. These aspects should be considered
both for theory, practicals, projects, seminars etc.
In general, there is hesitation on the part of the Universities / Institutions to introduce a new
subject in the curriculum, though required in the current scenario of the industry, because of
the lack of expertise on the part of the faculty available to teach the new subjects. The
Technical institutions must not take this line as there is always a possibility of organizing
training programs to their faculty with the help taken from the industry and also higher
institutes of technology. Thus the curriculum revision must be a continuous process which
has to be considered by the Consultative Committee and other Sub-committees formed for
taking care of each discipline of engineering / technology.
2) Teaching Learning Process
Effectiveness in teaching and ensuring the learning to take place are two essential aspects
which need consideration. There is no meaning for teaching if the learning does not take
place. The capabilities required for teachers to ensure the skills required for students in
various practical aspects
must
be provided to the teachers through special training
programs and industrial exposure. Besides this, there are different methodologies for
ensuring effectiveness in teaching and learning. Audio visual aids are to be used so that
multiple senses available in the student can be made use of. The ability of the students with
regard to pracatical application of the theory learnt must be ensured so that he can perform
the tasks on his own confidently.
Problem based teaching and learning and project
orientation are to be practiced. The applications of theory in practice are to be integrated.
An attempt is to be made to have application oriented teaching in every subject, old or new,
and there is a great need for providing training for the faculty to ensure effectiveness in
teaching learning process
3) Faculty and Staff Development
The faculty and staff constitute the heart of the institution. In the human body, even if all
other parts function well and if the heart fails everything goes. So in order to ensure
effectiveness of institutional functioning, there is need for continuous faculty and staff
development. It is needless to say that the teaching-learning process will greatly improve in
the process.
6
Exposure to industry is essential for all the faculty so that what they are teaching can be
made practice oriented and students will get benefited and they will appreciate the faculty.
Unfortunately there is a great divergence between what student is taught and what is the
industrial practice. Teachers must undergo practical training in the relevant areas so that
their teaching will then become effective and the students will become competent to take up
responsible positions in the industry after graduation.
In these days there is a large number of engineering colleges in the country. In Telangana
alone the intake into the existing professional colleges is of the order of 2,00,000 students
per year. It is impossible for all the industries put together to provide training facilities for
about 6,00,000 engineering and other professional colleges students in Telangana. In fact
some industries are not willing to give practical training to students. They wish to give
training to faculty so that generations of students will have the benefit of practical orientation
in
their education offered by trained teachers. . There is a need for the proposed
Consultative Committee to look into this aspect so that the facilities can be given for faculty
training for different branches of engineering. The number of teachers required to be trained
in a certain subject area can be assessed and their training needs are determined so that
they can be sent for practical training in a phased manner.
Similar activity has to be done for Supervisory cadre and
technicians because the
instructions in practical classes are to be improved upon.
4)Student development:
There are various possibilities for exposure of students to the industry. The simplest one is
to take the students for industrial visits on a regular basis so that the students can learn with
the help of the industrial personnel conducting their visit in the industry,
some practical
aspects of the equipments and infrastructure and how the manufacturing processes are
taking place..
The expertise available in the industry can be invited for giving special lectures and to get
associated with
the R & D projects
as external guides in the dissertation work. The
internships wherever possible may also be provided by the industry to students and this will
also help the students to enter the world of work from the world of study in a seemless
manner after their graduation. There is some sort of hesitation on the part of the industry to
give such facility to
students. In this direction, some efforts are to be made by the
Consultative Committee to be constituted by the Government.
7
There are lot of difficulties
being faced by the institutions even to get permissions for
industrial visits leave alone, the internships to the students. This gap between what is
required to be done by the industry and what is being done now must be removed. In fact,
the industries blame that the technical graduates are half-baked products and are not
employable. At the same time, they say that they are unable to get competent graduates for
filling up the various vacancies in their organizations. The industry and the institutions must
think about this and they must treat student raining as a joint responsibility. Only then this
blame game can be stopped.
5)Collaborative activities in R & D and Consultancy:
Govt. of India have chosen a number of Engineering Colleges in Telangana for their further
improvement under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) with
World Bank assistance.
The fact that the some technical institutions in Telangana are chosen by the assessment,
made by the Steering Committees at the State level and National level to be beneficiaries
under TEQIP scheme, shows that there is some expertise available in each of the TEQIP
institutions. Great emphasis is being given for R&D and consultancy in the TEQIP Phase II.
In the light of this, efforts are to be made to collect information about the competent
professors who are available in various TEQIP and other
institutions so that fruitful
collaboration can take place for solving certain problems faced by the industries.
It is also possible to have a couple of institutions to come together so that the combined
strengths of various institutions in a particular specialized area can be very useful in solving
some complicated problems. In the light of this, the Consultative Committee may identify the
strengths of the faculty and infrastructure in different branches of engineering in various
institutions so that the pool of competent professors can be identified. This can be passed
on to the industries for their consideration to identify the groups of teachers who can be
approached for solving their specific
problems. This activity will lead to collaborative
research and also will promote the consultancy activity of the institutions and this will greatly
improve the health of industry and also that of institutions.
8
Concluding remarks:
i)
The quantitative part of professional educational facilities is fully satisfied for
the State of Telangana as there are large number of colleges established in the State
largely due to the participation of private un-aided educational societies and trusts.
Now there is great need for improvement in the quality of professional education to
compare with that in institutions of higher learning in India and elsewhere. . A
consultative committee will have to be constituted to
ensure the quality of
professional education in Telangana and to take all the steps needed for such an
improvement. A number of sub-committees have to be constituted branch-wise so
that the gap between the skills and capabilities developed in the students in various
specializations
can be matched to the requirements in industry. to the extent
possible.
ii)
Unless there is a continuous evaluation of the activities of
consultative
committee and sub-committees formed, implementation of the recommendations of
these committees, will be difficult and it will be impossible to achieve the targets.
Only then the Professional Graduates coming out of our State will be able to
compete for the jobs available in the country and in developed countries. GATS
provides the facilities for working anywhere in the world and compete in the global
scenario.
iii)
The various activities to be taken up by the consultative committee and other
sub-committees formed are regular curriculum development, improvement in
Teaching Learning process, Effective Faculty and Staff Development, Students
exposure to industry and Collaborative work between institutions and industry for
R&D and Consultancy activities. All these activities must be taken up in parallel so
that overall development of quality of technical education can be
ensured and
nurtured.
iv)
The main criticism is that the Indian Professional Graduates only know theory
but they are not aware of the applications. This situation has to be changed with
initiative from the Government of Telangana and concerted efforts of all stakeholders i.e. Professional institutions, Industry and R&D Organizations.
***
9
with particular reference to Technical Education
By
Dr. P. Narasimha Reddy, M.E.(IISc), Ph.D.
Executive Director
Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology,
(An Autonomous Institution)
Yamnampet, Ghatkesar, Hyderabad – 501 301
e-Mail: [email protected] Cell : 09848981810
Introduction:
Pdt. Jawarhal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India was of the firm view that India’s
development is on the shoulders of Engineers and nobody else. With this in mind,
he was instrumental in starting a chain of Indian Institutes of Technology
and
Regional Engineering Colleges in different parts of India. This helped to provide
technical manpower at the level of Engineers to the growing industrial sector of the
country. He gave a great boost to heavily capital intensive large-scale industries in
the country such as, Hindustan Steel, Bharath Heavy Electricals, Hindustan Machine
Tools, Bharath Electronic Corporation, etc. which provided the muscle for growing
medium and small scale industries in the country.
Pdt. Nehru’s vision also gave birth to a number of polytechnics established in India
to provide the Supervisory cadres required in the industry. Similarly, he was also
instrumental in establishing Industrial Training Institutes throughout the country for
providing Operator / Technician level manpower to the industry. A number of Central
Training Institutes for Instructors were started by the Ministry of Labour and
Employment to provide training facilities to the teachers of Industrial Training
Institutes. On the same lines, Technical Teacher Training Institutes were established
for providing training to the teachers required at Polytechnics and Engineering
colleges. But for the Central Training Institutes which are now called as Advanced
Training Institutes operating in the country the concept of technical teacher training
had disappeared, which is one of the reasons for deteriorating quality of technical
education system in the country both at the Degree level and Diploma level.
1
The Public Sector though is running
with heavy losses has provided trained
technical manpower which has vast industrial experience in different sectors was
made available to the country for the Private sector at large medium and small scale
industrial sectors. But for their contribution the Private sector would not have
flourished and the quality of production and competitive edge for the Indian industry
in the World as a whole would not have been possible.
The need for feeding
continuously
fresh engineering graduates and diploma
holders to the industry need not be overemphasized. In spite of severe criticism
which is really true that the quality of technical education is much to be desired, the
technical institutions in India have provided the manpower to the Software sector in
India and to the World as a whole, which brought laurels to the engineering
profession of India.
The fact that the Software professionals of India are very
respected professionals all over the world cannot be discounted. The respect India
is able to get from USA, UK,
Europe, Australia and other countries
is largely
contributed by the Software professionals of India. Prof. R. Natarajan is of the view
that even without any Government initiative this miracle had happened and similar
such wonders can happen if the Government does not interfere.
The need for integrated development of Telangana depends largely on the technical
manpower available and being produced year after year. There is no doubt that the
quantitative requirement for development of Telangana is already available, largely
due to the private participation in establishing engineering colleges and Polytechnics.
Now there is a great need for looking at critically the quality of engineering graduates
and diploma holders, so that they are employable soon after their completion of
studies and the need for long induction training program which also needs lot of
money can be avoided. The following paragraphs describe the present status of
professional education in Telangana more particularly, with reference to technical
education.
There were only one Engineering college, two medical colleges and a couple of
Polytechnics in the erstwhile Telangana region of Nizam State. The number of
colleges and institutions started in the Government sector are very less even after
2
the reorganization of States in India. There is large scale expansion in number of
professional colleges in Telangana due to private participation in the last two
decades. The total number of professional colleges existing as of now in Telangana
area, based on the statistics available from A.P.State Council for Higher Education,
which are coming under the jurisdiction of Commissionerate of Technical Education
are as follows University-wise:
S.
No.
Type
of
Profession
al college
1
B. Tech.
colleges
M. Tech.
colleges
MBA
MCA
B. Pharm.
M. Pharm
Pharma ‘D’
2
3
4
5
6
7
OU
Region
(Hydera
bad,
R.R.Dist,
Medak)
KU Region
(Warangal,
Khammam,
Adilabad
MGU
Region
(Nal
gonda)
TU
Region
Nizama
bad)
SU Region
(Karim
nagar)
PU
Region
(Mehboo
bnagar)
Total
213
56
44
11
19
10
353
183
44
33
7
15
5
287
272
80
80
77
21
49
17
47
43
11
36
10
20
19
2
8
2
3
3
0
32
23
11
7
1
9
1
7
5
1
Grand Total
406
133
168
154
36
1537
The number of professional colleges established by the Government as of now in
Telangana area is hardly 15 to 20.
As stated already, the establishment of
Professional colleges in the Telangana region has increased phenomenally, mostly
because of the contributions due to private participation in Higher Education. As of
today, 95% of intake capacity is provided by Private Educational Societies and Trusts
and balance by the Government sector. A heavy investment of about
Rs. 20,000 crores would have been required for establishing these institutions in the
Government sector. This investment on the part of the Government is completely
avoided because of shouldering of the responsibility for establishing higher
educational institutions is taken over by Private Un-aided Self-financing Institutions.
1) Quality of Professional Graduates – Complaints from Industry:
Industry is not very happy with the quality of Professional Graduates including those
from Engineering and Technology disciplines. Lack of quality is considered as the
gravest danger for the industrial development and hence, the economy of the State
and the Nation suffer badly.
3
Estimates of employability of engineering graduates vary from industry to industry
between zero to 25%. .This is also estimated by a consultancy organization at the
instance of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The conclusion was
only 22 –
25% of engineering graduates are employed in the campuses. The estimate of
NASCOM also matches with this figure. Some of the selected students who have
inherent interest in higher education are pursuing M. Tech. programs in India or go
abroad for pursuing M.S. programs. The balance of graduates who are not left
behind try to improve their skills after graduation by attending various training
centres in the private sector and try to get employed.
There are some graduates
who spend about two years to get employed. The question being asked by the
industry is for whom the colleges are training the students during their education
period and why the industry has to spend a lot of time and money for training the
graduates to make them capable to take up responsible tasks.
2) An analysis of improvements to be made:
The important aspects in which the industry is having complaints about the quality of
engineering graduates are :1. Lack of application skills of the theory they learnt
2. Deficiencies in Project based and Problem based learning
3. Lack of communication skills due to language deficiency and stage fear
4. Deficiencies in team building and group activities
5. Lack of techno consciousness in students
These skill gaps are causing the industries to go for campus placements only to top
colleges and the students of Tier – III institutions, most of which are established in
rural areas are completely neglected. Unless the skill gaps are bridged in all the
technical institutions of the State,
there will be growing unemployment for
professional graduates in the State of Telangana, which may cause Socio-Political
Unrest in the State.
4
3) Need for Government Initiative.
The Government has to take initiative in making industry representatives of major,
medium and small scale industries, R&D organizations and Government
departments in which graduates are employed, to associate with the institutions so
that industry related skills can be imbibed in the students and ensure their
employability. Availability of technical manpower for industrial development can then
be ensured. The areas of collaboration between the industries, R&D organizations,
Government Departments and Technical Institutions are :
1. Curriculum Development
2. Teaching learning process
3. Faculty and Staff development
4. Student development
5. Collaborative activities in R&D
1) Curriculum Development
Though there are always some members from industry in the Boards of Study and Academic
Councils of various universities/institutions, the impact of the industry representatives on
curriculum development has been very marginal and not to the extent that is required to
make the engineering education up to date and practice oriented. This situation is much
more important today because the earlier practice of having induction training periods for
fresh graduates between 1 to 3 years, before they are given any responsible position in the
industry, is now not in vogue . There are hardly 15 – 20 days time given to the fresh
graduates to get acclimatized and to make themselves billable or useful.
The requirement of subjects to be taught in various branches of engineering are dynamic in
nature. There is a criticism from the industries and R&D organizations that new subjects and
topics are not being introduced which are essential in the current industrial situation. There is
a great need for having close collaboration between the industries and institutions so that the
skills in demand and competencies required in the industry are taken note of and are
provided to the students during their studies in the colleges. The Government of Telangana
should take initiative in constituting a Consultative Committee between industries and the
institutions at the state level so that the curriculum will not be obsolete and subjects which
5
are to be taught are incorporated in the curriculum. These aspects should be considered
both for theory, practicals, projects, seminars etc.
In general, there is hesitation on the part of the Universities / Institutions to introduce a new
subject in the curriculum, though required in the current scenario of the industry, because of
the lack of expertise on the part of the faculty available to teach the new subjects. The
Technical institutions must not take this line as there is always a possibility of organizing
training programs to their faculty with the help taken from the industry and also higher
institutes of technology. Thus the curriculum revision must be a continuous process which
has to be considered by the Consultative Committee and other Sub-committees formed for
taking care of each discipline of engineering / technology.
2) Teaching Learning Process
Effectiveness in teaching and ensuring the learning to take place are two essential aspects
which need consideration. There is no meaning for teaching if the learning does not take
place. The capabilities required for teachers to ensure the skills required for students in
various practical aspects
must
be provided to the teachers through special training
programs and industrial exposure. Besides this, there are different methodologies for
ensuring effectiveness in teaching and learning. Audio visual aids are to be used so that
multiple senses available in the student can be made use of. The ability of the students with
regard to pracatical application of the theory learnt must be ensured so that he can perform
the tasks on his own confidently.
Problem based teaching and learning and project
orientation are to be practiced. The applications of theory in practice are to be integrated.
An attempt is to be made to have application oriented teaching in every subject, old or new,
and there is a great need for providing training for the faculty to ensure effectiveness in
teaching learning process
3) Faculty and Staff Development
The faculty and staff constitute the heart of the institution. In the human body, even if all
other parts function well and if the heart fails everything goes. So in order to ensure
effectiveness of institutional functioning, there is need for continuous faculty and staff
development. It is needless to say that the teaching-learning process will greatly improve in
the process.
6
Exposure to industry is essential for all the faculty so that what they are teaching can be
made practice oriented and students will get benefited and they will appreciate the faculty.
Unfortunately there is a great divergence between what student is taught and what is the
industrial practice. Teachers must undergo practical training in the relevant areas so that
their teaching will then become effective and the students will become competent to take up
responsible positions in the industry after graduation.
In these days there is a large number of engineering colleges in the country. In Telangana
alone the intake into the existing professional colleges is of the order of 2,00,000 students
per year. It is impossible for all the industries put together to provide training facilities for
about 6,00,000 engineering and other professional colleges students in Telangana. In fact
some industries are not willing to give practical training to students. They wish to give
training to faculty so that generations of students will have the benefit of practical orientation
in
their education offered by trained teachers. . There is a need for the proposed
Consultative Committee to look into this aspect so that the facilities can be given for faculty
training for different branches of engineering. The number of teachers required to be trained
in a certain subject area can be assessed and their training needs are determined so that
they can be sent for practical training in a phased manner.
Similar activity has to be done for Supervisory cadre and
technicians because the
instructions in practical classes are to be improved upon.
4)Student development:
There are various possibilities for exposure of students to the industry. The simplest one is
to take the students for industrial visits on a regular basis so that the students can learn with
the help of the industrial personnel conducting their visit in the industry,
some practical
aspects of the equipments and infrastructure and how the manufacturing processes are
taking place..
The expertise available in the industry can be invited for giving special lectures and to get
associated with
the R & D projects
as external guides in the dissertation work. The
internships wherever possible may also be provided by the industry to students and this will
also help the students to enter the world of work from the world of study in a seemless
manner after their graduation. There is some sort of hesitation on the part of the industry to
give such facility to
students. In this direction, some efforts are to be made by the
Consultative Committee to be constituted by the Government.
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There are lot of difficulties
being faced by the institutions even to get permissions for
industrial visits leave alone, the internships to the students. This gap between what is
required to be done by the industry and what is being done now must be removed. In fact,
the industries blame that the technical graduates are half-baked products and are not
employable. At the same time, they say that they are unable to get competent graduates for
filling up the various vacancies in their organizations. The industry and the institutions must
think about this and they must treat student raining as a joint responsibility. Only then this
blame game can be stopped.
5)Collaborative activities in R & D and Consultancy:
Govt. of India have chosen a number of Engineering Colleges in Telangana for their further
improvement under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) with
World Bank assistance.
The fact that the some technical institutions in Telangana are chosen by the assessment,
made by the Steering Committees at the State level and National level to be beneficiaries
under TEQIP scheme, shows that there is some expertise available in each of the TEQIP
institutions. Great emphasis is being given for R&D and consultancy in the TEQIP Phase II.
In the light of this, efforts are to be made to collect information about the competent
professors who are available in various TEQIP and other
institutions so that fruitful
collaboration can take place for solving certain problems faced by the industries.
It is also possible to have a couple of institutions to come together so that the combined
strengths of various institutions in a particular specialized area can be very useful in solving
some complicated problems. In the light of this, the Consultative Committee may identify the
strengths of the faculty and infrastructure in different branches of engineering in various
institutions so that the pool of competent professors can be identified. This can be passed
on to the industries for their consideration to identify the groups of teachers who can be
approached for solving their specific
problems. This activity will lead to collaborative
research and also will promote the consultancy activity of the institutions and this will greatly
improve the health of industry and also that of institutions.
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Concluding remarks:
i)
The quantitative part of professional educational facilities is fully satisfied for
the State of Telangana as there are large number of colleges established in the State
largely due to the participation of private un-aided educational societies and trusts.
Now there is great need for improvement in the quality of professional education to
compare with that in institutions of higher learning in India and elsewhere. . A
consultative committee will have to be constituted to
ensure the quality of
professional education in Telangana and to take all the steps needed for such an
improvement. A number of sub-committees have to be constituted branch-wise so
that the gap between the skills and capabilities developed in the students in various
specializations
can be matched to the requirements in industry. to the extent
possible.
ii)
Unless there is a continuous evaluation of the activities of
consultative
committee and sub-committees formed, implementation of the recommendations of
these committees, will be difficult and it will be impossible to achieve the targets.
Only then the Professional Graduates coming out of our State will be able to
compete for the jobs available in the country and in developed countries. GATS
provides the facilities for working anywhere in the world and compete in the global
scenario.
iii)
The various activities to be taken up by the consultative committee and other
sub-committees formed are regular curriculum development, improvement in
Teaching Learning process, Effective Faculty and Staff Development, Students
exposure to industry and Collaborative work between institutions and industry for
R&D and Consultancy activities. All these activities must be taken up in parallel so
that overall development of quality of technical education can be
ensured and
nurtured.
iv)
The main criticism is that the Indian Professional Graduates only know theory
but they are not aware of the applications. This situation has to be changed with
initiative from the Government of Telangana and concerted efforts of all stakeholders i.e. Professional institutions, Industry and R&D Organizations.
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