S. Vishnu Sharma
Engineering education in India is now the focal point with news on seat reduction doing rounds.
The situation has brought many issues into limelight as far as engineering education in India is concerned.
A large number of students who pass plus-two in India are said to choose engineering for a bright future.
The news that has come recently with regards to engineering education in India may be a good deal of surprise for them.
What is the news all about? It is about the engineering seat reduction.
There has been a considerable drop in the number of seats in engineering education of this country.
Sources tracking the engineering education in India point towards the data of AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education).
The engineering seats in the country is said to have gone down by 1.4 lakh this year.
Those who regularly have their eyes on engineering education in India, feel the issues do not end there.
There is much more on the larger level. The engineering seats in this nation have come down to 23 lakhs.
This drop is worth noting as far as engineering education in India is concerned. The reduction is said to be the lowest in the recent years.
However, before the present dull-times dawned on the engineering education in India, things were bright with it.
When the times were really good, the number of seats were 30 lakhs as far as engineering education in India is concerned.
But as time move ahead, dark times began dawning on engineering education in India, the number of seats went down wards.
The question is why the reduction in the number of seats. The number of engineering colleges went for a closure owing to lack of demand.
S.G. Mahadevan, a retired teacher with CBSE school feels engineering laid ways to a bright future in the past.
Studying the course was a sure way of getting well paid jobs in the government and private sectors.
However, as times moved ahead, uncertainty began ruling the roost in the private sector in particular, says the retired teacher.
The private sector began witnessing a reduction in manpower recruitment as business prospects turned dull.
This resulted in a lack of interest in engineering courses, says G. Gopinath, a retired civil engineer.
As the lack of job prospects in the engineering sector in particular became visible, not many students perhaps came forward to study engineering courses.
As the number of students coming forward to study engineering has stopped, engineering colleges had to be closed, says Gopinath.
Sources having an eye on the engineering education in India says over 400 engineering colleges have been closed in the past seven years.
The peak for engineering admission was seen in 2014-15. However, as the glow reduced, the colleges also began closing down.
Every year, since 2014-15, about 50 colleges began putting an end to its operations, say sources following the engineering education in India.
Added to this, the new engineering colleges approved by AICTE too have been witnessing a reduction.
About 314 new engineering colleges got approval from AICTE. As the time moved ahead, this number began witnessing a reduction.
In 2021-22, only about 54 new colleges have got approval from AICTE.
On the other hand, the number of AICTE approved institutions that went for closure witnessed an increase.
The number of institutions that closed was 9 in 2012-13, the same was 20 in 2013-14. And, in 2021-2022 the number of institutions that got closed stood at 63.
This probably has a lot to say, when it comes to engineering education in India.
All these point towards another important element in the engineering education in India. The days when the students used to study engineering and go out in the open market and hunt for jobs are long over.
Now these are the days for campus placement. ‘Study engineering and appear for an interview in their college campus even before one finishes his or her degree.’
It is almost a requirement for colleges to offer bright placement.
Engineering education in India
Lack of enough placements can only deter students from studying engineering courses, says M. Narayanamurthy, also a retired engineer.
There is another issue also to this, reminds Narayanamurthy. He sees a connectivity between economy and engineering education in India.
The strong economy has managed to generate enough jobs for engineering graduates from various streams till recently.
However, for the last few years, certain sectors have been witnessed no performance due to various reasons only to generate no or minimal employment.
Lack of employment opportunities has also in a way prevented many from taking to engineering education in India.
He hurries to point towards low demand for courses like Civil and Mechanical Engineering.
These sectors have been seeing low performance owing to which there has been no much employment generation.
So not many students are turning forward to study subjects like civil and mechanical engineering.
After all these issues have been analyzed, one big doubt that would flash in one’s mind is ‘Have dark times dawned on engineering education in India?’
‘No,’ says G. Radhakrishnan, a civil engineer. It is all about the economy.
‘If economy turns bright with various sectors witnessing a rise in performance, jobs would be generated and demand for engineering courses will once again go up.’
Experts also point towards various emerging sciences like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Mechatronics.
These courses have the potential to generate lot of jobs in future, so they may rise the demand for engineering subjects related to these disciplines, say experts.