Challenges ahead for Engineering Education by Maheswar Peri, Founder of Careers360

Very recently, I came across a close relative, an engineering college pass out, at home. When I enquired what his plans were, he was vague and confused. The fact is, he does not have the answers. Adding to his misery is the fact that he would be answering many people like me of what he is doing now and what his plans are. His situation can be really demoralising. And I realised this story would be repeated many times over, in the next many years, with more than a million engineering candidates, least likely to find employment each year, the way they have been promised.

My relative’s story is no different from million other students passing out each year. Here is a guy, who was sold a dream, promised a job after he passed out. The fees were 6 lacs over 4 years. Add the expenses during the 4 years, the cost of his education is 8 lacs. As he has taken a loan, the repayment would be about 10 lacs by the time he finished the education. The interest alone amounts to 12,500 per month. The EMI is close to 30,000 and he doesn’t have a job. The parents are currently paying the EMI with the hope that the son will find a job soon. We should all be worried, if a million such cases are being added each year!

Are we, as a country, failing the youth?
Are we, as a society, become immune to the problems posed by our current education system? Are we selling dreams to our youth, fully knowing that they are least likely to be fulfilled? Has education moved from an honourable mission to a greed driven motive -- profiteering and often cheating? Look at the claims on placements, and you will know the answers.

What should we, as a country, do?
When India attained independence in 1947, the total number of engineering colleges was just 24 with a cumulative intake of 2570 students. However, based on the Sarkar Commission recommendations, five IITs were established between1951 and 1961. Between 1961 and 1991, the growth was moderate.

Institutions of Repute
It was the IT revolution that began in early 90s that led to an explosive demand for engineers. Today, India has 15 IITs. When all these IITs grow to their full scale, they will admit 15000 UG, 10,000 masters and at least 8000 Ph.D. students. Besides the IITs, we would have about 30 NITs with close to 15000 UG and 6000 PG admissions. Add the IIITs and IISERs that help government departments like DRDO, CSIR to leverage their strengths and also train students at the post graduate level and award their own degrees. All these institutions have great autonomy, great reputation, credibility, and much sought after.

Half a million engineering seats added between 2006- 2011
While the governments have been working on expanding the capacity of engineering education, the private sector started galloping, seeing an opportunity to fill in the demand-supply gaps. The increase in such private institutions and its capacity has been very rapid and often ill planned, especially in the last 5 years. In fact, the country added almost half a million engineering seats just in the last five years between 2006- 2011.These private Institutions have planned expansion based on the demand from students often overlooking the basic requirements such as infrastructure and most importantly availability of qualified and trained faculty. This has resulted in a steep increase in the number of students enrolling in engineering education, aided by the supply side with little or negligible emphasis on creating employable workforce. Most of these institutions have no plans or a road map for the student after he passes out, four years hence.

India has about 4000+ engineering colleges and each year, from 2016 onwards, 1.7 million students would come out of these colleges. Each of them is being sold an empty promise and a dream – of a great job in an MNC or an Indian software major – HCL, HP, IBM, TCS, Infosys, Accenture, to name a few. These companies fan dreams and aspirations. It is a different matter that many of those joining these companies start looking out for a job within a couple of years.

Indian IT sector, the biggest employer of engineering graduates is under severe stress. The reasons are many, but I will give you just three of them:

1. Recruitment is directly related to growth in the economy. Our growth has fallen close to half, from about 9% to 4.5% in 5 years flat. This has a huge bearing on a developing economy like India.
2. Most software companies have over the years learnt to retain good talent. They are smarter and wiser and their HR policies are designed to retain talent. This has resulted in employee turnover coming down in such companies.
3. The job market is uncertain. This has resulted in employees becoming less adventuresome. They don’t experiment. They don’t leave jobs. Result – lower employee attrition.

1.2 million students without a job
All this means that the big boys of the IT Industry are likely to recruit lesser and lesser. A conservative estimate would peg the current recruitment to be no more than 300,000 students from engineering campuses this year, including all those by the big boys of IT, SMEs, MSMEs etc. Add to this about 200,000 students who may aspire to study further. That leaves about 1.2 million students without a job. Nothing to engage them! In seven years’ time, there would be 10 million engineering graduates, qualified but unemployed.

Add to this, the possibility of some of them having taken an education loan. If a student takes a 10 lac education loan, by the time he passes out after 4 years, the loan would have become about 16 lacs. At a 15% interest rate, the interest payment alone would be 2.40 lacs or 20,000 per month. Just the interest! This has a result of defaults to the banks and may be social unrest. Our banking system would be really tested with these defaults. Already, more than 50,000 crores of education loans are under stress.

Ending up with a coding job
The root cause of all these problems is the way we have sold engineering education. We have sold it as an employment guaranteed course. The selling points have always been big companies, salary packages, and excellent jobs! That selling point is bound to bite us, and it would soon, if it hasn’t already done. And we have wasted enormous national resources. What explains the fact that a student taking Civil Engineering or Biotechnology or Metallurgy joins Infosys, HCL or Wipro and ends up with a coding job? Isn’t engineering meant to be a professional qualification, leading to working in one’s chosen field or profession?

Challenges to make engineering profession as gainfully employed
What should the country do to ensure that each of these students, who is right now pursuing engineering as a profession is gainfully employed? There is no single solution. There are a few things that the institutes, the parents and students, regulators and the country should do, o respond to this challenge:

1. Some of us students must aspire to study further and not stop with engineering. There are greater and better opportunities if you study higher and not stop at being with your bachelor’s degree. There are multiple options for your masters. There are more than 200+ institutions offering specialized master’s degree from the central government funded institutions. While we all know a lot about CAT, MAT, XAT etc., keep your eyes open for specialisations in Statistics, Mathematics, actuarial sciences, energy, Infrastructure, data analysis etc. Work on upcoming professions and careers and pursue your masters in those subjects. You will be happy and will have achieved your objective in a better manner.
2. We have inculcated the culture of educational institutions being employment agencies than learning institutions. Most engineering colleges have taken a mandate of employment for their students. They train, teach and make the students aspire to be an employee. Very rarely are institutions instilling a sense of entrepreneurship amongst the students. In a nutshell, engineering colleges are workshops that manufacture employees. This has to change. Right from the first year, let us have entrepreneurship and self-employment as a part of the student curriculum and education. The way institutions have HR heads of different companies address the students, let them plan small and medium entrepreneurs address the students. They need not be loftily aspirational, but at least should inspire and motivate the students to start something of their own. I know of a single university in Bangalore that created an incubation cell, which mentored 50+ entrepreneurs who employ about 2000 people today. The country has to and needs to create employment generators than employees. It is essential and crucial for the future of India. The regulators must start a curriculum that encourages self-employment. They may consider giving incentives to institutions that invest in incubation centres. Over the next 5 years, even if persuade 10% of the students to start their own small enterprise, they will become employment generators and create employment opportunities to many others.
3. Work with small and medium enterprises in your local area. The dependence on big companies in unsustainable, even if growth were to kick start all over again. They will find ways to reduce the intake – greater efficiency, lesser employee turnover. Institutions must have collaborations with local enterprises, which will lead to a natural advantage in placement times. They will ultimately become the bread and butter for the institutions. Both can feed each other for mutual benefit and the growth of the country. Collaborations can include curriculum design, research, internships etc. And the regulators must be flexible to enable this to happen.
4. Project management is one of the biggest weaknesses in Indian economic scenario. Barring a few exceptions like the Delhi Metro, most of our projects experience delay and consequently cost and time over-runs. The need for good engineers well versed in this domain is evergreen. Sectors like infrastructure are in acute need of professionals. Every aspiring engineer must develop competency in this domain.
5. We all acknowledge the employability skill shortage facing the country. NASSCOM and many industry bodies have lamented many a time that most engineering students are not employable. India requires an immediate thrust on employability skills and finishing schools. This cannot be a 2-month exercise at the end of the 4-year term. It must start from the very first year. Teaching must move from one way delivery by the professor to a two-way interaction. Students must be forced to make presentations, engage in team research and project work.
6. Communications, teamwork, leadership and ability to work hard are skill sets most employers look for. Colleges must provide sufficient opportunities to students to develop these qualities. If your college had provided no opportunities, seek out opportunities yourself. Volunteer to work pro bono for small companies. Give your best, you might actually find employment.
7. The biggest problem facing our education system is the lack of good faculty. We have created institutions with cement and steel. For many, it has become a real estate venture. The soul, the faculty, is completely missing in the planning, and establishment of an educational institution. The regulators must play an active role in ensuring availability and recruitment of quality faculty. We must remember that our student output would be as good as the quality of the faculty input. We need immediate faculty training mechanism to ensure availability of quality faculty.
8. Persuade engineering institutions to pursue research. Academic institutions not investing in research are bound to create semi qualified employees with little or no knowledge. Each institution should be mandated to undertake research projects. There should be a carrot and stick approach to ensure incentives or penalties.
9. Lastly and most importantly, for the students and their parents. As an aspiring engineering student, you must be very careful in your selection. Look out for the college ratings in magazines and websites. If there is a counselling service that provides guidance, avail the same. Look for a college, which has good faculty and is not a teaching shop. If a college has multiple campuses, always seek out the older and established campuses. Colleges, which have transparently put out the list of students with their placement details, are any day a good bet. One last word of advice, do not go for a B.Tech degree just because you get admission. A bad college not only will cost you money, it might ruin your four years. It is better to do a normal graduation in a good college than a BE or BTech from a bad college.
   
   To the regulators, the institutions and industry -- We need to realize that we are failing the future of this country in pursuit of our selfish motives. We are failing the youth. We are selling dreams knowing fully well that they are unlikely to be fulfilled. Fake placements, wrong and exaggerated claims will come with repercussions. Obsolete curriculum, archaic rules and regulations, profiteering, greed would cost this nation.
   
   Now, is the time to respond, for tomorrow may be too late!