Despite being a premier higher education institution in the country, the Government Model Engineering College (MEC) at Thrikkakara finds its hands tied in its pursuit of greater goals by a lack of adequate built-up space on the campus.
Such is the demand for undergraduate programme in mechanical engineering that MEC, which now offers only post-graduation in that stream, would have launched it long back but for the shortage of space. The institution functions under the Institute of Human Resource Development for Electronics.
The college, which has produced several successful entrepreneurs over the years, does not have a proper incubating space to leverage the support of its alumni. A classroom doubles up as an incubator, leaving many enterprising students to shuttle between the college and Startup Village at Kalamassery at the cost of precious time and often valuable academic sessions.
MEC Principal V.P. Devassia had brought the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister during the State-level launch of start-up boot camp in the campus recently. The college has also submitted a proposal to the government to launch a big data analysis and cloud computing facility to meet the research and academic requirements of educational institutions. “It’s an ambitious proposal and will need an investment of about Rs. 2 crore even without providing for space,” Mr. Devassia told The Hindu . Though it can initially be run out of Model Finishing School at Kaloor, of which Mr. Devassia is the director, eventually it will have to be shifted out.
For an institution that offers four streams in B.Tech and five in M.Tech, it has only one main block and two smaller annex blocks to accommodate over 1,800 students. Though the college had submitted a proposal for a new three-storied post-graduation block of 3,000 sq.m, the government citing financial crisis sanctioned funds just enough for 600 sq.m, which makes up just half of the ground floor.
When it comes to academic projects, there has been no dearth of funds. For instance, the college has utilised almost 80 per cent of the funding under the Central government’s Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure in Universities and Higher Educational Institutions while it had also received Rs.6 crore under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme. “The problem is that funds under these schemes cannot be diverted for civil structures, which is what ails us the most,” Mr. Devassia said.
