If you thought the Internet was a place to only buy clothes, books and household stuff, think again. Engineering students are increasingly using the Net to pick up academic projects, all done and dusted. All they need to do is look for the assigned subject, view photos and then go physically to the seller’s office and finalise the deal.
One of the websites selling its services states “Over 2014 VTU projects completed.” Another claims “Satisfaction 100 per cent guaranteed.” And, engineering students in their final year, who are expected to mandatorily work on their projects for a total of 100 marks, mostly concur.
Posing as an engineering student, this reporter visited one of the websites online and made a call. The person on the other end said: “All you have to do is choose the project and negotiate a price. We will give it to you in a short time.”
When this reporter said she was scared of being found out by the teacher, the person replied: “Do not worry. We will also coach you on the project so that it would seem like you have done it.”
Another project provider said he had sold at least 300 projects to engineering students over the last two years. He manufactures projects ranging from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 20,000. “The cheapest are infrared sensor projects that cost Rs. 2,000. Embedded systems projects are expensive and cost around Rs. 20,000. You will get better grades with these. We have 70 embedded system projects that you can chose from,” he said.
“Isn’t your business illegal?” asked this reporter. He retorted saying, “I am an aeronautical engineer. I have developed projects for various companies over the last 20 years. I do this just to make extra money. We help engineering students as most have only basic knowledge and do not know anything in depth.”
Students told The Hindu that these project providers were a boon. One student said in her class of 65, only 25 did their projects on their own. Among the remaining, some bought projects wholesale while others bought projects in bits and pieces. “Our professors are aware of this practice. So, they review our projects every month. To prevent us from getting caught, these companies make our project according to our needs.”
Anand M.S., a graduate of PES Institute of Technology said lack of knowledge and a support structure in the institutions led students to buy projects. No wonder the National Employability Report Engineering Graduates Annual Report 2011 states that only 17.45 per cent of the engineers surveyed in India are employable in the IT sector. Even the NASSCOM-McKinsey report 2005 did not rate engineering graduates highly.
Academicians say this is a “systemic problem” and add that students are not the only ones to be blamed.
K. Rajnikanth, former principal of the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology said that dubious practices like these reflect the inadequacy of the faculty in colleges. “Teachers contribute to the perception that it is meaningless for students to undertake the projects within the campus,” he said.
He said there was a need for the faculty to take a proactive stand, undertake periodic reviews and ask for presentations. This would help reduce this trend to “outsource” the projects, he added.
Krishna Venkatesh of Jain University said: “The onus of tackling this issue lies with the college”
Vice-Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University H. Maheshappa said the university had issued strict instructions to colleges that the guides should monitor the process. He said that even if a teacher doubted the credibility of a project, the university could not take action as there was no “concrete evidence” that it was done illegally.
“All we can do is reduce the marks,” he added.
The truth is after 4 years of engineering studies, I am not equipped enough (reasons are many) to do a project on my own.... All I knew is to by-heart portions and reproduce them in the examination hall.... I am afraid to do things practically... yup the root cause is my school days where I did the same thing for 12+2 years....how can I all of a sudden do a project of my own...are you kidding???
It is extremely easy to get an engineering degree. There is hardly any pressure on students to perform as they most probably have an IT job waiting at the end of their study. So why is it that they resort to buying their projects?
The answer is simple: our schools, colleges and society in general has decided that it is okay to lie and cheat our way through any situation that would otherwise require even a small amount of work. Why are we fretting about engineering colleges. This starts in primary school! We think it is okay to learn by rote and reproduce with little or no learning or thought! How do we expect students to acquire originality and independence all of a sudden?
If we were to instill a sense of right and wrong and a sense of earning rewards for honest work right from the start, we probably stand a chance to solve this problem.
Well.! Don't we also know that in our state universities a considerable number of PhD theses are bought? And those so called PhDs come and teach this kids in colleges and situations like these are not surprising at all. As someone said earlier, the problem is big and this is just 'a' tip of the deep rooted problem in our country, that is corruption.
Engineering and Medicine has become prominent and widespread since the inception of this 21st century. Students are forced to adopt these streams without concern to his or her interests in a subject they wish to have. At the same time, students are unaware of the subjects they are going to pursue.Also, many jobs for example, bank, police etc.. consider degree as an entrance ticket or eligibility criteria for applying a job. This kind of treatment towards their degrees made students stay passive about their studies especially during their graduation. Only a mere percentage of students are likely to pursue their degree with great care as they want to make it as their career.Unless and until their degrees play an important role in future these malpractices are endless and inevitable.
I am sure this is not the case with just colleges in Bangalore but prevalent across the country.. College infrastructure and faculty contribute to this issue significantly.. How many colleges expose the students and encourage them and equip them to be able to design/implement a project in final year.. Many private colleges would not even have basic infrastructure..
So much is said by govt and private institutions about infrastructure and raising college fees.. But real ground situation would be different..
Unfortunately Education minister Kapil Sibal instead of rectifying issues showed indifference to these problems and infact promoted privatization of education..
Go to America, kids. The future of the Indian race rests with the diaspora.
Management quota system in colleges help rich spoiled boys/girls to join
the private money mongrel engineering colleges where these rich men's
sons do everything except studies... this kind of project selling guys
exploit the scenario to make money. This kind of activities never happen
outside India.. Slowly our country becoming ultra corrupted and loosing
standard of education.. when there is no caste system or quota system,
this will tend to improve. otherwise, no chance...
And with this kind of Engineering students mass produced in every state,
we think we are a super power.
rotting education system! Loss of original thinking! good article though!
Well Done! Now you want to make the students look like thieves. What
about all the other factors that leads to this situation? How about
the education system in India which mostly facilitates spoon-feeding
from school level itself? A student who was educated to mug up
concepts and just study to score marks will never have the thoughts
enough to be a self-sustained engineer. Not to mention the academics
of most of the technical universities except the top tier, which only
focuses on how good a result can they provide and hence the curriculum
don't provide enough stress to the students to make him study in a
scholarly approach. I can assure that a huge percent of Engineering
students have literally no conceptual ideas or practical knowledge.
Which in-fact also necessitates the student to do more area-oriented
short courses to find a job. So, the student trying to buy a project
for his academics should be the last of concerns since there are more
serious flaws to be attended first.
This is a time tested Indian ingenuity. you can see this practice almost
every where across Indian cities. Unless there is an urge on other part
of the students to learn and have quest for knowledge nothing can
change. Our system and students are looking at education in terms of ROI
and hence these aberrations.
All parties are equally to blame, but the student, if anyone, deserves
to bear the brunt of the blame. I am an engineering graduate with
average marks and pride myself in the final year project that I
designed with my classmates. We weren't particularly bright or
outstanding in any manner, but we set out with an idea and saw it
through (though in the true fashion of an engineering student,
everything was haphazard and pulled through in a fortuitous fashion at
the last moment). Our project (sort of) broke, we didn't get the best
scores, yet we cherished the knowledge gained from designing the
project and wouldn't have traded it for all the marks that the
invigilator would have awarded.
Students set out with ideas that are often too fantastic to be
accomplished and are often lost as to how to pursue those ideas.
Teachers should fill in the role of a guiding hand - but much too
often the student simply gives up. And vultures hovering ever above
their heads simply do what they know to do.
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