Engineering education: Farce of plenty

Around 17,333 seats in engineering colleges were unfilled in 2016, indicating excess capacity that is affecting the quality of technical education in the State.

July 08, 2017 07:18 pm | Updated 07:18 pm IST

It was meant to be an embarrassment of riches, a master stroke that would revolutionise the engineering education sector in the State. A decade or so on, self-financing engineering colleges — conspicuous by their presence across the State — have created a farce of plenty. What was being talked about by the lonely educationist has now become the elephant in the room, Kerala has engineering colleges one too many.

So much so that the conduct of the engineering entrance examination has become more or less a ritual what with the number of students in the rank list matching the number of seats up for grabs.

The embarrassing reality is that thousands of engineering seats in dozens of self-financing colleges have remained vacant over the years. If in 2012 there were 7,686 vacant engineering seats, the figure rose to 8,481 in 2013 and to 12,181 in 2014. By 2015, the vacant seats rose to 16,528 and finally in 2016 the figure touched an all-time high of 17,333.

In fact, many colleges, or at least the ones founded on the expectation of making a fast buck, themselves are reportedly up for grabs with the owners realising that an investment in the education sector does not lend itself to instant profits.

So, where does one begin? There are many who are clear that the self-financing engineering imbroglio can only be tackled if there are fewer self-financing colleges in the State. Though there is no unanimity among educationists about how many colleges must close, educationists such as R.V.G. Menon have long maintained that the number of engineering seats in Kerala need not exceed 25,000 to 30,000. According to Prof. Menon, such a drastic reduction is inevitable if Kerala is to secure for itself a credible engineering education sector.

Faculty members

The burgeoning number of seats has also meant that in many colleges there are not enough faculty members to go around.

“There would be a head of the department who probably is a retired hand from a government engineering college. The rest of the faculty are most likely freshers, just off college. There is no intermediary presence; teachers who have 10 to 20 years under their belt. In many colleges there is a high turnover of teachers. Not being able to generate enough money through admissions, there are colleges that would prefer to take in four teachers paying them ₹40,000 than have one teacher with a salary of ₹50,000. This does not augur well for a healthy teacher-student relationship which is vital in an engineering college as with any other institution of learning,” Prof. Menon explains.

The evidence that all is not right with the faculty members of many self-financing colleges is not merely anecdotal. According to data captured by Kerala Technological University (KTU) during its regular academic audit programme and according to feedback received from students, the absence of competent, regular faculty members in many colleges is the most pressing problem in many institutions.

For starters, the KTU at present has no mechanism of verifying the academic credentials of persons appointed as teachers in self-financing engineering colleges.

“At present we know nothing about who is getting appointed as a teacher in a self-financing college. The staff-student ratio according to AICTE norms is 1:20. Many colleges are not able to maintain that. What happens is that during an inspection or an affiliation team’s visit, the colleges scramble to get persons from different places to be faculty members and show that everything is alright. This is only on paper. Even in the college library, this deceit goes on; the librarian would dutifully enter the ‘issued-returned’ columns in books. In reality, nobody is taking that book. It is only for records’ sake,” explains J. Sreekumar, the Dean (Academics) of the KTU.

According to Dr. Sreekumar even the post of the Principal in many institutions is a stand-in affair. “When I call some colleges, the Principal is comfortable to speak only in Tamil. I make it a point not to call them on their mobile phones. I have to assume that these colleges have hired someone from Tamil Nadu to be their Principals, maybe, on a temporary basis,” he says.

Currently the laboratory examinations in engineering colleges under the KTU are internal examinations. Here too many manipulations take place, including in the laboratory log that the college is expected to maintain. This too is an issue that has not received the attention that it deserves.

One way of tackling the situation is for the AICTE and the KTU to insist that colleges where the pass percentage is less than 50 cannot admit students anymore. If a branch shows poor results over three years, that branch should be shut down. Now the situation is such that even in reasonably well-off engineering colleges, academics is not all that great because the best brains still prefer to go to government or aided colleges (See list of the top 20 colleges — in alphabetical order-- preferred by students. Source: the office of the CEE.)

Another problem with engineering admissions is the ridiculously low pass percentage the entrance examination has.

Says M.T. Reju, Commissioner of Entrance Examinations (CEE), “Out of a total of 960 marks, a student needs to score just 20 to make it to the rank list, which means that anyone who scores 2% marks qualifies. This is ridiculously low. Let us have at least 5% to 10% or even 20% as the cut-off. This single step would ensure better quality of students who make it to the rank list.”

Dr. Reju also agrees that above all, there should be a reduction in the number of engineering colleges. “About 20% of the present colleges need to close down,” he says.

This year, after the first allotment is done, the office of the CEE plans to provide the details regarding the number of seats vacant for each branch in each college. “If in a college, say only three candidates have opted for a particular branch in the first round, it is a warning to others; there is something wrong with the course and the college. I plan to give the vacant seat details so that parents and students are more aware when they key in their course-college preferences,” he says.

However, according to Prof. Menon, the AICTE itself does not seem to bother about quality. “Had the AICTE been serious about quality, so many engineering colleges would not have received its approval,” he points out.

The other view

The view from the other side of the fence is very different. Many of those who run engineering colleges see themselves as victims of circumstance. They had taken huge bank loans and set up institutions. However, over the years, they have been watching in dismay as governments continued to sanction colleges to whoever submitted an application.

“Over the years, with an explosion in the number of colleges, many institutions have found that they are not getting sufficient number of students. And the students whom they get are second or third tier students, unable often to cope with the rigours of engineering courses,” says K. Sashikumar former president of the Private Engineering Colleges Management Association.

He argues that it is all very well for people to demand that a college be closed down. What about the social pain that comes with such an action? Given Kerala’s situation, an engineering college cannot be put to a different use.

“Some colleges can become skill development centres where a large number of students outside the pale of engineering courses can be trained to become employable. Whatever the eventual situation, closing down colleges all of a sudden is not a viable option,” he adds.

The State government has appointed a commission—in which Prof. Menon is a member—to study the problems in Kerala’s self-financing education sector. The committee has held extensive hearings across the State and the preparation of its report is due to begin shortly. What this committee says about the self-financing engineering colleges would be eagerly scrutinised by all stakeholders. Clearly, the committee has its task cut out.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.