It is that time of the year when most aspirants to engineering are busy preparing their final list of choices from the variety of branches, degrees and institutions that are on offer. However, they are anxious because the Joint Seat Allocation process is a multi-party game and may limit their options. Most of them have put in a lot of hard work and went through the grind of coaching classes; they do not want to lose out.
The students’ anxiety reduces a bit once they make their final choice of the branch, degree and institution. Some step into their institution with the new-found confidence of having won a battle, while others sulk that they have missed their dream institution or branch because of one small mistake. The idea of living in a hostel in a new location is liberating for some, while it makes others homesick. For the next couple of years, the anxiety takes a different shape as questions about the future start appearing and they start realising that the disciplining process has possibly turned them into caged tigers that cannot hunt on their own. In response, they start putting faith in the next set of coaching schools that train people for competitive exams like GATE and CAT hoping that this will land them in better institutions and improve their employment prospects.
Based on my observations, less than 25% of students per batch develop the necessary competencies after the four-year journey. And very few (less than 2%) develop the competency and confidence to take risks and create new technology ventures and jobs. Most engineering aspirants and students are happy to join the list of job seekers rather than being job creators.
Entrepreneurship
One of the reasons for this reluctance is that many engineering students see themselves as raw material that will be moulded by the academic institutions into high-value finished products, who would command a premium in the job market. When this does not happen, they blame the system. It is high time students started seeing themselves as ‘live’ agents who need to take ownership for their learning and actively participate in the process. This will improve their competence and enhance their confidence to deal with uncertainties.
Academic institutions today offer several opportunities for the interested student. There is financial, infrastructure and mentoring support for product design and prototyping right from the second year onwards, and startup incubation in their final year. A good way to start the first year is to unlearn behaviours such as fear of failure instilled by coaching schools, and develop an appreciation and empathy for the everyday issues in their new context. This can help identify specific issues and product ideas. They can use government schemes such as NIDHI to develop such product concepts, or participate in hackathons and contests in the second and third years to test their concepts and explore their business potential.
At the end of third year, they can leverage pre-incubation and sandbox programmes offered by several incubators to sharpen their business ideas. A sequence of such activities can help translate empathy into ownership and risk-taking behaviours and encourage more students to take responsibility to address the national priority of job creation.
The author is Dean (Design, Innovation & Incubation), IIITDM Kancheepuram.
