Expressing concern over the falling quality of professional education in the State, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan has called for a total revamp of admission procedure in professional engineering colleges.
Inaugurating a round table on curriculum development for technical education organised by the upcoming Kerala Technological University (KTU) here on Friday, Mr. Sreedharan said that it was shocking that the government had not even set a minimum-mark requirement for mathematics as a yardstick for eligibility for an engineering programme.
Mr. Sreedharan hoped that the KTU would have a sterner and stricter procedure while conducting entrance examinations so that only the truly eligible students who had a flair and passion for engineering would get through. Students from Kerala fared poorly in national-level examinations owing to the automatic promotion and the liberal evaluation system, which had the blessings of the government. An institution would succeed only if it is ‘filled with the right kind of students.’
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The academic excellence and pre-eminence of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) had more to do with the high calibre of the students rather than the highly qualified teachers or state-of-the-art laboratories, he added.
Students should be competent in providing practical solutions to problems faced by industries. This would be possible only if there was mandatory practical training. There was also great need to instil moral and ethical values in students, Mr. Sreedharan said.
Welcoming the gathering, KTU Vice Chancellor Kuncheria P. Isaac said autonomy was a precondition for quality of professional education. It would provide a breathing space for the university to develop a curriculum and syllabus which were more apt for the present day. There should also be a keen effort to improve the manner of evaluation and methods of assessment.