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A SKYFALL in engineering education!- 6-Aug-2015
Indian engineering institutions have just witnessed a downturn in numbers. Good or bad?
According to the statistics provided by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the number of engineering colleges in the country which has been witnessing steady increase over the past few years has started to decline. It can be expected to come down in the next few years, thanks to the eight-lakh-odd vacancies recorded last academic year that have both hit the revenues of such institutions and the popularity of engineering education nationwide.
As per 2013-14 data, Tamil Nadu had the second-most number of engineering colleges in the country, 524, the first being Andhra Pradesh with 670 while the other states had below 400. While the number of undergraduate engineering colleges in the country was 3,370 in 2012, it became 3,384 in 2013 and 3,391 the next year. This year, however, the trend was negative as the number of engineering colleges has come down to 3,388. Is the number of engineering colleges feeling the pull of gravity after flying sky high?
Last year, while there were 16.99 lakh engineering seats available in the country, only 8.54 lakh students were enrolled. Thats about 50%. Such a trend seemed to have triggered the downturn in the number of colleges and seats. While the capacity of undergraduate engineering colleges in the country was 16.99 lakh last year, it has come down to 16.65 this year.
There has been an unchecked increase in the number of engineering colleges in the country over the past few years. While the newly-opened colleges would need years to gain grounds, the popularity of engineering education is already witnessing a decline.
Is this negative trend for the good? Shutting down colleges with poor infrastructure and revoking unpopular courses could also be seen as a good sign and measure to regain the lost glory that engineering education once had.
While the demand for engineers is steady, it is only the employability of graduates that needs to be propped up. Studies show that only about 30% of engineering graduates were deemed employable by recruiters.
With regard to the number of postgraduate engineering institutions, it was increasing over the past few years until this year. It was 1,920 in 2012, 2,165 in 2013, 2,333 in 2014 and 2,323 this year. The number of diploma colleges has also started to decrease this year.
In overpopulated India, the number of engineering institutions is almost double the demand. It is very true at least with regard to undergraduate institutions.
The fad for engineering admissions in the past decade and promise of revenues it provided to promoters has led to this exorbitant number of engineering colleges.
It may be noted that in the just-concluded TNEA counselling that is conducted to offer government quota seats available in engineering institutions in the state, over 90,000 seats remained untaken and were returned to the colleges. Only a little over one lakh seats were taken.
Apart from shutting down colleges and revoking courses, measures like improving infrastructure, hiring quality teachers and revamping the education and admission systems are necessary to re-popularise engineering education in the state as well the nation.
