As per reports, there are close to 6,214 engineering and technology institutions in India. These institutions are enrolling close to 2.9 million students. Even though 1.5 million engineers graduate every year, a majority of them are not employable. According to aspiring minds, only 18.43 percent of the engineers graduating every year are employable in the IT services industry. One of the primary reasons for this condition is the outdated engineering syllabus. The industry evolves every year but, the concepts taught in engineering are no longer used in the industry. This creates a gap wherein students are unable to cope up with the industry standards and realize that their skills are lacking. Most students realize this only in their final year when they start applying for jobs. By the time they develop their skills, unemployment sets in the system.
What and How
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will set up a committee which will consist of technical experts who will review the current syllabus and decide on the required changes to be made in order to meet the industry standards. They will suggest the changes to be made in all technical and engineering institutions.
Prakash Javadekar, HRD minister had ordered engineering institutes to update their curriculum with respect to the industry requirements. The regulatory body had recently approved a single entrance exam for all engineering colleges. This exam is known as NEEM (National Entrance Exam). Due to the common examination, all the affiliated technical universities have to compulsorily update their syllabus every year after consulting the players in the industry.
All the affiliated universities prepare their syllabus based on the model curriculum prescribed by AICTE. They consider this model curriculum as the base and prepare their syllabus based on it. This will be the first time in nine years where a separate committee has been formed to suggest changes to the curriculum. The committee will thoroughly review the syllabus and submit the required changes immediately after the summer vacation. This will be just in time for the next academic session.
The committee has various subgroups of different subject experts. An IIT professor will head each of these subgroups.
Expert Opinion
Pradipta Banerji, a former IIT-Roorkee director said that the crucial part of this decision was that industries would be consulted about the concepts in the syllabus. He also said that most of the engineers stay unemployed because their skill set is not in sync with the requirements of the industry.
A senior official in Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry said that the engineering and technology fields undergo changes every day and we need to keep up with the industry requirements. He said that students need to have the skill set required by the industry. Some of the institutes are still using obsolete teaching tools and syllabus that was introduced decades ago.
He also added that every institution will have to mandatorily consult the industry and if they fail to do so, action will be taken against them when they apply for approval.