A.D. Sahasrabudhu, director of the College of Engineering, Pune said that one of the major reasons why engineers, even from reputed institutes, are not easily employed because they lack hands-on skill.
"The focus in most institutes here is always on academics and theory. Thus a mechanical engineer may actually not know how to change a part of a machine. Therefore even if a high scoring student gets placed in a good company, eventually that lack of practical knowledge catches up," Sahasrabudhu said during a panel discussion at the sixth Higher Education Summit organised by Federation of of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
"From our experience we now know that practical, hands-on training is very crucial in the education system," he added.
In their latest report released in the last week of October, National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said that Indian IT firms reject 90 percent of college graduates and 75 percent of engineers who apply for jobs because they are not good enough to be trained.
And because there is such a dearth of competent people, companies like Infosys increased its training of employees to 29 weeks from this year. That's seven months of training, the report added.
Richard Kerly, a Scottish university professor, who had participated in the discussion said: "Just recently I came to know that Citi Bank had started its recruiting process here, but was not going to campuses placement cells.
"The possible reason is that students here, although brilliant, don't have an edge when it comes to putting theories to practice."
Sudhir Matthew, Dean, Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa, Lavasa Corporation Limited, Pune said: "The scene is very similar in the hospitality industry. Lack of hands-on trained students have forced hotel chains like the Oberoi, Taj and ITC to open their own hotel schools where the students are trained as per their needs.
"Tourism will grow at a rate of 8.8 percent till 2015 in India, making it one of the fastest growing markets but there is a serious lack of skilled hands. Academics combined with practical training is therefore very important to meet this shortage which is estimated at 3.2 million."
Source: IANS
I support what is said by dilippatel, its is a fact and the NASSCOM is only stating what is reality. In my experience any engineering students passing out of most of the colleges in India need at least 2 years training to be made employable. The cost of the training is huge for employers and it negates the very basis of engineering education.
One basic problem is language as most of the text is written in english, those who are studying in regional languages need extra training in english. Second problem is that most of them are not updating curriculum on a regular basis as technology, standards and practices are changing every day and new technology is introduced. So most of the students will end up learning outdated technology and theories by the time they come out unless they are in an institution where faculty, curriculum and practical's are updated every semester. Third is lack of industry interface, today engineering industry is looking for specialist, the time of studying general engineering like civil, electrical & electronics, mechanical, IT etc. has gone, we need more specialized subject focusing on industry needs and the students should be deputed to perform engineering jobs to gain hands on experience in the final year. Such hands on experience should include design, execution, monitoring, controlling, audit, testing, commissioning, operation, maintenance, project management, estimating, costing, business development, bidding etc. according to their area of specialization. So that the student when he/she graduate and come out shall get employed in the field of his/her specialization.
There is no point in blaming the NASSCOM. Look at our weakness and try to rectify the same. The AITCE and the HR ministry are incapable of doing that. We need more autonomy for universities and colleges to implement and catch up with changes.
Who is this Nasscom ? It is showing the organisation is full of some idiots.How they derived the conclution of number ? It is a stupid reflection of idiotic research data,any sensable person can look at it and needless to explain.
AFTER RETIREMENT FROM IAF, I WAS EMPLOYED AS A PROFESSOR IN A SELF FINANCED COLLEGE IN GUJARAT - DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING - THE ONLY COLLEGE IN GUJARAT HAVING AERONAUTICAL ENGG. 4 YEAR DEGREE COURSE. I AM BASICALLY A FIGHTER AIRCRAFT PILOT AND ALSO M. TECH. FROM PUNE. THE FOLLOWING ARE MY OBSERVATIONS:
1. INDIAN STUDENTS EXCEL IN FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES VIZ. THE USA, UK, AUSTRALIA ETC.
2. BUT HERE IN INDIA, IT IS EVIDENT THAT IN VARIOUS STATES, PARTICULARLY IN GUJARAT, THE STUDENTS ADMITTED TO ENGG. COURSES HAVE VERY POOR KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH - AND THUS IT TAKES THEM NEARLY A YEAR TO BRUSH UP THEIR ENGLISH SO AS TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THE TECH. BOOKS WHICH ARE IN ENGLISH. UPTO 12TH. STD. THE EDUCATION IS IN LOCAL LANGUAGES AND NOT IN ENGLISH.
3. THE AICTE IS USELESS AND CORRUPT AND THEIR ACCREDITATION TEAMS ARE ALSO CORRUPT - THESE SHOULD BE SCRUBBED AND NEW SYSTEM INTRODUCED. SOMETIME BACK, IT WAS IN PAPERS THAT THE CHAIRMAN OF AICTE WAS NABBED ACCEPTING A HEFTY SUM AS BRIBE. IT IS A COMMON PRACTICE TO BRIBE THE VISITING INSPECTING TEAMS SO AS TO GET THE WORK DONE. SO IS THE CASE OF LOCAL LIC TEAMS OF THE UNIVERSITIES.
4. THE TRUSTEES AND MANAGEMENT TEAMS OF SELF FINANCED COLLEGES ARE ONLY INTERESTED IN MAKING MONEY BY WAY OF FEES. THEY PAY MEAGRE WAGES THUS GET MEDIOCRE TEACHING STAFF. MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION BACKGROUND.
5. ONCE THE LABS ARE SET UP, NEW EQUIPMENT IS HARDLY PURCHASED OR UPDATED.
6. CORRUPTION HAS CREEPED IN OUR SYSTEM HENCE WE HAVE TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT.
MERA BAHARAT MAHAN.
Our engineering education system needs to be revamped. Here are some steps that Govt of India should take to
1. Disband current AICTE panel (or a bunch of unscrupulous academicians[?] whose sole objectives are to increase their bank balance and properties) and create a committee which won't hesitate taking stern actions against the technical institutions which aren't following Govt rules.
2. Make AIEEE the sole entrance exam (apart from IIT JEE) for the admission to engineering colleges across the country. The State Govt. education panels will act as franchisees who'll monitor the examination process in each state. That'll probably give the Govt. more control over the whole admission procedures. Having said that, the prerequisite of it is to setup a uniform educational system plan which the current HRD ministry is working on.
3. Put a Check on the Student / Teacher ratio.
When these top MNCs say that Indian technical education system isn't as good as the that of the West, they probably forget the numbers of engineers passing out each year to be exploited by these MNCs. And why don't they mind recruiting the westerners instead as in that case they'd get resources better than us.
Dear Vridhan
Does India knows; the house wife is considered as employed in western world. that's why their unemployment percentage looks low. the engineers, doctors, chartered accountants, and pilots drive taxies or work in restaurants as waiter/waitress in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, because there is no jobs there. That's why these rascals now looking for jobs in india and china. They cannot compete with us, so they are playing tactics to undermine our education system; so that they can jobs in india and china. India, and china; please understand this game.
I do agree with you 100%. The western world is basically selling degrees to ignorant asians. The knowledge bank of western world is empty. that's why they want to sabotage the the indian and chinese education systems, because these westerners cannot compete with us. India must understand that the Indian standard of education is very high as compared to western world. Therefore, India must be proud of it. Do not allow these incompetent westerners to destroys our system. We have reached to this knowledge based education system from our 5000 years old civilization. these westerners are far behind us.
Therefore put them at their place.
THIS SURVEY IS **** **** BY SOME IDIOTS. FIRST OF ALL THESE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER, ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIST, TECHNICIAN AND THAT OF A TRADE CERTIFICATE HOLDER. SECONDLY WHY THEY BROUGHT A **** ANGLOSAXAN IDIOT FROM UK WHAT IS THE **** CUTTING EDGE WE LACK IN INDIA OVER THESES WHITE **** IDIOTS. WHAT I LEARNED IS THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A PROFESSIONAL MECHANICAL ENGINEER TO STUDY ALL THE KINDS OF ROTATING AND STATIC EQUIPMENTS IN 4 YERAS A PROFESSIONAL MECHANICAL ENGINEER IS MORE INTERESTED IN LOGICAL PROBLEM SOLVING BASED ON DESIGN CONCEPTS AND MATHEMATICAL ABILITY TO INTERPRET AND TO REACH AN ENGINEERING JUDGEMENT RATHER THAN GOING FOR LEARNING DIESEL ENGINE ASSEMBLY. THERE ARE HUNDREADS OF TYPES OF DIESEL ENGINES WHICH TYPE YOU WANT AN ENGINEERING STUDENT TO BE FAMILIARISED. THEY SHOULD KNOW HEAT ENGINE PRINCIPLES TESTING TORQUE BALANCING NUT AND BOLT DESIGN ETC. WHAT I LEARNED IS THAT INDIAN SOFTWEAR INDUSTRY IS RECRUITING SOFTWEAR CLERCKS NOTHING MORETHAN THAT. IT IS TIME TO DISMANTEL AICTE AND PUT A STRONG TECHNICAL BODY INSTEAD OF THESE CORRUPT **** BODY WHICH PRODUCED THOUSANDS OF WASTE ENGINEERS. WE NEED MORE TECHNICIANS AND CERTIFICATE HOLDERS RATHER THAN PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS. THESES SOCALLED IT COMPANIES DON'T NEED ANY SOFT WEAR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS ONLY THEY NEED SOFTWEAR CERTIFICATE HOLDERS. SO CHANGE THE CURRICULUM ACCORDING TO THEM AND KEEP GOOD STATE GOVERNMENT AND CENTRAL ENGINEERING COLLEGES ALONE FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING. DON'T ALLOW UNSCRUPLESS AICTE TO LEAD ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN INDIA. FINALLY STOP LOOKING WEST UK IS WORST IN UNEMPLOYMENT THESE WHITE WULTURES ARE LOOKING EAST TO EAT.
We should not not fool ourselves that the reason for this sorry state of our engineering students is because they lack hands-on skill. In my views, the reasons are
a) Entrance criterion for the engineering colleges is either non-existing or lack quality
b) Engineering courses do not represent market requirement and we often see electrical engineers writing software codes or civil engineers testing IT hardware.
c) Building unrealistic expectation on our kids that if they are not engineers, they are not worth anything
I am sure, these are not all-inclusive points and my fellow readers would have more valid points but let's not disagree that our engineering colleges are churning out engineering clerks and not engineers.