CHENNAI: India is a country which has a staggering number of engineering institutions, churning out engineers by the dozen. So it is no surprise that we have a day specially dedicated to the 1.5 million engineering graduates graduating every year. On National Engineers Day, celebrated in memory of M Visvesvaraya, City Express explores the evolution of the discipline to find out not just the well-oiled nuances but also the chinks in its armour.
Though engineers were recruited from Britain during the colonial rule, the need to hone the skills of sub-engineers and technicians from India led to the establishment of technical institutes in the country. As advancements started creeping in over time, the country established its first engineering colleges — Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and the College of Engineering Guindy (CEG) (founded as a School of Survey in 1794 under University of Madras). Tamil Nadu has the highest number of institutes (over 1,000).
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When I was a student, 30% of the applicants took engineering because they were passionate about it. The other 70% took it up citing good career opportunities…this was the case even in premier institutions,” says T Jayaraman, founder, SECO Group. “Though, the tools we use have been upgraded, the number of people who apply their knowledge to attain the result has decreased.”
The 2016 National Employability Report by Aspiring Minds, an employability evaluation company, stated that only 20% of the engineering graduates in India were employable! With the IT sector employing engineers in large numbers, there is a mismatch in the aspirations and job readiness of these graduates.
“The Indian economy isn’t growing as fast as the number of engineers entering the field. Only 18.43% are employable in IT and 7.49% in core jobs. We have to set a path for independent work in the core field,” adds Jayaraman, who mentors ‘engineering graduates to be engineers’,
There is also the need to change the paradigm from rote learning to bringing ideas into practice. “We don’t have as many core-based jobs when it comes to engineering, prompting graduates to take to other professions. I have witnessed many engineering graduates switching to movie making, photography and MBA instead of doing something in engineering,” rues Jayaraman.
Though they rue a lack of opportunities and bleak employment prospects, most are proud to be called engineers. “We solve human problems and simplify day-to-day tasks!” claims Praveen Chander, a former student of KCG College of Engineering.
One important aspect most graduates agree on is that engineers need practical knowledge to succeed. “Both theory and practical exposure are important here. But practical training is the need of the hour. And institutions should stop spoonfeeding students and let them explore!” opines Hitesh, a mechanical engineer.
There has been a shift in the education sector, opine a few. Ritesh Singh, former employee at Bosch, Coimbatore and the founder of Eckovation.com, says that education and student activity has moved from being department-centric to institute centric; sometimes beyond that as well. “The use of technology has given us a platform where we can go beyond,” he says, pointing to incubation spaces that act as catalysts towards new avenues. “Not just materialistically, but subjectively too, being called an engineer is a boost. I would ask my fellow engineers to explore more and never stop!” he shares.
Both the old and new generation of engineers agree that employability can be maximized through ‘Make in India’. Most engineers share that they see it as a sustainable creator of jobs. “The programme has the potential to revive traditional engineering jobs. But, it’s not easy…there needs to be a broad transformation across education and training to buyers and sellers,” they point out.