A Finishing School for Product Development
COIMBATORE: PTC Global programme aims at creating engineers proficient in production design engineering who meet international standards. Edex in a chat with John Stuart, Global Education, Country Manager, PTC Eastern Europe and Subash Nambiar, Country Head, to dig more.
How and when was the idea of PTC conceived?
The PTC Engineer of the Future programme was launched in 1999 in partnership with the University of Warwick, UK. Prof Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, a native of India, was the Co-Founder with PTC. It began with Pro/Engineer and Pro/Desktop software and training along with curriculum in the Government schools under the K12 program. The success of the programme in UK made us extend the programme to China, India, France, Germany and North America from K12 to university level. We have reached over 45,000 secondary teachers in 30,000 schools as well as over 2,500 colleges and universities.
When was the programme implemented in India?
Though introduced as a pilot programme in 2003, the programme began in 2005. India produces more than 2.5 lakh engineering graduates and diploma holders related to discrete manufacturing. As per studies by independent agencies, around 85 percent of fresh graduates don’t possess the necessary skills to be readily employable. In India, most engineering colleges lack basic infrastructure. The curricula are theory-based and there is a distinct disconnect between the industry and academia. Quality technical education is challenging owing to non-availability of highly skilled teachers and the lack of infrastructure in colleges and at higher secondary school level.
How does PTC work in India? What’s the response?
It works on three tenets: Industry, Education and Government. We have a dedicated team of six people reaching out to universities and colleges and align with their skill development curriculum. We also offer licenses to the schools and free training to teachers on a scaled down curriculum that students can relate to. We initiated the K12 programme in India to excite the students to become engineers from a young age. Today, PTC is the most popular 3D design tool among student communities. We have over 900 colleges that use the ProE/Creo software.
What is product designing engineering?
Developing smart, connected, products. These are products that are physical in nature, connected to the Cloud via sensors and programmed with software to inform the product how to perform.
How pertinent is product development engineering?
Product Design Engineering strengthens a student’s background in engineering whilst nurturing his/her creative and innovative ideas. Today, we are at the zenith of technology but still face a multitude of problems. Innovative technology and products are one stop solution to these problems. Product development education is a ‘finishing school’ to complete the education to compete for a job at a company that has smart, connected products.
— janu1986@gmail.com