Every discipline imbibes the changes of the times and evolves into better versions. However, the building blocks do not change. Engineering and Technical Education also is similar and need knowledge of fundamentals of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical branches of engineering. Metallurgy and chemical engineering were sourced out from Mechanical and many other branches like electronics, communications, computer Science and IT from the core electrical branch of engineering. They However, were bound by courses like Materials, Applied Physics, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics.
Mid-eighties saw private enterprise drive the expansion spree. This was a very welcome progression though they were set up by entrepreneurs who had no idea of what technical education was about. A fallout of this was that the faculty of these institutions drove the agenda of their managements and sometimes also their own. When they entered the academic bodies of various universities the first casualty was the curriculum. Important courses such as mentioned above were thought to be dispensable and jettisoned since they were both tough to teach and tough to pass. Several universities revised their curriculum at the expense of these courses.
Several acts of omission and commission in the subsequent years saw the engineering and technology fortunes deep dive. The AICTE-approved institutes almost had 35 lakh seats at its peak in 2014-15 partly due to increased employment opportunities and partly due to a complete e governance that was implemented in all its processes in 2010 which brought about transparency and accountability. The expansion saw that everyone who aspired for technical education could find a seat commensurate with his/her abilities.
Consolidation of processes calls for intelligent interventions to connect with the available employment opportunities. It is reported that at least 50 colleges have closed each year since 2015-16, this year accounting for 63. However, 54 new colleges were approved for the 2021-22 academic year in the backward districts. Did anyone also study the available employment opportunities in those districts before approving them? Why should political exigencies override the establishment of new entities? Then why discuss declining standards?
Several such decisions only contributed to the quality deterioration being seen today. Not a single industry body, be it CII, FICCI or ASSOCHAM has managed to effectively inform the education planners on the growth in different employment sectors. Hence where does one get the demand side numbers from? The primary employment sector depends on produce from earth like farming and mining which are not doing well. Hence secondary sector like manufacturing cannot create adequate jobs. Even tertiary sector or service sector has been suffering due to Covid for the past 2 years.
In the absence of such vital information, Institutions will only make investments on perception. Yesterday it was IT and its applications that propelled a growth in IT and Computer Science courses. Today it is automation. Be it RPA, AI, ML, Blockchain, Hard Robotics, IOT or whichever, the thrust is complete automation. What happens when these areas are saturated? In its wake, several jobs have disappeared with the base of the pyramid having considerably shrunk. Besides, these technologies are technology intensive, are experiential, and need investments to teach. Colleges are not willing or not in a position to make those investments resulting in a serious deficit in quality.
The entire system calls for cognitive flexibility and the ability to fit into different work environments. Who is equipped to provide these skills? Lack of adequate number of teachers, lack of quality in those available, inability of the managements to make adequate investments in a dynamic environment, lack of employment opportunities, shelf life of skills coming down with every technology intervention, a constant experimentation with curriculum, have all been the bane of quality. Institutions must revisit the practices that they are adopting currently. Rather than being reactive, they must proactively define the practicing elements of education. We seem to have conveniently forgotten that an engineer is a problem solver and in order that he does it, he needs strong fundamentals on basics and not just coding skills.
Still, these are exciting times even as the pandemic is wreaking havoc with our lives and all that we do. Synchronous learning that happens in our class rooms has virtually come to a standstill even as we explore ways of reaching out to everyone in a virtual mode. The pedagogies followed hitherto by us, some effective and many ineffective, all stand exposed. It will be worth imbibing Shankaracharya’s ten methods of pedagogies, for improving the depth of learning, debate and logical reasoning.
‘Shravan Vidhi’, ‘Manan Vidhi’, ‘Nididhyasa Vidhi’, ‘Prashnottar Vidhi’, ‘Tark Vidhi’ or the ‘Karya Karan Bhav’ or the cause-and-effect methodology, ‘Vyakhya Vidhi’, ‘Adhyaropa Apavad Vidhi’ must all be reinvented, ‘Drishtant Vidhi’ that helps students understand difficult subject matter through illustrations is rarely used. ‘Katha-Kathan Vidhi’, another beautiful teaching-learning pedagogy of storytelling was used in the Upanishads. Are we not aware of Vishnusharma’s Panchtantra? Some institutions do use ‘Case Studies’, but then good case studies are hard to come by. ‘Upadesh Vidhi’, is a lecture method used in helping students understand. However, of all the above, we seem to be stuck with only ‘Shravan Vidhi’ and ‘Upadesh Vidhi’.
Not all experiments are worth doing though. Constantly changing the curriculum, reducing total credits, giving multiple choices in the name of flexibility, dispensing with Mathematics and Physics at the qualification level, teaching in local languages may all be good arguments. However, one must assess their utility and their effect in the long run. Reducing total credits have not only reduced the rigour of engineering education but also meant several faculty job losses. National pride is non-negotiable. But then will teaching in Marathi or Tamil increase employment opportunities besides causing several pedagogy and copyright issues? Is there a national report available? Over a period of time, such experiments tend to reduce interest levels of even pursuing engineering education.
The ultimate measure of performance is embedded in Quality Assurance. Program outcomes and course outcomes are paramount for quality. The larger question However, is can these be measured in the spirit in which they are written and if the error in performance be used to improve the system akin to a closed loop control system? What if the guaranteed outcomes are not realised? Can the stakeholders sue the administrators on reneging on the promises?
NEP is an opportunity to improve the delivery of higher education. Let’s make a decent beginning.