Placement Ratio or Skill Development? What should Indian engineering focus on

Often referred to as the “Land of Engineers”, thousands of engineering colleges in India produce an average of six lakh engineering professionals per year. We are the largest provider of engineering labor in the world, especially in the United Arab Emirates, the US and the UK. Despite being the number one producer of engineering workforce worldwide, India has seriously failed in training the same workforce.

Focusing on the growing skills gap among the engineering workforce in the country, a recent study IET Feedback Survey highlighted the need for skills training in engineering faculties. According to the report, job placements have become more important to universities than skills enhancements to most of the country’s engineering institutions. Some 85% of industry and 55% of universities opined that “Universities focus more on student job placement rather than developing their research skills and capabilities.”

Engineering is among the few major job creators in the country and skills deprivation is a concern for both government and industry. About 50% of engineering graduates in the country are unemployed. The lack of training in the industry makes them unsuitable for the current needs of the industry and therefore does not help India to improve its employability rate in the industry.

The survey was a combined effort of “Engineering Admissions and Insights – India, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and Feedback Consulting” which surveyed around 187 engineering colleges in India, 200 parents of enrolled students and 100 industry leaders. industry.

Here are the highlights of the report:

• Basic engineering such as civil, electrical, mechanical, etc. and niche engineering such as biotechnology, textiles, leather, etc. have gained their popularity.

• The overall enrollment rate of girls has increased. It exceeded 31%, especially in computer-oriented streams.

• IT/ITES, Manufacturing and Electrical/Electronics continued to be the top three visitors to India’s engineering campuses. However, in 2015, about 20% of analytics, e-commerce, and high-tech companies were also involved in hiring.

• According to the report, most of the students chose engineering due to better career prospects rather than individual interest and around 40% ended up working in the sales/marketing/HR domain.

• Parental pressure is one of the major aspects of opting for engineering in India.

• 80% of academics, 74% of industry experts and 85% of parents believe that international accreditation of engineering schools and courses is necessary to attract the best faculty and quality education in this particular field.

The comparison in the report was made between fiscal year 2013 and 2014.

What should be done?

IET, the world’s largest engineering institution with around 1.6 Lakh members from 127 countries, works to improve and protect engineering standards in the world. Based on the survey results, the committee recommended the following to improve engineering quality in India:

• Emphasis should be placed on improving and developing students’ research skills.

• More attention should be paid to the accreditation process of engineering colleges.

• Colleges should focus on skills development rather than job placement.

• The participation of women should be encouraged.

• Emphasis should be placed on the industry (practical training) of the students by improving the collaboration between industry and academia.