Engineering education in India

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India has the largest numbers of engineers as well as the largest number of engineering education institutes and infrastructure in the world.[ citation needed ]As of 2021, India annually produces one million engineering graduates. [1] India's technical education infrastructure includes 3500 engineering colleges, 3400 polytechnics and 200 schools of planning and architecture. [1]

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IIT Delhi - A prominent engineering institute in India IIT Delhi Entrance.jpg
IIT Delhi - A prominent engineering institute in India

Of the hundreds of thousands of engineering graduates produced every year, less than 5% of the engineers are produced by the pan-India national level autonomous institutes created by the acts of parliament, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) [ citation needed ],a little over 5% are produced by state level autonomous institutes and unitary universities approved by UGC. The remaining over 90% of the engineering graduates are produced by the private and non-autonomous state level engineering education institutes which must obtain the approval from the regulatory authority All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to run such courses before they start admitting students. [1]

Most common engineering branches in Undergraduate are Computer science and engineering, Electronics and Communication engineering, Electrical and electronic engineering, Mechanical engineering, Civil engineering and Chemical engineering. [2] [3]

History

There is long history of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent. The western style engineering education commenced during the British raj as a necessity for the training of overseers for construction and maintenance of public buildings, roads, canals, and ports, and for the training of artisans and craftsmen for the use of instruments, and apparatus needed for the army, the navy, and the survey department. While superintending engineers were mostly recruited from Britain, lower grade craftsmen, artisans and sub-overseers were recruited locally. The necessity to make them more efficient, led to the establishment of industrial schools attached to the Ordnance Factories Board and other engineering establishments. [4]

In 1847, India's the first engineering college Thomason College of Civil Engineering (now called IIT Roorkee) was established at Roorkee in present-day Uttarakhand state for the training of Civil Engineers. It was followed by College of Engineering, Pune's precursor, The Poona Engineering Class and Mechanical School in July 1854. [5]

Universities and institutes deemed to be universities are approved by the University Grants Commission. In 2021, there are nearly 900 government and private universities and 45,000 colleges affiliated to these universities. [1]

All institutes, universities engineering colleges as well as government or privately funded engineering colleges affiliated to the universities, must obtain an approval from the AICTE which licenses and regulates the institutes, not the individuals or practitioners, which offer the engineering and/or technical education. IITs, IIITs and NITs, etc. do not require approval from UGC or AICTE as these are created as the autonomous organisations through the act of parliament, hence they have full autonomy to decide their teaching standards, course design, curriculum, fee, etc. [1] Engineering colleges run by the Central Universities, which were not created as the autonomous institutes along the lines of IITs, IIITs or NITs, must also seek AICTE approval.

Pan-India or national level institutes

These are either founded and funded or approved by the union Government of India such as the IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. Admission to those are done by Joint Entrance Examination for Undergraduate and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering for Post graduate. [6]

Indian Institutes of Technology

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has 23 centers located in Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai, Mandi, Patna, Roorkee, Ropar, Dhanbad, Palakkad, Tirupati, Bhilai, Goa, Jammu, Dharwad and Varanasi. All IITs enjoy the status of the Institutes of National Importance and are autonomous universities that draft their own curricula. Admission to undergraduate B.Tech and integrated M.Tech. programs are through the Joint Entrance Examination - Advanced (JEE Advanced) in which around 180,000 students appear annually out of which only around 48,000 students qualify. [7] These 180,000 students are initially sorted out by the Joint Entrance Examination - Main (JEE Main) which is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Around 1.2 million students appear for this exam. Admission to most postgraduate courses in IITs is granted through various written entrance examinations: Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Joint Admission Test (JAM) and Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED) for M.Tech., M.Sc. and M.Des. courses. The admission for Ph.D. program is based primarily on a personal interview, though candidates may also have to appear for written tests. The IITs are also well known for their special reservation policy, which is significantly different from the one applied in other educational institutions of India. [8]

National Institutes of Technology

The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are colleges of engineering and technology education in India. All NITs enjoy the status of the Institutes of National Importance and are autonomous universities that draft their own curricula. They were originally called Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs). In 2002, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, decided to upgrade, in phases, all the original 17 RECs as NITs. There are currently 31 NITs, with the inception of 10 new NITs in the year 2010 and another in 2015. The 31 NITs are located in Allahabad, Agartala, Bhopal, Durgapur, Hamirpur, Kozhikode, Kurukshetra, Jalandhar, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Rourkela, Silchar, Srinagar, Surathkal, Surat, Tiruchirappalli, Warangal, Yupia, New Delhi, Farmagudi, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawl, Chümoukedima, Karaikal, Ravangla, Uttarakhand and Tadepalligudem. The Government of India has introduced the NITSER Act to bring 31 such institutions within the ambit of the act and to provide them with complete autonomy in their functioning. The NITs are deliberately scattered throughout the country in line with the government norm of an NIT in every major state of India to promote regional development. The individual NITs, after the introduction of the NITSER Act, have been functioning as autonomous technical universities and hence can draft their own curriculum and functioning policies. [9] The admission to undergraduate programs of all the NITs was done by the All India Engineering Entrance Examination [10] popularly known as AIEEE. From the year 2013, AIEEE was replaced by the Joint Entrance Examination - Main (JEE Main) in which 40% weightage was given to the Higher Secondary results and 60% weightage was given to the JEE(Main) results. However, the weightage of Higher Secondary result was made to be 0% from the year 2017 onwards and it was only given as an eligibility criteria (of either attaining 75% in HS results or being in the top 20% of the respective board). The examination is objective by nature and is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) [11] from the year 2019. The exam was previously conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). More than twelve lakh (1,200,000 or 1.2 million) applicants took part in 2013 for approximately 15500 seats in the B. Tech and B. Arch programmes available in all the NITs put together. [12]

Indian Institutes of Information Technology

Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) are a group of 26 Interdisciplinary Technical Universities of higher education in India, focused on Computer science and engineering and Information Technology. Five of them are established, funded and managed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The rest 21 are set up on the public-private partnership (PPP) model. [13] [14]

Admissions into undergraduate programmes in IIITs for 6,000 seats are through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and JEE-Main. [15] For postgraduate programs admission is through Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). They follow similar academic policies as that of NITs. [16]

Other Central technical Institutions

There are more than 30 Government Funded Technical Institutes in addition to IITs, NITs and IIITs. They also follow similar academic and admission policies of IITs, NITs and IIITs. [17]

Private deemed universities

Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Vellore Institute of Technology, and International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad are some of the top private deemed universities in the country. [18] [19] [20] The curriculum here is more updated and flexible than public Universities. [21] [22] Admission to Bachelor programs in Engineering in these Institutes is based on Joint Entrance Examination – Main as well as independently conducted entrances. Separate exams such as BITSAT for Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and VITEEE for Vellore Institute of Technology are also required to be given for admission to these institutes.

The Institution of Engineers (India)

The IEI was established in 1920 in Kolkata, West Bengal and pioneered education in engineering. IEI conducts an examination for its Associate Membership (AMIE). This examination is considered equivalent to B.E. / B. Tech for competitive examinations like the Indian Civil Service, Indian Engineering Services, GATE, etc., and for employment in Government, public and private sectors in India.

There are 2 sections, namely Section A and Section B. Passing both sections means the candidate will be considered a chartered engineer (CEng).

As per AICTE, AMIE is recognized as equivalent to bachelor's degree in appropriate branch of engineering, to those who had enrolled themselves with the institution on or before 31 May 2013. Refer notification from AICTE website. [23]

State-level institutes by the state

As of 2021, India has 28 states each with own government elected separately from the national government (also called union or federal government), and 8 union territories which are administered by the union government. Each state can find and fund own state level technical education institutes and it can also approve such institutes in the private sector, both of these legally remained confined to the specific state within and by which they were created. All these institutes must also obtain AICTE approval for conformation to the engineering and technology education teaching infrastructure and minimum standards.

Issues

Illegal capitation fee

Some of the engineering colleges have been known for involving themselves in the illegal practice of capitation fee. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body for technical education in India, has called "upon the students, parents and the general public not to pay any capitation fee or any other fee other than that mentioned in the Prospectus of the Institutions for consideration of admission.". [24] AICTE also mentions that the fee charged from students, has to be approved by the fee regulatory committee of the state, and the institute should mention the fee in its website. [25] As per AICTE norms, the educational institutions are not meant to charge a fee higher than what is mentioned in the prospectus. Educational regulatory agencies such as UGC [26] and regional level fee regulating bodies [27] has mandated that an institution should include the fee in the prospectus.

Low quality engineering academics

Lack of academic quality, lack of quality professors, poor infrastructure in some typical private engineering institute in India. [28] CICU president Upkar Singh Ahuja stated that "Poor quality of engineering academics hampering industrial growth". [29] World bank also raised red flag on poor quality academics in India and south Asian countries. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

A Bachelor of Technology is a bachelor's and professional degree that is awarded for an undergraduate program in engineering.

The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are centrally funded technical institutes under the ownership of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. They are governed by the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education, and Research Act, 2007, which declared them institutions of national importance and laid down their powers, duties, and framework for governance. The act lists 31 NITs. Each NIT is autonomous and linked to the others through a common council known as the Council of NITSER, which oversees their administration. All NITs are funded by the Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced</span> Indian National Entrance Exam for Indian institute of technologies and other institutions

The Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced (JEE-Advanced) is an academic examination held annually in India that tests the skills and knowledge of the applicants in physics, chemistry and mathematics. It is organised by one of the seven zonal Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs): IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, and IIT Guwahati, under the guidance of the Joint Admission Board (JAB) on a round-robin rotation pattern for the qualifying candidates of the Joint Entrance Examination – Main(exempted for foreign nationals and candidates who have secured OCI/PIO cards on or after 04-03-2021). It used to be the sole prerequisite for admission to the IITs' bachelor's programs before the introduction of UCEED, Online B.S. and Olympiad entries, but seats through these new media are very low.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad</span> Public engineering institution in Hyderabad, Telangana

The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) is a deemed university, founded as a non-profit public-private partnership (N-PPP), located in Hyderabad, India. It is the first IIIT in India under this model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur</span> Public engineering and research institute in India

Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur (VNIT) formally known as Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering (VRCE) is a public technical university located in the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra. Established in 1960, the institute is among 31 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) in the country. In 2007, the institute was conferred with the status of Institute of National Importance by the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research Act, 2007 of the Parliament of India with all other NITs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joint Entrance Examination – Main</span> Examination for admission to engineering colleges in India

Joint Entrance Examination – Main (JEE-Main), formerly All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), is an Indian standardized computer-based test for admission to various technical undergraduate programs in engineering, architecture, and planning across colleges in India. The exam is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admission to B.Tech, B.Arch, B.Planning etc. programs in premier technical institutes such as the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs) which are based on the rank secured in the JEE-Main. It is usually conducted twice every year: Session 1 and Session 2. It also serves as a preliminary selection and eligibility test for qualifying JEE (Advanced) for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Since mid 2019, the JEE has been conducted fully online as a computerized test. Before Central Board of Secondary Education, the JEE was administered by NTA.

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is an engineering entrance assessment conducted for admission to various engineering colleges in India. It comprises two different examinations: the JEE-Main and the JEE-Advanced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology</span> University in India

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology is a Govt. of India established (1989) deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956 for higher education and research in India. The UG Program of SLIET is accredited as TIER 1 by the NBA. It is well known as the "Modern Gurukul" of Tech Education due to lush green campus of 451 acres (183 ha) in Longowal, Sangrur, Punjab, India. SLIET is fully funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and is an autonomous body controlled by the SLIET Society. Institute has been set up in the memory of Late Sh. Harchand Singh ji Longowal under Rajiv Longowal Punjab accord. Educational opportunities include technical and practical training in the fields of engineering and technology. The students and alumni of SLIET are informally referred to as SLIETians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Institutes of Technology</span> Public technical universities in India

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are a network of engineering and technology institutions in India. Established in 1950, they are under the purview of the Ministry of Education of the Indian Government and are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. The Act refers to them as Institutes of National Importance and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance as the country's premier institutions in the field of technology. 23 IITs currently fall under the tenor of this act. Each IIT operates autonomously and is linked to others through a common council called the IIT Council, which oversees their administration. The Minister of Education of India is the ex officio chairperson of the IIT Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Education (India)</span> Ministry within the Government of India

The Ministry of Education (MoE) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The ministry is further divided into two departments: the Department of School Education and Literacy, which deals with primary, secondary and higher secondary education, adult education and literacy, and the Department of Higher Education, which deals with university level education, technical education, scholarships, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Institute of Technology, Arunachal Pradesh</span> Public engineering institution in India

National Institute of Technology Arunachal Pradesh is a public technical and research institute located at Jote near Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. NIT Arunachal Pradesh is one of the 31 National Institutes of Technology in India and is recognized as an Institute of National Importance. NIT Arunachal Pradesh started its functioning from 2010 in a temporary campus in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh. The institute presently functions from its permanent Campus at Jote, Papum Pare district, Arunachal Pradesh.

Two major engineering entrance examinations are used for admission to engineering institutes across India, the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). In 2010, a proposal for a common engineering entrance examination was made by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The proposal has gone through several names and formats and is expected to enter use in 2024. Yet, the common entrance exam for all engineering courses in India has not become effective, even for the academic year 2021–22.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gandhi Institute for Technology</span>

Gandhi Institute For Technology (GIFT), Autonomous College, Bhubaneswar, is an engineering institution in Odisha, India. Established in 2007 by the Balaram Panda Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Institute of Information Technology, Manipur</span>

Indian Institute of Information Technology, Manipur (IIITM) is one among the prestigious Indian Institutes of Information Technology, a group of 25 Interdisciplinary Technical Universities of higher education started by the Government of India, focused on Information Technology. It is an "Institute of National Importance", declared by an act of parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camellia Institute of Technology & Management</span> College in West Bengal, India

Camellia Institute of Technology & Management, commonly known as CITM, is an autonomous private degree engineering college in West Bengal, India, situated in Boinchi, Hooghly. The institute is affiliated with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology. It is recognised by the Government of West Bengal and its courses are approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Institute of Information Technology, Una</span> Engineering college in Himachal Pradesh, India

Indian Institute of Information Technology Una is one of the Indian Institutes of Information Technology located at Vill. Saloh, Teh. Haroli, Distt. Una Himachal Pradesh-177209, Himachal Pradesh.. Established in 2014, it was recognized as an Institute of National Importance. IIIT Una is a joint venture of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, the Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, with Industries in Public-Private Partnership model. The industries are H.P. Power Corporation and H.P. Power Transmission Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Institute of Information Technology, Ranchi</span>

Indian Institute of Information Technology, Ranchi, is one of the Indian Institutes of Information Technology, a group of 25 Interdisciplinary Technical Universities of higher education started by Government of India, focused on Information Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Institute of Information Technology, Sonepat</span>

Indian Institute of Information Technology Sonepat is an Indian Institutes of Information Technology located at Sonipat, Haryana. The academic session of IIIT Sonepat started from its temporary campus at NIT Kurukshetra from year 2014 Right now it is running in Shri Balwant Institute of Technology, GT Road Sonepat. IIIT Sonepat is a joint venture of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, the Govt. of Haryana, with Industries in Public-Private Partnership model and has been declared as the Institutes of National Importance.

References

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  14. ↑ "welcome to IIIT Council". iiitcouncil.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-06. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  15. ↑ "More seats in new IITs 387 additional BTech berths on offer this year". Archived from the original on August 19, 2018.
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  17. ↑ "JoSAA". josaa.nic.in. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
  18. ↑ "MoE, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)". www.nirfindia.org. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
  19. ↑ "Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham only Indian university in world top 100 institutes". Hindustan Times. 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
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  21. ↑ "Top engineering colleges that accept JEE Main score for UG admissions". The Indian Express. 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  22. ↑ "Engineering Colleges in India Accepting GATE 2021 – Courses, Fees, Admission, Rank". Careers360. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  23. ↑ "Public Notice for Professional Bodies/Institutes Imparting Technical Education | Government of India, All India Council for Technical Education". www.aicte-india.org. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  24. ↑ http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/notice_prohibition_capitation_fee.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  25. ↑ "All India Council for Technical Education" (PDF). Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "Deemed Regulation- The Gazette of India" (PDF). Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  27. ↑ "MBA Directives issued to all All Self-Financing Management Institutes on 11-05-2015" (PDF). Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  28. ↑ "Addressing the quality deficit in India's technical education". The Indian Express. 2021-08-09. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  29. 1 2 "'Poor education quality in engineering stopping growth'". The Times of India. May 22, 2019. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
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