Lack of quality engineering education

The Union Ministry of Education released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings of 2022 in July. An analysis of the top 200 institutes of technology and engineering colleges presents a disquieting picture.

What is worrying?

• The best institute in the category scored 90.04%. But the 50th best scored only 50.11%; the 100th best institute scored a mere 40.14%; and the one ranked 200th scored as little as 33.7%.
• One can imagine the situation of the remaining 1,049 institutions that applied but got no rank. And how terrible must be the situation in the approximately 4,500 institutions which did not even apply for the ranking?
• These top-ranking institutions accommodate about 30,000 students as against the 11 lakh-12 lakh who register for the JEE Main exam. The odds to get a seat in one of the top 100 institutions are as low as 2.73%. Only 0.9% make it to one of the top 10 institutions.

Impact on students and learning –

• Most parents dream of ₹1 crore plus placements for their children, unmindful of the immense stress that they put their young ones through. This triggers a mindless rat race to get students into institutions of national importance.
• Students chase quality institutions, which, to them, are those that offer an assured placement, preferably with a dream package. This, coupled with the scarcity of seats, makes a fertile ground for commerce to capitalise on.
• Dejection on the one hand and persistent peer pressure on the other cause anxiety, depression and even gives birth to suicidal tendencies.

Dearth of quality education –

• The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has already approved an adequate number of institutions in engineering and technology to admit at least 23.67 lakh students. That is twice the number of aspirants for engineering education. There is, thus, neither a scarcity of seats nor capacity constraints.
• The nation is, in fact, staring at a dearth of institutions offering quality engineering education at an affordable cost. In business parlance, that is the ability to deliver value for money.

What should be done?

India probably doesn’t need more institutions. The scope of enhancing the intake in the existing quality institutions also appears limited. What is needed is improvement in the overall quality of technical higher education across the board.

Conclusion –

The youth are aspirational. It is now for the nation to mitigate the widening gap between the best and the rest, and ensure equality of opportunity in access to quality technical higher education.

Source – The Hindu

QUESTION – Broadly speaking, India has quantity of engineers but lack quality in them. Discuss this issue in light of the recently released NIRF rankings in 2022.