Paradigms in engineering education
JOTSNA R
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An institution has to be flexible enough in attendance requirement to cater to individual needs
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IN THE article "How effective is NAAC?" (Open Page, December 24), a few important issues concerning educational institutions were raised. The author mentioned instances of colleges faking infrastructure for the coveted accreditation. The question to be asked is: even if a college does have the necessary infrastructure, is that all it takes to produce good engineers?
Colleges set their curriculum as prescribed, allot faculty members with the required degrees, make them handle the classes for the set time period and when the student finishes four years of taking notes, learning them, following lab manuals and passing exams, he gets placed in a company where he spends his first year getting trained to be an engineer.
This being the case, what does the NAAC accreditation tell us? That the college is good enough for a person to spend four years of his time without too much damage to his mental faculties?
These issues are being raised more frequently nowadays and different teaching methodologies and approaches are being discussed. But a few issues never get raised. One such is the percentage of attendance required to complete an undergraduate course.
Each individual has his own needs, abilities and interests. In an undergraduate course covering a wide range of topics, what one wishes to study in depth differs from person to person. Learning time and mode vary. An educational institution has to be flexible enough to cater to individual needs. It should at least allow the student to pursue his own interest. With some engineering colleges demanding an attendance of 85 to 90 percentage of the total classes allotted for each subject, this is just not possible.
Between the attendance requirement and writing records for the laboratory, the student struggles to squeeze time for complete grasp of theory, technical fests and paper presentations, which are more in tune with the engineering spirit. Often, a whole period is spent on taking down notes dictated by the lecturer. This makes a joke of the attendance requirement. Library slots are unheard of.
The knowledge the student has and his application capabilities are tested in the semester exams. The student gets the grade he deserves, whether he has learnt the subject from his lecturer or studied it by himself or by combining both. Considering all this, what does the attendance requirement achieve?
Some students cut classes and resort to smoking and drugs. Some hang out in public places during college hours. This might damage the reputation of the college. Is imposing a high required percentage of attendance the only way to handle this problem? Isn't there another way to handle this without affecting the flexibility given to a student who is sincere?
As far as the Indian educational scenario is concerned, there are many questions waiting to be asked. Universities like the Olin University are coming up, revolutionising the concept of engineering education, challenging the conventional approach of giants such as MIT. If Indians are to compete in the international arena, our universities have to get their act together and sort out their principles and paradigms. Until then, whatever be the accreditation, the certificate in the hand of one student will never have the same value as the same certificate in the hands of another. Worse yet, the certificate may cease to have any value.
(The writer, a 3rd year B.Tech student, can be reached at jotsna_albertei@yahoo.co.in)
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