New Delhi — Despite the questionable quality of many of India’s engineering and management schools, the country’s technical-education regulator has allowed the schools to double their enrollments, without an equivalent increase in their infrastructure or faculties, by permitting them to operate in two shifts, the Express Buzz Web site reports. The plan applies only to colleges that have been open for at least four years.
“Such a decision has taken me by surprise,” one unnamed official was quoted as saying.
The number of engineering colleges in India has boomed in the last 15 years, with private institutions rising from 222 in 1991 to 1,116 in 2005, and all of them are approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, the regulatory body. But while the regulator’s approval gives the colleges a stamp of respectability, it does not ensure quality, say many critics.
The official also said that one of the most important questions stemming from the policy shift will be the employability of graduates. A two-year-old report by McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, found that only 25 percent of Indian engineers could compete successfully for technology jobs outsourced from the United States. Despite nearly insatiable demand from information-technology companies and other booming industries, India has close to a million unemployed engineering graduates.
Many private colleges, however, have welcomed the regulator’s move. “More seats will mean more students can enroll in engineering courses, and it is good news for all those willing to pursue technical education,” said Binod Dash, chairman of the Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association. News reports have estimated that the creation of a second shift could add tens of thousands of students.
The regulator has also reduced the amount of land required to open an engineering college by 20 percent, Punjab Newsline reported. That move will provide huge relief because land cost is a major factor in any education project, said Anshu Kataria, chairman of one engineering school. —Shailaja Neelakantan
