It's raining engineering colleges in India, but our graduates can't cut it in the job market

In a country where there is an engineering college around almost every corner, it comes as no surprise that there has been a boom in the number of engineering graduates. But the question whether there is any improvement in the quality of education or employability condition of these engineering students remains unanswered. For the year 2016-17, around 485 engineering colleges have been approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in Andhra Pradesh alone.

A recent study found that that engineering graduates from Hyderabad were the least employable. The study found that while the southern city sends the largest number of STEM students to the US, it is home to India’s worst techies.

The problem is not just in Hyderabad, it is widespread in the country where the admission process to various colleges itself is flawed. According to Dr A Kalanidhi, former Vice Chancellor of Anna University, Chennai, "Now, there are a lot of institutions which in turn admits a large number of students. These colleges have relaxed the minimum requirements for admission which is a big problem.”

While the race to admit more students to their colleges leads colleges to admit hordes of students, the syllabus in these colleges have not seen any update in years.  Only marginal changes are made every four years by the university and the syllabus proposed by AICTE continues to remain unchanged without any revision. "There are two components involved in the syllabus formation, the university and the AICTE. The university revises its syllabus once in 4 years or so whereas the model curriculum formed by the AICTE has not been revised," Kalanidhi said.

To make sure college records reflect a high pass percentage the colleges often confer grace marks to students who have not made the cut. This severely affects the quality of students who graduate. "Grace marks are given to reduce the fail percentage in colleges," he said.

Adding to the pressure of the high volumes of students every year, teaching positions have been left vacant in the colleges throughout India. K Ramachandran, Strategy Head of an online education and training website said, "More than 30 percent of the teaching posts are not filled and there are also a few vacant posts which are not sanctioned.”

Ramachandran also points out to the mismatch between what is being taught and what the industry expects from them. He feels that bringing a uniform curriculum for engineering colleges throughout India is the first step towards increasing the standard of education.

The standard of education in engineering colleges cannot be improved without paying attention to the how the syllabus is designed. 

"The academic board should have minimum 33 percent of practicing professionals with relevant experience who can approve the syllabus and re-evaluate it every 6 months," Kalanidhi said.  Kalanidhi also feels that the solution lies in the revision of the syllabus and the incorporation of practical components in the syllabus.

In a bid to increase practical knowledge of the students, the AICTE has made internships compulsory for the engineering graduates in Hyderabad. 

"Internships have been made mandatory so that students are industry-ready before they join employees. Students will get better exposure that will enhance their technical, communication and managerial skills," said Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of AICTE to the Times of India.

However, it remains to be seen if this move will lead to better employability among the engineering graduates.