| | 8 DECEMBER 2022HIGHERReviewSTAYING TRUE TO THE ESSENCE & SPIRIT OF ENGINEERING EDUCATIONIn an exclusive interview with Higher Education Review, Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee shares his valuable insights on the Indian engineering education landscape, the ROI for engineering programs, importance of soft skills in the engineering domain and more. A recent survey shows that only 1.5 percent of engineers in India are fit for new age jobs. What is your opinion on the Indian engineering education landscape? There is definitely a need for more engineers who are trained and educated in modern and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, and data science in the industry. At the same time, engineers should also be able to apply newer and innovative methods of science to engineering. The objective of engineering education is not to produce technicians who only know about the things that are taught to them in the curriculum but the real objective is to train the mind to be able to pick up new things, and analyze and think in an engineering context. Because of this, it is not necessary to completely overhaul the engineering curriculum but it is important to be true to the essence of engineering education. If that happens, students will be able naturally pick up new age technologies without any effort because they are trained to learn new things constantly. The important thing is to be true to the essence and spirit of engineering education rather than changing it lock, stock and barrel. The cost of engineering education in India is increasing constantly with an undergraduate course from a top-notch engineering college costing between 10 and 15 lakhs. At the same time, the popularity for online certification courses is rising as well. In light of this, how do you view the ROI for conventional engineering programs in India? Conventional engineering programs provide a lot many things that an online certificate course is trying to provide but falls short. For example, conventional engineering education in academic institutions provides an opportunity for being part of collaborative projects, it provides an opportunity to learn in a more collaborative environment, and it provides a great opportunity to learn from your peers as well as learn outside the classroom. These are the things that are very difficult to replicate in an online certificate program. Having said that, there is no need to think about replacing conventional engineering programs with online education. Rather, it is important to make sure that in conventional engineering education, there is enough scope for students to pick up new projects, take up interesting research problems, and be able to do more things hands-IN MY VIEWAjit Kumar Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee
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