Engineering Colleges in Punjab- A vehicle for social change

The Punjab region seems to be on the threshold of a major IT transformation. With new IT companies setting up their divisions in Punjab, the state is emerging as India's hottest IT hub.

To keep up with the challenges of the 21st century and the growing pace of industrialization in Punjab, the advancement of technical education in accordance with the emerging technologies, is the foremost requirement.

The main aim of bringing about advancements in technical education has been to churn out quality manpower to cash in on the available opportunities in the industrial sector. All this has resulted in the opening up of new engineering colleges, polytechnic and industrial training institutes in and around Punjab, thanks to the sincere endeavors of individuals as well as Centre and State governments.

Punjab is ranked seventh in terms of education amongst the states. To impart quality education to increased number of youth and improve the standard of living, Punjab has a large network of colleges and universities. These include 5 universities, 2 deemed universities and 44 engineering colleges.

With 21 more engineering colleges getting approval by the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) the state now boasts of a well developed education system which is in tune with the changing times and emerging trends assimilating the globalization of the world.

Apart from theoretical knowledge, equal stress is laid on hands-on training to polish overall skills of the students. The students are provided opportunities to get into close interactions with the industries.

Hitherto, Punjab’s was predominantly an agricultural economy; however, the rapid industrialization has been instrumental in evolving Punjab into a technologically advanced state. Earlier, the engineering aspirants from Punjab had to move to cities like Bangalore, Kanpur, Pune to pursue their IT education. But now they no longer need to do so.

Perspectives of different people about the quality of education in such private engineering colleges vary. Some express their deep concern over the deteriorating quality of education in private institutions. On the other hand, the management and the faculty of such institutes, boast about providing high quality education to the aspiring candidates.

It has been argued that the desperate hunt for candidates to fill the seats lying vacant in new colleges which lack adequate infrastructure results in lowering of their standards. Thus, the managements resort to such lucrative offers as “any percentage, no CET, no AIEEE”.

Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman of the National Association of Software Service Companies (NASSCOM), said, “It is not endemic to Punjab. Of the 20 lakh software professionals working in India, only 20 per cent are employable.” Echoing his views, Rakesh Verma, Director, IT Punjab and an IIT alumnus, said:, “You could argue for drastic measures such as overhaul of the entire education system, but these are long drawn processes. In Punjab, we have identified this issue and are now placing a serious emphasis on development of human resources. We have tied up with lots of professional colleges and placement agencies and are coming up with programmes on skill enhancement.”

Prof. Rajnish Arora of Amritsar Engineering College, however, welcomes the sudden spurt of new colleges. “In developed countries, 15-20 percent students opt for technical education while in India their strength hovers around 5 to 7 percent. And in Punjab, availability of seats per thousand population in technical institutions is far less than many other states like Andhra,” said Arora. He strongly felt that there is scope for more colleges, saying that the quality of education would improve with sheer tough competition to attract the best students.

Prof. HS Saini, principal of Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran, aired the same view saying the university and government should be pro-active to ensure quality faculty in the technical institutes and go in for in-service training of teachers too.

It is being hoped that these measures will revitalize the technical education to meet the changing needs of the society. With ongoing efforts to add more engineering degree courses, the state strives to ensure multidimensional development of the new breed of 21st century engineers.