Context:

            The world we live in gives us a complex picture: On the one hand there is tremendous scientific and technological advancements. But on the other hand, there is a world of conflict, with religious fundamentalism or extremism, millions of migrants and refugees seeking for safety and security.  On the one hand, the youth is bubbling with hope and dream of better perspectives in life, but on the other hand there is unemployment all over.

During our last college day, Mr Hari Thalapalli, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, and Global Head Business Consultant from Tech Mahindra, Hyderabad indicated in his speech that the students should

1. first delearn what they have learnt;
2. then, they should relearn what is needed for the industries/companies; and

• finally, they should strive to be entrepreneurs.

This implies that our academic program, especially the syllabi, is outdated for the industrial needs and we need to prepare them for the challenges and expectations of the industries out there since industries are on the fast track of world competition.

The parents too expect that their children should be well placed. They do not seem to be worried about our philosophy of formation but they want very good placement. In the midst of all these factors we are taking efforts for the holistic formation of our students.

In Jesuit educational institutions, we do not just impart academic information – That could be done better via Google or by any gadget of today’s media. But we aim at holistic formation leading to social responsibility. We assume that each of our students is potentially a leader and each should be formed in order to engineer a just society.

In this backdrop, I am happy that I am invited to deliver the Shri Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Memorial Lecture. I gratefully think of this great person who has entrusted two educational institutions in this campus for the care of the Jesuits. And I am thankful to the Jesuits who have done wonderful service in education.

Present Scenario:

Let us look at the present scenario of the professional education. There is thirst for professional education and at the same time we see closure of so many professional institutions, especially engineering colleges. This year, in Tamilnadu out of nearly 2.5 lakhs seats to be filled through single window counseling, over 90,000 seats were not taken – That is about 36% of available seats are not taken up. Many private management colleges have surrendered their seats to the single window counseling.  Many engineering colleges are on sale in Tamilnadu. The job market for Polytechnic Institutions seems to be brighter than that for engineering colleges.

According to The Indian Express (June 26^th 2015), in 125 engineering colleges in Ahmedabad, 16,532 seats out of the available 71,799 seats have not been taken (That is 23% of seats are vacant). Deccan Chronicle (August 05^th 2015) reported, according to Engineering, Agricultural, and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) 34,000 seats are left vacant in Andhra Pradesh.

In this juncture, another disturbing factor is that the industries/companies have indicated their move towards arts and science colleges for their recruitment drive. Last year TCS indicated that no recruitment would be conducted in any of the engineering college. Do we understand we do not form our students well? Or, would it imply that students do not need long training of four years?

More than a year ago, I visited the industrial site of Bosch in Goa. A few automatic packing machines were being assembled – And those who have been at work were diploma holders. The site manager told me that they do not need engineers for that work – At the end of the day an engineer would inspect the work done by them. I also visited Allison Transmission: In a vast work station, where about 200 people were at work, I was told that only four were engineers. And they were engaged in computer-assisted quality control. So what is our choice now?

Let us look at our students: They come burnt out after an ordeal of +2 battle. They are drilled and grilled in literally hundreds of tests and they become almost automats with regard to questions that would be asked in the exam. In many schools, especially in Tamilnadu, calculus especially differential equations are left out and still the students could secure cent per cent in Maths. And when they jump into the engineering syllabi they are threatened with differential equation and integral calculus. And many choose engineering colleges under pressure from their parents.

They, when they come to us, are neither children nor adults. In the mindset they are still in +2 mode and we thrust them into the industrial mode. In the first two years they struggle to become steady in studies; in the third year they tend to become serious; and the final year, as the reality of job opportunity/challenge stares into their eyes they are afraid of the future as they frantically look for placement.

We need to create an atmosphere of effective teaching and excellent infrastructure in our institutions. Now a days, many students check their potential college, via internet, regarding infrastructure, placement history, rank in the respective university etc before they could go in for counseling or before they could approach the management for admissions. Today quality of teaching, infrastructure, and placement are the litmus test for ensuring admissions and formation of students.

Expectation of Industries:

Let us turn our attention to our partners, namely industries/companies who are expected to place our students. The HR personnel indicate the following criteria for recruiting our students:

7. The first hurdle is academics: There should not be any standing arrear nor should there be any history of arrears. Even, due to accident or sickness, you have failed in English but eventually you have passed with good grades, you are considered to have a history of arrears. The CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) should be above 7.5 out of 10. A CGPA of 8+ would be desirable.
8. The second challenge is what you have and what you give out: The recruiting companies expect domain expertise as well as communication skills. It is interesting to note that in their expectation, for example as Tech Mahendra officials explained, they expect 15% of domain expertise (ie subject knowledge) but 85% communication. So it is not how much you know but how effective you could communicate or make the other understand of what you know.

• The reality is to be reckoned with: The industries no longer departmentalize the job market – Everywhere it is inter-disciplinary. For example, whether you are a mechanical engineer or a computer science engineer, you need to know programming languages (such as Java, C++ etc). As we know in any profession (whether you think of doctors, engineers, lawyers etc) about one-third would move over to another profession other than he/she has been prepared for. The industries expect this and they want an over-all engineer for their recruitment.

1. What is needed for industries?: The world of technology seems to be distanced from our education. The technology is ever expanding as fancy and sophisticated smartphones, tablets, ipad, iphone etc are bringing in competition and challenges in the market. Hence, knowledge and experience in programming is a must today for an engineer.

The best programming languages in 2015 are indicated as follows:

Python      31.2%

Java          19.6%

C++          09.8%

C#            07.4%

Ruby        07.1%

Javascript 06.5%

Now, how much of academic syllabi reflect the requirement of the industries for effective placement?

(http://www.devsaran.com/blog/10-best-programming-languages-2015-you-should-know)

1. Feedback of the Industries: The recruiting personnel give the general feedback that our students lack in the following areas:
2. Self-confidence;
3. Lack of interest to learn something new or more difficult;

• Fear to take a calculated risk;

1. Often they possess attitude or aptitude but both are desired; and
2. Lack of ability to take decisions.

The recruiting agencies would like these elements of formation in our students. We would miss the boat if we concentrate only on ‘covering’ the syllabi.

1. Need for entrepreneurs: The problem in India is not unemployment but unemployability. In our institutions we are not training job-seekers but job-creators. There should be ample chance for the students to explore the possibility of entrepreneurship in our institutions – There could be possibilities of earning while learning such as part-time jobs either in the institutions or in other agencies. The students should also learn the dignity of work.

What our Students need:

In addition to our academic teaching, where we could educate our students, we need to form them as leaders with social responsibility. They should know the world they are going to work in and they should have the courage and confidence to grab the opportunity. As Dr Abdul Kalam used to repeat: They should have the courage to dream; but then, they should work hard to follow and achieve their dreams.

In addition, today our students should be men and women of 5C’s: Competence, commitment, creativity, compassion, and consciousness. One should be able to face, handle, and master any situation in the job. One more factor we need to take into consideration: Stress Management. Today, in general, people tend to succumb to stress in daily life. We see an exodus of technocrats quitting their jobs and seeking their opportunities in teaching milieu. The reason is that they are not able to handle stress, working long hours, completing a project on time etc. This is another area, not given in our syllabus, to form our students. Whatever they do, they should be innovative and creative. They should be able to think out of box and they should be able to ask questions: Sir C.V. Raman asked the question – Why does the sea look blue? He discovered Raman scattering and got Nobel Prize. Albert Einstein asked the question: What would be the speed of light, if one sits on the light particle, namely photon? His theory of relativity changed the phase of our world in all aspects. The teacher in the class should encourage students to ask questions – No question is a stupid question.

Today’s youth need more than ever self-esteem and self-confidence. A couple of days ago Actor Jeyam Ravi came to our college for the students’ cultural events. In his address he drove home this point: More than the confidence you have in you, it is important that others should have confidence in you. Our students need to be trained in synergy. One may be good in making an excellent arrow; another one may be able to design an artistic bow; but the archer is needed to shoot the arrow accurately. Team work is something that keeps any organization progressing. While egoism destroys oneself and the institution, team-spirit and collaborative work make progress for the better.

Further, hard work and perseverance would take one even beyond the skies. Limitation is what we set for ourselves. Jessica Cox in an American Pilot but she was born with no hands – Her legs are her hands. She holds black-belt in Karate marshal art (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Cox). Oscar Pistorius had his both legs amputated as an eleven month old baby. Nothing stopped him from winning 400 m and 4 x 400 m relay races, setting world records in both events, in 2012 Summer Olympics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius). Keep knocking eventually a door will open!

LICET model:

In this juncture, I would like to say what we do at our college, Loyola-ICAM College of Engineering and Technology (LICET). To start with, it is a hybrid institution in academic collaboration with a French engineering college ICAM (Institut Catholique d’Arts et Métiers). The following are some of the best practices at LICET:

1. The Jesuit pedagogy has five-fold focus:
2. Preparing the students as per the prescribed syllabi of affiliating Anna University;
3. Excelling in professionalism through interaction and integration with industries;
4. Personality development through communication skills, Time- and Stress-Management; Motivation and Goal-setting; valued-based outlook in life etc;
5. International exposure in universities and industries abroad; and
6. Imbibing God-quotient, through retreat and spiritual experience.

This gives an edge to the students of LICET over others with regard to placement as well as emerging as global leaders.

1. Right in the beginning of the academic year, the first years are asked to come up with a product according to the prescription (For example, a toy for a baby of 3 to 6 years old). The students work in groups of about 10 – They have to elect a CEO, design engineer, marketing personnel etc. And they should know what type of toy a child of 3 to 6 years would like: a toy with contrast colours, that makes noise, that would not hurt when put into the mouth, that should be easy to handle, that would not break when dropped onto the floor etc. This sets the tone for their academic cum entrepreneur endeavor.

• System discovery and system analysis is yet another practice that attracts the students to pay more attention in the class. We encourage them to bring in any household gadgets that do not work, such as mixie, table fan, induction oven etc. The students, with the help of lab instructors, open them up, study the function of each component, and try to reassemble the gadget. Then they move on working on two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and finally they end up with four-wheelers. There also they dissect the petrol engine and diesel engine to know the difference in design and function.

1. Placement training is part of our timetable. One hour per week is allotted in the first and second years and two hours in the third years. Apart from our faculty members, trainers from industries are coming to form our students. And in the fourth year the students go to industries for projects and internship training.
2. Service learning is another area we encourage our students to involve in. This is to groom them as leaders with social responsibility. We are the cumulative product of the society – We take them to our adopted village and make them spend time with the simple villagers. We ask them to experience how the poor people dare to be happy with very little to live by. And they get inspired to extend their helping hands when they come to a position to educate their children and employ them in their own companies/industries.
3. Our students have global exposure. As we have academic collaboration with ICAM in France, we have MoUs with universities in the USA, Spain, and Germany. Our students go over to these universities for summer internship or for higher studies. A group of students from ICAM come to LICET for a semester and they stay with the families of our students. This cultural exchange and exchange of teaching-learning process make our students gain confidence in academic adventure.

Trends:

We need to keep up with the trends in the world: There is need for Industry-Institute Networking. The annual Industry Meet where representatives from various industries come and share their feedback on our students employed there and their expectations. We need to work on a triangular modality: Keeping the parents in the loop, we let the industries train our faculty members. And this would lead to global synergy of education, employment, and economy. The institutions are the epicenter of the global changes. Though our students might keep in their mind their preference of core- vs software-companies, we need to drive home the point that everyone needs expertise and working knowledge in software and programming.

What Institutions could do:

We need to rethink about our teaching-learning methods. We need to keep in focus the needs of the industries:

1. We need to build up collaboration with other institutions – both in India and abroad.
2. We need to shape up students in critical thinking, by encouraging them to take part in seminars, technical competitions etc.

• We have to invest money and time in two-level formation: One level to do justice to the affiliating university syllabi; and the other level is to impart training as per the expectation of the industries.

1. Research should be promoted among the faculty members so that institutions become the Research and Development Wing of the industries and the faculty members become the consultants to industries. Eventually an institution becomes a service center for industries. For example, Sona Engg College in Salem, offers testing facility for industries on high voltage gadgets and instruments.
2. Membership in professional associations such as ASHRAE, IEE etc are to be encouraged. And accreditation process with regard to NAAC, NBA, and ABET should be initiated as soon as possible.
3. Though MoUs with industries and national/international universities, internationalization of education should be explored.

• Our alumni/ae, who are supposed to be the ambassadors the alma mater, should be the source of inspiration and motivation for our students. We need to invite them often to speak about their success stories. We need to promote the spirit of ‘give back’ to the institution.

Conclusion:

In order to keep up with the emerging trends in technical education,

1. We need to provide with excellent infrastructure to the students.
2. There should be effective formation of faculty members.

• Efforts should be taken to enhance students’ productivity and entrepreneurship.

1. As much as possible, we could evolve a technology-integrated curriculum.
2. It is essential that networking with industries is built up and strengthened.

Finally, students as techno-peasants should explore innovative ways of integrating scientific and technological advancements for the development of social requirements – to be engineering prophets to read the signs of emerging needs and become trend setters as global leaders with social responsibility.

Francis P Xavier SJ

Director, LICET

Email: francisx@vsnl.com

(1920240915)