The Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs), India’s central government owned premier
institutions of national importance for technological education have been the Indian
icons of globally competitive technical education. The initiatives they take,
and the reforms they usher in, have a ripple effect in the entire field of
technical education in India. IITs’ latest proposal for fast track engineering
(B Tech) degree based on accelerated credits (in three and half years instead
of four years) has the potential to churn the technical education scenario in
India if it is not appreciated and improved in a holistic perspective. This
proposal has to be viewed in the perspective that not several years ago,
engineering degree in India required five years of full time study. If this
proposal of three and half years becomes real, India would probably the first
major country, after the USA, to provide a bachelor’s degree in engineering in
such a compressed time frame.
IITs are
known to be cradles of high pressure, high performance education. The entry
into IITs is itself a resultant of highly competitive Joint Entrance
Examination (JEE) system, for which school boys start preparing years ahead
through high intensity coaching. Given this context, an emphasis on credits for
a compressed time frame could be seen to be adding to the high pressure
robotized study system in the IITs, making students vulnerable to the dangers
of intense competitiveness. If other competitive institutions like National Institutes
of Technology (NITs) and other key universities follow suit, it could be a
larger phenomenon of ‘race to degree’. Another worry would be that other regional
universities and colleges may try to follow suit, and given the reduced level
of study and examination solidity in such universities and colleges there could
be a dilution of study standards in such institutions. At the same time, there
also seem to be certain higher order goals in the proposed change which are yet
to catch the attention. This blog post discusses the latest proposal from the
IITs in the totality, and options.
Flexibility
The IITs
proposal, announced by Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, the Director of IIT Kharagpur
at the 60th convocation of the Institute on July 26, 2014, has an
important concept of flexibility. The fast-track option is essentially for
those students who can accrue the requisite credits. The proposal also allows a
more languid pace, extending up to 8 years for the ‘slow learners’. The fast
track option envisages that the ‘saved’ six months can be utilized for job or
entrepreneurship. It also allows inter-IIT portability of credits to utilize
the centers of excellence that exist in various IITs. With these features in
tow, the fast track proposal would appear more holistic. This, does not,
however take the focus away from the weighty nature of a true technological
curriculum and whether adequate justice is being done to it under even a four
year program. The pitfall in any credit based system is the equation of credit
to learning and subjects to knowledge, all of which require certain minimum periods
of time for attention, absorption and assimilation.
The undergraduate
level engineering programs are both foundational and specialist in nature.
Despite the proliferation of various engineering streams, each engineer
irrespective of the specialization must be well versed in certain core
engineering studies. These relate to mathematics, sciences, humanities, design
and drawing principles, and a foundation of each of the core or basic engineering
specializations like civil, mechanical, electrical, electronics and computers. And,
each of these has to have a corresponding laboratory practice, which should
expose the students to a wide range of machining, forming, casting, welding and
bonding practices related to various kinds of materials. Given the heavy
knowledge and practice load on one hand, and the extremes of extracurricular
pulls and social media distractions on the other hand, the case seems to be
more for extension, rather than compression, of degree granting period.
Flights away
One question
to ask is to whose benefit the acceleration would be if the fast-track graduate
were to choose a job or another degree instead of the well intended
entrepreneurship. As we are aware, many of the IIT graduates end up taking up
management diplomas in the equally reputed Indian Institutes of Management
(IIMs) or go abroad for higher education or research. In the IIT Kharagpur
convocation, Bharat Ratna Professor C N R Rao exhorted the IITians to stay in
the country and contribute to India’s scientific and technological capital,
citing his own example of success. If the fast-track graduates see the credit
based graduation as an opportunity to explore other options elsewhere, the
basis of advancing gets called into question. A total credit score of 182 in 7
semesters, covering theory, laboratory, workshop and fieldwork seems to be an
intensely packed study and learning schedule (a typical course take 190 credits
over 10 semesters). A dual degree
program is also offered under this route, though details are not yet available.
By the same
token, allowing a highly relaxed period of 8 years for course completion may
also be misplaced. Given that all entrants to the IITs are competent and
competitive, allowing that level of extended flexibility would be a loss in the
formation of intellectual capital in India. Considering that certain students
do find the pressure a trifle too much, flexibility for completing the course
up to 6 years could be more in order. Also, extending inter-IIT portability to cover
at least one year of residence could expose the students to not only other centers
of excellence but even to other residential cultures as well. Given that the
new program will be rolled out from the academic year 2016-17, and in a phased
manner, there is an opportunity to reinforce the good points of the fast-track
program (in fact, it should be called optimal track program!), overcome the
weaknesses and develop a techno-entrepreneurial ecosystem that maximizes the
benefits of the proposal.
Specializations
The key to
success of a flexible credit based system is the availability of a number of
specializations and micro-specializations on one hand and well coordinated
academic planning. Providing total flexibility to the student in course choice
could lead to diffused learning while too much control could lead to the defeat
of the system itself. It is important that the academic deans of the IITs
develop a course planner which explains why a cluster of related
specializations would make a holistic sense compared to a random choice of
courses. The course credits must be hierarchically defined based on complexity
and relational synergy of the courses. It may be a good idea for the IITs to
develop an App exclusively for course and credit planning under the fast-track
system. The App must also link specializations offered by the various IITs to
define a total universe of specializations. There could be certain thorny
issues related to different IITs providing differential values to similar
specializations based on the excellence they think they possess in the domain.
This will be one challenge of flexibility.
The other
challenge will be providing the specializations themselves. For a mechanical
engineering stream, the range of main and specialization courses can range from
thermodynamics to robotics. Whether a robotics specialization could be common
for mechanical and electronics
mainstreams, or whether it would need to be customized to each mainstream would
be one call. Given the fast paced developments, what would be the life of a
course (say, 3 or 5 years) would be another call. Whether courses that belong
to a graduate level (for example, prosthetics) would be a good fit for an undergraduate
level mechanical engineering course could be another call. Whether
specializations should be only subject matter or whether even laboratory or
workshop practice could qualify as specializations is another call. Ideally,
specializations should have a range that plays on one’s aptitude for further
academic specialization or industrial practice. The challenges are likely to be
more in domains where product life cycles are getting shorter. One way would be
to link up academic expertise, research directions, consulting practice and
industrial inputs in development of state-of-the-art specializations.
Entrepreneurship
in IITs
Given that
an important aspect of the fast-track proposal is to release one semester for
entrepreneurial activity, availability of an entrepreneurial ecosystem within
the IIT system, or otherwise, would be a prerequisite. A few IITs, notably IIT Madras, IIT Bombay,
IIT Kharagpur, and IIT (BHU) Varnasi have experimented with creating
entrepreneurial ecosystems as adjuncts to their educational systems. IIT Madras
has set up IIT Madras Incubation Cell. IIT Bombay has set up Society for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship. IIT (BHU) has established Malaviya Centre for
Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship. Each of them has incorporated
specific initiatives funded by the IITs, Central Ministries or IIT alumni
themselves. Even a newer IIT like IIT Hyderabad has set up E-Cell for
entrepreneurs. Although some of these have been in operation since 1999, there
is no evidence of any major entrepreneurial startups that emerged from these
incubation initiatives. Even though IITM has provided physical infrastructure
through IIT Madras Research Park adjacent to IITM campus, startups have been
few to leverage the facilities.
Undoubtedly,
the strong technological foundations at IITs, and the personality strengths of
the IITians make them look at entrepreneurship as a career option more
confidently, the only inhibiting factor being the hugely attractive job
opportunities they automatically command. That said, convergence of futuristic
research with foundational technology, and combination of financial support
with commercial insights would be necessary to create an ecosystem that would
make entrepreneurship widespread across IITs. Special emphasis should be laid
on socially relevant low cost, high technology products. Entrepreneurship,
however, requires more than a feasible product idea. A recent research suggests
that an entrepreneur with a product idea needs a core organization of
likeminded passionate friends to make a success of entrepreneurship. Even some
of the biggest globalized startups of today such as Apple, Amazon, eBay,
Facebook, Salesforce.com as well as regional startups like Project A Ventures,
Eyeota, Flipkart, RedBus validate this thesis.
Indigenous
ecosystem
The other
aspect is that successful entrepreneurship needs certain other skills in addition
to wholly technical skills. This has prompted the Hyderabad based management
school, the Indian School of Business (ISB) to launch, as a two-year programme
at ISB, Technology Entreprenurship Programme to equip select engineering
students with skills to become entrepreneurs. It is stated that Microsoft
Ventures and Google are supporting the programme. The larger question still
would be whether even a broader educational curriculum for entrepreneurship or
cross-collaboration between IITs (and/or NITs) and IIMs (and/or ISB) would be
completely sufficient. The philosophical question is also whether
entrepreneurship can only from arise from premier institutes, or could emerge
as a broader national phenomenon. Prima facie, creative technological ideas
ought to emerge from any institute which has higher technological and research
competencies. Idea incubation (example, IIT Madras Incubation Cell) and
licensing of patentable ideas (yet to happen in a big way) from institutes of
higher technology is one facet of creation of a broader national
entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The real
answer could lie in restoring and rejuvenating the traditional economic
employment system of India which was rooted in skill and craft based
self-employment system but has faced dilution due to the attraction of
readymade and assured career options that could arise from formal educational
qualifications. It is, therefore, gratifying that some of the IIT
entrepreneurship schools are focusing on socially relevant product or service
ideas (example, Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IIT
Madras). Real developments that can be commercialized would need to focus on
market applications rather than technology roots. For example, could a variable
speed micro-motor be developed that could make a potter’s work more productive,
more consistent and of higher quality? Can a portable ultrasound linked with
tablet computer be designed to take ultrasound diagnostics into the rural
areas? Can there be a sanitizing solution for dry leaf plates (used extensively
in certain southern states) to obviate the need for paper plates? Can solar
panels, inverters and electricity power be integrated to reduce generated power
consumptions? Can there be water purifying technology which does not waste any
water? The optimal track for IITs could be in not fast-tracking credits per se,
but in integrating latent market needs with creative technologies.
Posted by Dr
CB Rao on July 29, 2014