Figure 2: OTRs for Engineering Graduates in Kerala,

Total 2,795 100 27,302 100

(%) We understand that the more recent intake data shows a 100 slightly different picture with the traditional branches gaining

89.84 79.64 83.25 85.37 71.19 64.38 75.00 78.91 79.06 74.38 55.03 1991 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

in importance. Student choices seem to be dictated more by

90

the perceived demands from the labour market and these are individual choices, which may not be faulted upon. A natural correction for this distortion is bound to happen in the long 80 run, although in the short run, such a lopsided structure may prevail.

of engineers graduating is only about 9,300. In discussions Source: Computed from NTMIS Nodal Centre for Kerala (various issues).

EPW

We have worked out the OTRs both at the aggregate level (Figure 2, p 65) and at individual branches (Table 3). Given the four-year time lag and the availability of data, we are in a position to compute the OTRs for the intakes from 1991 (graduating in 1995) to 2004 intake (graduating in 2008).

This shows a rather alarming situation. The OTR, which was almost 90% for the 1991 intake, has started coming down over the years, and currently stands at about 55%. This means that currently, one out of every two students who join the four-year degree programme in engineering either drops out, or fails in the exams, resulting in low OTRs. This has serious implications for the actual supply of engineers. Even more is the social cost of such large failures. We deal with this issue in some more detail in Section 5.

How do these OTRs for Kerala compare with the all-India pattern? This is not available for India as a whole, as the National Technical Manpower Information System (NTMIS) does not report this data. However, the Annual Technical Manpower Review (ATMR) does report this data for some of the states. Banerjee and Muley (2008) have compiled this data on OTRs for the available states which include Kerala as well, but

Table 3: OTRs of Engineering Graduates across States in India (1992-2004, in %)

for the period 1991 through 2004. This is presented in Table 3. No clear trend is visible, excepting to say that the OTRs in Kerala compare favourably with the other states. West Bengal appears to have the best OTRs. However, it must be stated that the OTRs presented in this table does not tally with what we have presented in Figure 2, where these have been computed, employing the same methodology as Banerjee and Muley (2008). In specifi c terms, OTRs as computed by us is lower than OTRs computed by the latter authors. One explanation for the difference may be that Banerjee and Muley’s estimates end with the 1998 intake (graduating in 2002), whereas our estimates refer to the intakes until 2004 (graduating in 2008).

We now analyse the OTRs at the disaggregated level – at the level of individual branches (Table 4).

There has been an across-the-board drop in OTRs in all the 19 branches in 2004 compared to 1995. The fall has been rather heavy in some of the more popular branches of electronics and communications, computer science and engineering and IT. We also notice that the OTRs have started falling, with fluctuations, from the 1998 intake onwards and the worst results were obtained for the 2004 entry.

EPW

Results of 2008 show also that on an average the students who failed account for about 90% of those who passed (Table 5). In a number of popular branches the number of students who failed actually outnumbered those who passed. Recent press reports and our subsequent micro-level analysis lead us to believe that this trend is likely to continue in the future as well.

3.1 Quality of Instruction

There is a general feeling that the quality of instruction has declined steadily. This is in turn due to three separate but interrelated factors: (1) poor quality of faculty; (2) an outdated syllabi (Banerjee and Muley 2008); and (3) substandard infrastructure (especially, library, workshops and labs). We examine the first of these three, as we do not have much data on the latter two. In fact, in the case of the syllabi, the complaint is usually from the industry, and this is reflected in the low employability quotient discussed later, however, without the existence of objective indicators.

Quality of Faculty: The number of technical institutions in India, imparting education and research skills in engineering and technology has risen to 1,475 with an annual intake of nearly 5,00,000, according to the AICTE (2006). According to the AICTE, the approved intake for 2011-12 (at the undergraduate engineering level) is 10.66 lakh.3 Currently, based on the established AICTE norms of student:teacher ratio (1:15) and the cadre ratio of 1:2:6 for professors:readers:lecturers, the total shortage of teaching staff is over 40,000 and the shortage in the different cadres is professors – 4531, readers – 9,063 and lecturers – 27,187. The shortage of PhDs exceeds 30,000, while the shortfall at the master’s level is over 24,000. This is the picture for India as a whole, and the situation in Kerala is actually no better, or in some cases, even worse than the all India pattern (AICTE 2006).

First of all, the most recent report, Annual Technical Education Review 2008 (NTMIS Nodal Centre for Kerala (2008))

68 reports a shortage of teachers: as against the sanctioned strength of 6,982 teachers (as on 31 March 2008), there were only 6,466 teachers on the rolls of the various engineering colleges leaving an uncovered gap of 516. The shortage is more acute in the popular branches of electronics and communications, computer science and IT. Second, even most of the existing teachers have only a graduate degree themselves (Figure 4) and it is not immediately clear about their experience, although discussions have revealed that most of these graduate teachers are fresh hands with very little experience. In addi

tion, the attrition rate among the teachers is as high as 30%4 as for most of them a teaching assignment is only a stop-gap arrangement till they fi nd themselves better employment in the industry, where salary and conditions of work are far more attractive. This is, especially, so in the most popular branches.

Figure 4: Distribution of Teacher Qualification in Engineering Colleges in Kerala (as on 31 March 2008)

42.7 6.8 0.6 Graduate Postgraduate PhD Others

Source: NTMIS Nodal Centre for Kerala (2010).

In order to quantify the effect of faculty qualification on results obtained, we did an exercise based on data from a sample of colleges under the University of Kerala. For this, we designed a “Faculty Qualification Index” which is defined as the weighted average of scores obtained based on the level of qualifi cation (a score of 1 for just being a graduate teacher, a score of 2 in the case of a postgraduate qualification, and finally, a score of 3 for having a doctoral degree). The index will range from 1 to 3 and the closer it is to 3, the better it is. Only one government and one aided college were able to cross the index of 2. Except for the two colleges from the self-financing sector, which could get a score of 1.9, all the others are close to 1.5. As the quality of teachers is an important factor that affects the results of students, we hypothesised a

may 26, 2012 vol xlviI no 21

positive correlation between the index and the pass rates of colleges in the sense that colleges having a score closer to 3 have a higher pass rate, and so on. The results of this exercise are reported in Table 8.

The zero-order correlation between faculty qualifi cation index and the pass percentage shows a statistically signifi cant (at 1% level) positive correlation (r=.74 p=.0059). If we eliminate LBS College from the sample, the correlation coeffi cient increases (r=.87, p=.0005). What is unique to LBS is that, being under the government, it has faculty visiting from other government colleges on a special working arrangement which gives it access to highly qualified teachers. While this result supports the hypothesis, it should not be taken as evidence to prove that quality of teachers is what determines the results. Due to lack of data we have not controlled for other factors like ability of students and infrastructure. It is also expected that students with a better ability having obtained higher ranks would choose government and aided colleges for a lower fee and quality teachers.

Higher learning in the technical education sector in Kerala is also affected by capacity problems. There are only a few seats for postgraduate education in the state. Between 1991 and 2007, intake in graduate, postgraduate and diploma courses in Kerala grew 10 times (Table 9). In the same period, intake at the postgraduate and diploma levels increased only three times. The total intake at the graduate level surpassed that at the diploma level in 2001. This limits the supply of capable teachers in the immediate future.

The only positive change that has happened lately is the improvement in the salary structure of the staff of government engineering colleges. It has made academia a bit more attractive than earlier. When the quality of engineering institutions, which offer higher education, is low, it is unlikely that they can provide quality teachers for graduate level education. This poor quality and in some cases even a shortage of faculty has been thrown up by a number of detailed university-wise inspection reports, done by the department of technical education, on self-fi nancing colleges under each of the five universities in the state. Although the detailed reports are not available, abstracts of the reports5 give in a tabular form the situation regarding the self-fi nancing colleges with respect to the availability and quality of faculty. These further confirm the observations that we have made and also show

that the government has enough quantitative evidence with it to take corrective actions.

The drawbacks of higher education in the state indicate that the technical education system in the state may not be able to address the need of quality teachers in the immediate future. Interventions made by the state in the form of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) was restricted to a few of the established government colleges, and therefore, has Table 9: Student Intake – Graduate, Postgraduate and Diploma Levels

Course Year

1991 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Postgraduate 256 303 336 433 453 611 647 724 782

Graduate 2,810 8,820 11,293 18,280 19,889 23,643 24,585 26,349 28,578

Diploma 4,488 10,140 10,295 10,350 10,285 10,435 10,760 10,853 12,342 Source: NTMIS Nodal Centre for Kerala (2008).

not been of any help to reverse the quality of faculty in any significant sense. The ability of TEQIP to improve the quality of teachers of even the participating institutions is a debatable proposition. This aspect is discussed in some more detail in Section 4.

3.2 Aptitude and Capability of the Students

The common entrance exam was created to allocate seats to students applying for graduate level technical education. It is also expected to be a filter, which will select students with aptitude and capabilities for technical education. Apart from the performance in the common entrance exams, there is also a requirement of certain minimum marks for qualifying education for admission to colleges (50% marks in mathematics and 50% marks in physics, chemistry and mathematics put together, those with a three-year diploma in engineering with 50% marks in the fi nal examination are also eligible and there is a 5% relaxation for students from socially and economically backward communities). While these mechanisms are expected to ensure that only candidates with an aptitude for engineering gain admission to technical education institutions, in the liberalised regime these filters began to show their weakness.

The entrance examination based on the objective tests is completely detached from the learning that happens at school. While preparations for the entrance exam help students qualify for admission to engineering colleges, they do not prepare them for higher academic challenges. The boom in private entrance coaching shows how crucial these preparations are for fulfilling students’ aspirations. Many educationists in

Source: Own compilation.

Economic & Political Weekly

Kerala have pointed out the flaw in selecting students through objective tests. They emphasise the need to include marks from the qualifying education among the criteria for selection. In 2008, an expert committee constituted by the government for reform of entrance examinations submitted its report.6 This report suggested major reforms, which included giving 50% weightage to marks obtained in the qualifying examination, while calculating the rank. This will reduce the signifi cance of entrance examination coaching. This new approach was adopted in the entrance examination from 2011 onwards.

Another problem with the entrance examination is that students may obtain a high rank in it even after scoring very low marks (sometimes even negative) in mathematics. A random check on the actual marks obtained by candidates in one of the recent entrance examinations revealed this lacuna (State Planning Board 2006). This means that students with very little mathematical capability are able to get into engineering, which can also affect their subsequent performance.

New self-financing institutions have made the selection process even worse. They allow students who can afford the fees to join engineering courses even if their rank is low. The minimum mark for the qualifying exam has become the only important criterion to ensure that students with the right ability for technical education are selected. Unfortunately, this requirement is set at such a low base, that many who do not have the required basic knowledge also enrol for technical education. Conflict between the managements of these institutions and the government has led to a situation where different sets of criteria are used for selection by different institutions every year. Some even conduct their own entrance tests. In short, there is no good mechanism to ensure that only meritorious candidates gain admission for technical education.

3.3 Other Arguments

There is an argument that poor showing by self-fi nancing engineering educational institutions is not necessarily due to their inferior quality but due to the fee differential which attracts better students to government colleges. While there is a logic in this argument, there is some evidence, which suggests that it need not be the case. The post-liberalised phase has also seen a spurt in private tuition centres for engineering graduate students. The demand for these centres indicates that colleges are not able to fulfil the learning needs of students.

Hiring teaching staff is a challenge for these newly formed colleges. They mostly employ teachers who have retired from the quality of technical education in the country. While at one extreme, the country has the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the lesser National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the majority of the engineering institutes in the country suffer from poor quality, so much to say that most of the graduates produced by these institutes are not employable by industry. This has been a constant refrain of the industry (Banerjee and Muley 2008). Because of the quality factor, there is the paradox of unemployment of engineers coexisting with shortages of it.

As a way of reversing the trend, the government, based on a soft loan from the World Bank, initiated a programme known as the TEQIP. It was started in 2003 with a fi ve-year validity, but was later extended up to 2009. The project was meant to support the production of high quality technical professionals through reforms in the technical/engineering education system in the country. It had two components. The programme covered selected engineering colleges in 11 states across two cycles. Kerala was one of the first states selected for implementing the programme, and within Kerala fi ve colleges7 were selected for implementing quality improvements. A cumulative expenditure of Rs 52.9 crore was spent on the fi ve colleges, majority of which (almost 50%) went to one of the oldest colleges under the ownership of the state, namely, the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. Since the total number of students in all these five colleges works out only to about 15% of the total number of engineering students in the state, TEQIP coverage was not significant enough to make a dent into the quality of technical education in the state as a whole. Further, the colleges selected were some of the better performing ones. An official evaluation of the TEQIP (Spectrum Planning 2010) showed that while the programme has been very s uccessful in improving physical infrastructure, it has not been that successful in terms of faculty development. For instance, the programme’s impact in raising the quality of the faculty is very limited (ibid) and also the score that Kerala has received on five of the performance parameters was inferior to the best performing state, namely, West Bengal. The impact on academic excellence, although better performing than West Bengal, could have been more if efforts were made to accredit more programmes in the institutions (Figure 5).

Recent changes in the AICTE norms for appointment of engineering faculty and the initiatives from state government with regard to the qualification for fresh appointments at engineering

Figure 5: Impact of TEQIP: Kerala vs West Bengal

9

government engineering colleges and also fresh graduates.

8

ence. A quick look at the list of faculty in engineering colleges

6

under the University of Kerala shows that only the govern

5

ment and aided colleges and one self-financing college with

Average score

good results have substantial number of teaching staff with

4 3

2

postgraduate or higher level education.

1 0

7.6 5.55 7.17 6.79 5.32 6.17 8.2 7.35 5.72 6.63 West Bengal Kerala

For quite some time, there has been recognition, especially at the

may 26, 2012 vol xlviI no 21

EPW

even to the commercial banking

Applications Loans Sanctioned Loan Disbursed

NPA as at March

No No Amount No Amount

lies have secured educational

loans from the commercial

banking system. The educa

tional loans became popular

High Court of Kerala. Following the observations made by the court, the government has appointed an expert committee to draw up guidelines for extension of approval, sanctioning of new courses, increase in intake in existing courses, etc, in self-financing colleges. Based on the recommendations of this committee, the government has on 31 January 2012 passed an order9 setting out the conditions under which the licences of existing self-financing colleges may be extended (see Annexure 3 (p 73) conditions for securing extensions). This extension is now clearly tied to the colleges achieving a certain threshold level of pass rates. The threshold levels fi xed are rather low and most of the colleges may not have much difficulty in measuring up to it. However, it will now be instructive to see if the government has any resolve to implement even this order.

Controlling the negative consequences of the liberalised re-case of other technical education streams like Masters in Comgime is another challenge. Driven by the dream of lucrative puter Applications. Neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, jobs in information and communications technology (ICT) in-where many students from Kerala have enrolled for technical dustry and the easy availability of educational loans, many education, are also affected in the same manner. students opt for technical education without considering their One good sign though is that many seats in technical educaability and aptitude. Often they are driven by family pressure. tion are vacant these days, which gives the indication that so-Based on the data we have here, increasingly, nearly two-ciety is becoming more realistic. At the same time, the manthirds of them do not obtain a degree even after several at-agements of these institutions are forcing governments to tempts to clear the exams. It affects their morale so badly that change policies so that they get more students. The demand some of them even resort to taking their own life rather than for reducing the minimum qualification is an example. These accepting failure. This points a finger to a larger social prob-institutions only care about intake and fees obtained and not lem in the making. The situation is partly under control now, their output. It is unfortunate that the government is driven by because of the boom in services sectors like telecommunica-pressure from the management and the middle class and not tions, and insurance, which absorb some of them in non-by realities and social development goals as far as technical technical jobs. However, they do not offer a long-term career education in the state is concerned.

Notes which is required for jobs in different sectors. Annexure 1: Trends in Intake (in Numbers) at The skill-specifi c modules vary from computer Undergraduate Engineering Degree Courses

programming, electronics and communica-across States and Union Territories: 1990-91

Kerala located at the Cochin University of Scitions, mechanical engineering, civil engineer-through 2007-08 ence and Technology, http://nodalcentre.cu

ing, accounts, marketing, human resources,

States/UTs 1990-91 2007-08 Average Annual

sat.ac.in/ (accessed on 21 March 2008).

financial services, etc. The candidate can

Growth Rate (%)

2 This finding at the individual college level cor

choose the skill modules based on his/her edu

roborates what we observed at the aggregate Andhra Pradesh 8,070 82,970 54.60

cation and/or interest.

level as well.

Tamil Nadu 12,855 80,417 30.92

3 See the AICTE website: http://www.aicte-in-

Maharashtra 20,425 48,250 8.01

dia.org/statistics.htm (accessed on 21 March References 2012). Karnataka 19,452 46,375 8.14

AICTE (2006): Report of the High Power Committee 4 There are no official estimates of the attrition

for Faculty Development in Technical Institu-Uttar Pradesh 28,953

rate. A recent newspaper report does provide

tions, All India Council of Technical Education

Kerala 4,512 24,413 25.95

some estimates. See Naha (2007), http://www.

(Chairman: P Rama Rao).

hindu.com/edu/2007/09/11/stories/ Madhya Pradesh 2,265 20,210 46.60

Aspiring Minds (2011): Employability of Engineers

2007091150020100.htm (accessed on 16 Febru-

West Bengal 15,477

State Wise, Excerpts from National Employabil

ary 2012).

ity Study, Aspiring Minds Research Cell. Rajasthan 1,629 15,045 48.45

5 These are available at the website of the de-

Banerjee, Rangan and Vinayak P Muley (2008):

partment of technical education, Government Punjab 1,508 14,880 52.16

Engineering Education in India, Department of

of Kerala, http://www.dtekerala.gov.in/index.

Orissa 1,325 13,014 51.89

Energy Science and Engineering (Mumbai:

php?option=com_content&view=article&id=

92&Itemid=1 (accessed on 20 February 2012).

Indian Institute of Technology). Gujarat 2,780 12,965 21.55 6 The main recommendations of the expert com-MoHRD (2011): Statistics of Higher and Technical Haryana 1,085 12,785 63.43 mittee to reform entrance examinations may Education 2009-10, Bureau of Planning Moni-

Delhi 1,290 4,330 13.86

be found in the government order, http:// toring and Statistics (New Delhi: Ministry of

Chhattisgarh 4,020

www.cee-kerala.org/docs/keam2011/reform- Human Resource Development, Government

sreport.pdf (accessed on 16 February 2012). of India). Jharkhand 3,385 7 The five colleges are College of Engineering, Naha, Abdul Lateef (2007): “To Engineer Faculty Pondicherry 300 2,370 40.59

Thiruvananthapuram, LBS College of Engi- Improvement”, The Hindu, 11 September.

Bihar 2,375 1,905 -1.16

neering, Kasargod, Model Engineering College, NTMIS Nodal Centre for Kerala (various issues):

Kochi, College of Engineering, Chengannur, Jammu and Kashmir 480 1,545 13.05

Sree Chithra Thirunal College of Engineering,

Annual Technical Manpower Review, Kerala

(Engineering) (Cochin: Cochin University of Uttaranchal 1,440 Trivandrum. While the former is a government Science and Technology).

Himachal Pradesh 210 1,260 29.41

college, the latter four are self-fi nancing col

– (2010): Annual Technical Education Review,

leges of various hues. Chandigarh 465 800 4.24

Kerala (Cochin: Cochin University of Science

8 This is based on a private communication that and Technology). Assam 660 750 0.80 we had with R V G Menon, a leading engineer-

Spectrum Planning (2010): Impact Evaluation of Goa 154 740 22.38

ing educationist from Kerala.

Technical Education Quality Improvement

9 See the website of the department of technical Sikkim 525

Programme-Phase 1 (2003-2009) (Delhi: Spec

education, Government of Kerala, http:// Meghalaya 240

trum Planning).

www.dtekerala.gov.in/index.

php?option=com_content&view=article&id=

State Planning Board (2006): Human Development Arunachal Pradesh 210 210 0.00

92&Itemid=1 (accessed on 20 February 2012). Report-Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram: State Tripura 120 180 2.94 Planning Board, Government of Kerala).

10 AMCAT is a multidimensional test with the ap-Mizoram 120

titude (consisting of English, quantitative abil-Vinayan, Soumya (2011): “Indebted Education-

Manipur 115

ity and logical ability) and Aspiring Minds Per-Social Implications of Student Loans in Higher sonality Inventory (AMPI) modules being com-Education: A Case Study of Kerala”, Council for Total 82,170 4,39,689 25.59 pulsory and additional skill-specifi c module Social Development, Hyderabad. Source: Ministry of Human Resource Development (2011).

may 26, 2012 vol xlviI no 21

Annexure 2: Recent Changes in AICTE Norms for Appointments as Faculty in Engineering Colleges and Its Perceived Implications on Quality of Faculty

Until the most recent AICTE salary reform, the minimum qualification for an engineering college lecturer was a first class BTech. One needed an MTech for promotion as assistant professor (AP). So, after a couple of years of service as lecturer, they would proceed on leave for higher studies. There were also government programmes for deputing them for higher studies. Because they were already employed they would be highly motivated in specialising in some particular area, which was relevant to their work. It was with the last reform that the post of lecturer was abolished and recruitment category was fi xed as AP. A new category of AP was created in lieu of the earlier AP post. There can be a difference of opinion about the impact of this change on the quality of the faculty. When the recruitment was open to fresh BTech graduates with good academic record, many young bright graduates used to opt for teaching. However, when MTech is made the minimum qualification, this route is closed. An intending teacher has to first get an MTech and then only can apply for a teacher’s post.

This could discourage many eager youngsters from opting for teaching career, because of the uncertainty.

Source: Private communication from R V G Menon dated 19 March 2012.

Annexure 3: Conditions Set Out for Securing Extension of the Approval of Existing Self-financing Engineering Colleges in Kerala

• Extension of approval shall be granted to all the existing self-financing institutions in the state for 2012-13. But for 2013-14, extension of approval will be granted only to the institutions with minimum running average pass percentage in the first appearance in all subjects (full pass) up to IV, VI and VIII semesters of 25%, 30%, and 35%, respectively and for 2014-15 at 30%, 35%, and 40%, respectively.

• There shall be an initial period for all institutions to stabilise its academic operations before new courses are approved. From 2012-13, for commencing new BTech courses or for increase in intake of students in existing courses, the following conditions shall apply:

(i) Only those institutions, which have run BTech courses for four semesters (i e, whose first batch of students have reached at least Vth semester of the course and whose results up to IVth semester have been published), are eligible to apply for new BTech courses in the intake in the existing BTech course.

(ii) Sanction will only be given to those institutions with minimum running average pass percentage in the first appearance in all subjects (full pass) up to IV, VI, and VIII semesters having a minimum of 35%, 40% and 45%, respectively.

• Only those institutions which have run BTech courses for three years (i e, whose fi rst batch of students have reached at least VIIth semester of the course and whose results up to VIth semester have been published) will be eligible for starting MTech courses. From 2012-13, for new MTech courses in existing self-financing institutions which offer BTech courses, only those institutions which have at least seven faculty members with MTech degrees in that branch of engineering will be eligible. The minimum running average pass percentage in the first appearance in all subjects (full pass) up to VIth and VIIIth semesters shall be 40% and 50%, respectively in the existing BTech courses.

Source: Department of Technical Education, Government of Kerala, http://www.dtekerala. gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view =article&id=92&Itemid=1 (accessed on 20 February 2012).

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