PART 1

March 2013 |
Volume 1 | Issue 2

Indias most prestigious magazine dedicated to Engineering Community

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Volume 1 | Issue 2 | March 2013

EDITOR WATCH
BOARD OF PATRONS Vishnu Dusad, CEO & MD, Nucleus Software Rakesh Mittal, (IAS Retd.) Kabir Peace Mission Michel Danino, Convener, IFIH, Coimbatore Renu Malhotra, Seed the World Inc, USA Prof. S K Kak, Vice-Chancellor, MTU Prof. Veena Bansal, IIT Kanpur Pawan Gupta, SIDH, Mussorrie Prof. V Desai, IIT Kharagpur Sushil Kumar Singh, Member Parliament Ravi Ayyagari, Advisor to Minister MHRD Sunil Sisodiya, Kankroli (Rajsamand) Anuj Gupta, CEO Final Quadrant Solutions BOARD OF ADVISORS Ram Krishnaswamy, IIT Global Prof. Sanjeev Singh, Delhi University Abhishek Tripathi, LLB (NLSUI Bangalore) Dr. Lav R Vashney, (MIT California) Prodyut Bora, PGP (IIM Ahmedabad) Brij Khandelwal, Sr. Journalist (IANS) Anant Asthana, LLB (AMU) Anirban Ganguly, PhD (Jadavpur University) Som Gupta, Network 18 Dr. Surbhi Vaish, MBBS (AIIMS) Prof. V. K. Sharma, Employability Expert A. Zaman, SCOPE EDITORIAL BOARD M. Pramod Kumar, B.Tech IIT Madras Srijan Bhatnagar, ISB Hyderabad Dr. Anil Gourishetty, IIT Roorkee Ashutosh Gupta, PhD University of Maryland, College Park, USA Nikhil Pant, B.E (MNIT Allahabad) Anshul Gupta, PGP (IIM Bangalore) Amarendra Trivedi, B.Tech (UPTU) Gaurav Mittal, B.Tech (IIT Roorkee)

Trust & Value

The journey chalked out by Engineering Watch is progressing and building blocks of trust and value proposition amongst the various stakeholders. Be it the industry recruiting the bulk of engineering talent or be it the academic institutions nurturing talent or be it the technology players who are developing innovative interventions to further facilitate the teaching, learning & administrative processes, everyone is coming along and reposing their faith in us. Its heartening that in such a short span Engineering Watch has emerged to be Indias most prestigious magazine dedicated to engineering community evoking conversation right from the schools to the hallowed precincts of Research & Development Institutions of the country. This multi-faceted conversation has helped us in cracking the innumerable information gaps and has given key original insights into the state of affairs. Empowered by these, we are in the process of creating state of the art forums, products & services aimed at solving some of the persisting problems around the productive & effective employment of engineering talent pool in the country. The forthcoming School Summit 2013 aims at recognizing the top schools of the country based on their excellence in STEM Education, Future Readiness and Value Centricity in teachinglearning & administrative processes. The Chairmen of Several State School Boards have recommended the names of schools from their respective boards. A large number of schools have already send in their direct nominations to this esteemed exercise which intends to create a representative pool of institutions committed to excellence. I seek your support in this journey of creating blocks of trust & value around engineering education in the country. Ravi Pokharna
Director Relationships

Building Blocks of

the Global Engineering Map

The nation recognized the immaculate contributions of three of its defense scientists this year by giving them the prestigious padma awards. This issue carries a detailed interview with Dr. V K Saraswat, Chief of Defence Research Development Organization who has been decorated with a Padma Bhushan. Dr. Saraswat elucidates his views as to how the declaration of the Honble Defence Ministers statement to move towards indigenous self-sufficiency in fulfilling defence requirements can be fulfilled by retaining & gearing up the homegrown engineering talent. The lone Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Human Resource Development EdCIL is steered by a dynamic and visionary CMD who talks candidly and confidently. One of the very few women CMDs in the Indian Public Sector, she talks at length on what all is ailing the Indian Education Sector and what all needs to be done to eventually take it to a global forefront. We would need to change the mindset goes her clarion call. The founders of various Private Universities & Colleges assembled at the Russian Centre of Science & Culture on the 15th of February, the occasion of Basant Panchami dedicated to the Goddess of Knowledge. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development felicitated them for their contributions to engineering education in the country. The list of these select edupreneurs was drawn up by an eminent jury comprising of ViceChancellors of State Technical Universities, Members from the Industry, Parliament, Bureaucracy and other eminent academicians. This issue carries a first hand account of 6 youngsters who went for an educational tour to Gujarat to understand the innate DNA of the development story going out there. This special coverage titled Engineering India the Gujarat Way might be of great interest to the readers. Indias ascendance on the global economic scene would be duly contributed by her ascendance on the technical education landscape. Engineering Watch remains committed to help India seize its due demographic dividend by its various initiatives & interventions. We do look forward for your candid reviews & feedback. Sincerely

Elevating Indias Stature on

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Engineering Watch | March 2013

EDUPRENEURS CONCLAVE
2013
INTERVIEW SPECIAL FEATURE
ENGINEERING INDIA
REGULATION OF HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA : CHANGING PARADIGMS & FUTURE ROADMAP

FUTURE OF LEARNING

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Dr. V. K. Saraswat DG, DRDO

THE GUJARAT WAY

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SPECIAL JURY CHOICE AWARDEES

OPINION
AWARDEES FROM STATES
Brig (Dr) R S Grewal VSM

IN CONVERSATION

98

JURY MEETING

JURY CHOICE AWARDS - OUTSTANDING

ALOK KEJRIWAL

99
JURY CHOICE AWARDS - IMPRESSIVE

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Mrs. Anju Banerjee CMD, EdCIL

MOOCs
MOOCs

KEY NOTE ADDRESS

100
AM
INSTITUT

JURY CHOICE AWARDS - VALUABLE

CAMPUS WATCH
E
OF
T E C H NO L

VICE CHANCELLOR CHOICE AWARDS

JURY CHOICE AWARDS - PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

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Dr. Shashi Tharoor Minister of State, MHRD

KCNIT, BANDA

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EDITORIAL BOARD CHOICE AWARDS

22 24 28 36 74 76 77 78 80 86 92

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A RA N NIG

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Kothari, Vikram Sarabhai, Meghnad Saha, Homi Jahangir Bhabha, M.S. Swaminathan, S.N. Bose, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam could
steer our country to great heights despite rudimentary facilities available in their times.

Our country has always encouraged homegrown scientists and technologists and has bestowed on them bigger roles and recognitions. That is how great visionaries like D.S.

D.S. Kothari, Vikram Sarabhai, Meghnad Saha, Homi Jahangir Bhabha, M.S. Swaminathan, S.N. Bose, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam could steer our country to great heights despite rudimentary facilities available in their times. We recently celebrated the 64th Republic Day of India where the latest military preparedness of the country was put to public display. How do you see the ascendance of India on the global forefront in terms of defense preparedness? It is such time, when the Nations are measured by their technological prowess. Right from the explorations in Deep Space, right down to commercial aviation to communication, Nations are weighed by their potential to explore and venture into new areas. India, to its credit, stands tall and has all the ingredients to be categorized it as a reckonable power. We have developed ourselves the Arihant nuclear submarine, futuristic tanks, our own fighter aircraft and further the successful flight test of AGNI-5 Missile propelled us to the elite club of Nations. From the point of view of governance, the investments right from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to this day, the impetus provided for promoting and enriching Science and Technology are paying rich dividends. The country has achieved a good level of maturity in the area of Aeronautics, Armaments, Combat Vehicles and Engineering, Electronics and Computer Sciences, Materials, Missiles and Strategic Systems, Micro Electronics & Devices, Cyber Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Naval Research and Development, and Life Sciences. Devoted to innovation and excellence, the DRDO remains committed to make India strong and selfreliant. Our efforts have reached levels, which can really make a difference. I always had immense faith in Indian Technology and Systems. DRDO has made tremendous progress since 2010 particularly in the field of missiles cluster with 70 successful launchs of major missiles. The inducted Electronic Warfare systems, NBC defence technologies, Missiles, Armaments, Main Battle Tanks, UAVs have been extensively field tested by Users reflecting the operational preparedness of our Nation. Today we are making world class systems and in the coming five years our country will be equipped with a variety of potent weapon systems. What is the level of self-reliance India has achieved across various tactical defense areas through DRDO? It is essential that technologies must develop to keep pace with a rapid evolution of Defence doctrines and strategies. It is also very clear that, higher the indigenous content of the systems, greater the national confidence

This is to congratulate you for receiving the Padma Award. It's really satisfying that 03 top defense scientists were adorned with this honour. How do you take this major shift whereby the homegrown scientists & technologists are being given bigger roles & recognitions? I am very happy that the efforts have been found worthwhile and recognized by the country. I am humbled and at the same time feel elevated. In recent times, we had successes in many of frontier defence technologies of Aeronautics, Armaments, Naval Systems, Missiles, NBC, Life Sciences etc. Also, in last couple of years, we had giant leaps in Missile technologies and had many successful missions, Agni 5 with a range of 5000 kms, Agni 4 nearing its induction, stupendous success of Air Defence, Astra, BrahMos etc. I am also happy that my colleagues Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO & MD, BrahMos Project and Sri Avinash Chander, Programme Director, AGNI Missions have also been honoured with Padma Awards. India is today a self reliant Nation due to the vital role played by the Government in advancing various key technologies. This Award could only be possible due to dedicated efforts of the entire DRDO fraternity who have in recent years strengthened our defence capabilities on multiple technological fronts. Our country has always encouraged homegrown scientists and technologists and has bestowed on them bigger roles and recognitions. That is how great visionaries like

Engineering www.engineeringwatch.in/vksaraswat Watch | March 2013

We have to change

bureaucratic system of administering

scientific & technical departments
Padma Bhushan

our current

Dr. V K Saraswat,
DG, DRDO

INTERVIEW
March 2013 | Engineering Watch

that the autonomy of their national decision making will not be affected in the period of crisis. Self-reliant Research Centres are therefore, essential for any country to maintain its strategic autonomy. DRDO's technology spectrum encompasses the entire gamut of defence requirements. It is now reckoned as a force in the country and indeed in the world as an advanced technology organization, a force to be reckoned with not just for national security, but for its great potential to evolve further into dual use technologies for enhancing economic development in several critical areas like aeronautics and aerospace, computer sciences, electronics, food and agriculture, life sciences, material sciences, shipping, telecommunications, radar, surface transportation, and above all for proven management and administrative systems, procedures and governance practices that enable effective collaboration with public and private sector industries and laboratories. DRDO has developed and delivered systems and technologies ranging from small arms to a family of missiles and strategic systems, combat aircraft, battle tanks, series of radars and electronic surveillance system, rocket launchers, sonars, torpedoes and exotic ceramic, metallic and composite materials. DRDO has developed life-support systems and technologies for harsh environments, high altitude regions and deployments involving extreme stresses, agro-animal technologies and innovative ways to improve the health and operational efficiency of our troops even in remotest areas. These technologies have played an important part in giving India a much needed clout The development of an Indian AEW&CS utilizing about

1000 indigenous sub-systems is an important milestone. The Indian Missile family is DRDO's pride. Conceived as part of the prestigious Integrated Guided Missile development program, DRDO has developed a family of missiles. Design, Development, Induction and deployment of Electronic and Communication systems like Divya Drishti, Samyukta, Sangraha are the pioneer contributions of DRDO to the Nation. In the recent past a number of initiatives have also been launched in the critical area of Cyber security with launch of development activities in hardware, software, Cyber defence products and network elements. In the field of Armaments and Combat Vehicles, DRDO has achieved considerable success with the development of the Main Battle Tank Arjun, Multi barrel Rocket Launching system Pinaka, Engineering and Bridging systems which spurred a number of variants and gave rise to key technologies. Naval applications cover the field of underwater sensors and weapons, special materials, fleet support systems and critical oceanographic studies in the Indian Ocean region. DRDO also has a number of labs working in the Life Science cluster in support of the man behind the machine. The areas of interface cover the entire gamut of soldier requirements right from selection and training to Performance evaluation, protection, Clothing and Nutrition in hazardous environments. System and product development can only be achieved by developments in the key areas of Material sciences. Development of Titanium sponge, maraging steel beneficial to the space program and indigenous naval steel for our aircraft carriers are major DRDO achievements.

www.engineeringwatch.in/vksaraswat

India is today - one of the 4 countries in the world to have a multi-level strategic deterrence capability, one of the 5 countries of the world to have its own BMD program and underwater missile launch capability, one of the 7 countries to have developed its own Main Battle Tank & an indigenous 4th generation Combat aircraft, one of the 6 countries of the world to have developed a nuclear powered submarine, one of the select few countries of the world to have its own Electronic warfare & multi Range radar program - An inspiring track record for a developing nation. DRDO is proud to be the moving force behind the development and deployment of such state-of-the-art platforms and weapon systems. Today, over 55% of the requirements for our defence forces are being met indigenously, largely with the technologies developed by DRDO, besides range of spinoffs for societal benefits, contributing greatly to our nation's economy as well as civil society. What are the biggest challenges faced by DRDO in furthering its mission & mandate? 1. We want very strong Academic Institutes for doing the background Research for us. Good faculties and research-oriented institutes can greatly support various Projects of DRDO to carryout focused research in a timely manner. 2. Shortage of Skilled manpower. The success of a nation or an organization completely depends on its human resources.

3. Infrastructure development in key areas. India needs to have its own Silicon-Nano-MEMS and many other fabrication facilities and foundries. 4. Of course, due to various circumstances, we are not able to spend optimally in R&D activities and hence Funds availability is a key factor. What makes DRDO one of the most happening places to work for the best Engineering talent in the country?

Focus on specific critical Research areas. Strong Scientific culture with freedom at various levels. Mission oriented Research and collaborations with Academic institutes. Own Production centres for critical products. Concurrent engineering practices involving production agencies right from the development stage. Government's constant support for leveraging the Defence R&D of our country.

We have a better system for R&D in India now and that makes the difference. Our challenges are current, which will satisfy the needs of our future system. DRDO has established a hi-tech, research-development-production

DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

eco-system. It is the competence and capability to conceptualise, design, develop and lead to the production of the state-of-the-art defence systems and technologies that makes DRDO a class apart. DRDO has a holistic vision and roadmap to evolve technologies for meeting current challenges and future threats. It is now focusing on R&D activities directed towards developing future systems such as fifth generation combat aircraft, hypersonic vehicle, unmanned combat aerial vehicles, induction of ballistic missiles defence, air independent propulsion systems, active electronic array radars, electronic warfare systems, directed energy weapons and space based surveillance. An Engineer in DRDO gets an opportunity to excel not only in his specific domain but also in a multitude of technologies. This makes DRDO one of the most sought after organizations in the country. What's the level of R&D engagement of DRDO with the premier technical institutions like IITs, NITs, IISc etc. catering to the tactical needs of the country? What in your opinion is the level of enthusiasm towards such project amongst the faculty members & students? The idea that the DRDO could do collaborative in research with academic institutions originally came from former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam when he was the Director of Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad. He had envisaged the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme in 1983. Kalam's suggestion led to the founding of the Advanced Research Centre, a joint initiative of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the DRDO. From this initiative, the DRDO did 30 to 40 projects relating to image processing, missile guidance, re-entry systems and so on, which produced good results and today, in almost each and every Programme and Projects of DRDO, the premier technical institutions like IITs, NITs and IISc are involved. As you are aware that DRDO works on the gamut of technologies, based on the expertise available at the institutes, we collaborate. Let me tell you that AKASHDEEP, a medium size Aerostat system indigenously designed and developed by Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra, a DRDO laboratory, has been put into skies at IIT Kanpur Airstrip. There was a great response during the trials both from students & faculties to work on these technologies. IIT Kanpur had a good exposure

and also conducted a few experiments with their own instrumentation package as payload to study and validated dynamic stability model of the Aerostat generated by IIT & ADRDE thereby demonstrating the strong collaboration. In a new initiative, DRDO has created a Research and Innovation Centre (RIC) at the Research Park of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras, Chennai. RIC is spread over 36,000 sq ft with high-end platforms for executing several state-of-the-art technologies, and will facilitate bright young scientists from different laboratories to work under one roof to focus on developing cutting-edge technologies. The Centre will give new impetus to pursue directed researches in close association with academia, industry, and research scholars. You might also have heard about the success accomplished by the mutually beneficial research collaboration between Bharathiar University and DRDO, which has given rich experience and expertise to further consolidate the collaboration by establishing an exclusive Research Centre at Bharathiar University. Such Research Centres of Excellence aim to create right climate to carry out Defence R&D activities to analyse both basic and applied problems associated with man and his physiology. Very recently, Delhi University and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have entered into a mutually complimentary collaboration for undertaking scientific projects as well as exchange of knowhow between DRDO scientists and the faculty. The DRDO is going to set up a Centre of Excellence in the university and the faculty can collaborate with the DRDO scientists for their projects as well. DRDO has always been interacting with Indian academia for basic research and technology seeding which serve as feeder to development projects. Many Centres of excellence in key areas of interest have been created, in an effort to fill the technology gaps in the country. They include computational fluid dynamics center at IISc, composite manufacturing at NAL and IIT Kanpur, aerospace design at IIT Mumbai, life sciences at Bharathiar University, millimetric devices at University of Calcutta and high energy materials at University of Hyderabad. At present, about 100 academic institutions across the country are part of the DRDO academia network. The Academia has been playing a crucial role in design, development, productionisation of key technologies in the country and DRDOs successes in

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multiple spheres of technologies are testimony to the level of enthusiasm and sense of involvement of faculty and research students in the country. Not only the Faculties and Students from Academia, even the Scientists, Engineers and Researchers from various Scientific bodies and PSUs of the country, have been harnessing the necessary facilities of DRDO for promotion of basic R&D and to catalyse crossfertilization of ideas with R&D agencies in other sectors as well for expanding and enriching the knowledge base in their respective areas. How do you see the involvement of private institutions imparting higher technical education to augment the R&D initiatives in the rightful direction contributing to national needs particularly in an area like defense? India is an ideal country for harnessing the engineering workforce for the myriad needs of the defence and civilian industries and deliver value added services for the tech savvy international giants. Today, the quality of education and training being imparted in the private technical institutions varies from excellent to poor, with some institutions competing with the best in the world and others suffering from different degrees of faculty shortages; infrastructure deficiencies; curricula obsolescence; poor involvement in knowledge creation and dissemination etc. Research culture so far has been limited to some of the better institutions, and most other institutions have still to embrace this culture. In recent years, we have seen a mammoth growth in private engineering institutions and they are simply producing lakhs of engineering graduates every year. The quality of engineers has gone down drastically and at some places it has just become a business. Our engineering curricula needs to be revised to the modern day engineering approaches and the faculties should be trained optimally in their domains for churning out Real Engineers. Introducing a research culture is a must for the all round development of the institution on the one hand, and its impact on society on the other. A larger ecosystem of research is the need of the hour. Without any differentiation, DRDO is ready to collaborate with many private institution for carrying out R&D in identified areas. DRDO only looks for deep-rooted academic interest with dedication from the faculty of the institutes. What 5 interventions in your opinion would help catapult India's performance in defense R&D? It can be safely said that India is a land of positive

opportunity when it comes to the defence R&D. On each of the critical success factors, from sustained government support, technical capability to enable manufacturing, supporting industry framework to a skilled human resource base, the nascent Indian defence R&D has a foothold strong enough to potentially grow into a leading defence hub. However, learning from global examples, some minor challenges need to be ironed out. (a) In our country very few engineers were opting for science and technology or research. In India, a meagre four persons out of every 1,000 are choosing S&T or research, compared to 110 in Japan, 76 in Germany and Israel, 55 in USA, 46 in Korea and 8 in China. Strong academic institutes producing Quality is the necessity. Hence, a conducive S&T and Research oriented atmosphere is essential. (b) The quantum of funds spent on Defence R&D in India is very less compared to many advanced nations. Sound financial assistance is essential for Research and Development in the core technologies areas. (c) Private industry should invest in R&D and complement our efforts. There is an acute shortage of quality Aerospace and Defence industries in the country. I would like to see a flagship national project on a major system in which DRDO can use its R&D expertise and synergize it with the skills available in our private industry. Such collaboration will fast track our National Projects. (d) Infrastructure in key areas needs to be urgently established in the country. Even today, we don't have a silicon fab facility and many other facilities to augment our R&D activities in the country. (e) We have to change our current bureaucratic system of administering scientific and technical departments, particularly if we have to inspire young scientists to participate enthusiastically in the task of building India into a scientific and technological powerhouse.

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In India, a meagre four persons out of every 1,000 are choosing S&T or research, compared to 110 in Japan, 76 in Germany and Israel, 55 in USA, 46 in Korea and 8 in China.

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

change
12

We have to

the Mindset
Mrs Anju Banerjee
Chairperson & Managing Director EdCIL

www.engineeringwatch.in/anjubanerjee

13

IN CONVERSATION

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

What has been the role & contribution of EdCIL in furthering the quality & access of higher technical education in the country? EdCIL offers consultancy technical services in different areas of education and resource development, which cover the entire spectrum in the education sector. It has over three decades of experience in conceptualization/ setting up of premier education institution such as Indian institute of Technology, Guwahati, Calicut, Indore, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), National Open School and IIITs. Therefore, we can say that EdCIL provides complete infrastructure development besides other operational/ technical support. Tell us more about the Recruitment & Assessment services of EdCIL? How can the innumerable engineering colleges take advantage of these services? EdCIL has extensive experience in facilitating Human Resource Development through Recruitment of Faculty /teachers and experts in diverse fields to various countries in Asia and Africa. Today the Indian teachers, faculty and professionals are in great demand in most Asian, African, and Western countries.

Nationals / Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) / NonResident Indians (NRIs) to Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Research programs. Every year EdCIL places about one thousand International students including Non Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and foreign students for pursuing graduate, post graduate and doctoral programmes in EdCIL's associated/ MoU institutions which have accreditations by regulatory bodies like UGC, NAAC, NBA, MCI etc. Most of the international students are opting for undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral programmes in Civil, Mechanical, Electronics & Communication, Architecture and Information Technology engineering. Hotel Management is also a popular choice. EdCIL is the only nodal agency under the Ministry of Human Resource Development promoting Indian education abroad for more than three decades. Every year, EdCIL is organizing educational fairs, road shows, seminar cum counseling sessions in about 15 countries especially SAARC countries, Middle East and African Nations to promote Indian education and attract more international students to pursue higher studies in India. What are the 5 key challenges which ail the Higher Technical Education in India? Number of institutions required vis--vis number available to meet the increase in GER.
Lack of Good infrastructure in existing technical

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EdCIL has successfully executed Recruitment projects in Botswana, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Mauritius, Oman, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, U.S.A., and Yemen etc. EdCIL's capability to recruit right person for the right job in a time bound manner has ensured increasing number of repeated orders and significant addition of new clients to the list. EdCIL's range of services include Identification of prospective candidates as per the re q u i re m e n t o f t h e c l i e n t s by re l e a s i n g advertisements and/ or through selected academic Institutions/ internal resource base, screening of applications and short listing of candidates in consultation with client, conducting interviews, facilitating the signing of contract between the selected candidates and client, making arrangements for the travel of selected candidates, pre departure assistance to the selected candidates. EdCIL places international students at various Indian institutions. What has been the trend of international students opting for higher technical studies in India? What is being done to attract more international students to India? EdCIL has been designated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India as the exclusive "Coordinating agency and Single Window facility" for the direct admission of eligible Foreign

institutions at par with the developed nations.

Shortage of quality technical teachers/faculty Dynamic system of designing & redesigning

course content as per evolution of needs of industry and requirement of society.

Preparing institutions for accreditation.

What's the future roadmap of EdCIL vis--vis strengthening higher technical education in India? EdCIL will look at enhancing its engagement in all the above 5 aspects which are listed as challenges in Higher Technical Education in India. We have got various public sector enterprises across various sectors. There are 19 major clusters where more than one public sector undertakings are operating. So, EdCIL being the only public sector undertaking in the education sector, don't you feel a need for more PSUs in the education sector?

www.engineeringwatch.in/anjubanerjee

15

I agree with you. We were set up in 1981-82. We are just one so far. At that time it was a very far sighted and very good idea to set up a company like this which is in the education sector, as an educational consultant. There was a need for it. In fact, in a recent target setting meeting, I did say that we need 20 such companies. There can be 20 EdCILs and all 20 such companies will have enough work to do. In comparison with the advanced countries like UK and US, we have got not many analytics based studies and reports in the education sector. For example EngineeringUK brings out its annual report which is a detailed analysis of the job prospects 10 years down the line. There is a clear projection that by 2020 UK will have to double up its annual capacity of intake of engineers. In India, when we have opened up, and we have got thousands of colleges in the private sector, there are many diverse opinions. The regulators say everything is going on well, but the industry says that out of 4 engineering graduates, only 1 is employable. So, how can we bridge this gap of information based projections, of the need, demand and supply gap, so that the opening of

new colleges or recognition of it can be duly organized? That is an area where, in some cases, we have also worked, in the sense that there is a very big gap between what is coming out of the colleges and employability. The synchronization between the education in institutions and industry, there is a lot that needs to be done. What I think is that it is a concept, which has started in India, but it is yet to really take roots in a real sense. We all know the need of it, in many forums it is discussed, but, in actuality, there are only few examples of successful models where the industry and institutions have worked together. In UK, and US, there is a good match of industry and institutions requirements. So, when they come out, they get into the industry fast. But here, I think we are very slow in that collaboration. If you have to make the students employable, you need to know what the industry needs, and teach accordingly. But I don't see EdCIL getting into that, because we are a not a regulatory body, we don't have powers for regulation. As a consultancy, we can. There should be a policy decision on it. So much of the syllabus will be determined by what the industry needs.

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

Does EdCIL, being a consulting organization, brings out its own outlooks and own studies? We do monitor in making a lot of studies and we do help in making a lot of studies. On behalf of the Government there are a lot of studies that we undertake, especially for the school education. We have done some of our own studies as a part of our Research & Development initiative . How do you think, with all the challenges and constraints that we have got, that India can really emerge as a pre -eminent global destination for higher technical education across the world? What all needs to be done? What time frame? We need to be very sure and clear, whether we want to do it or we don't want to. We are striving to be global, but we are not ready. I'll just give you an example. At a very serious discussion of how to look after foreign students in India, what facilities to give them, a very strong and vocal thought came from a very large section that, we have enough of our own students to care for. Why should we divert our energies to the foreign students? That really makes everything really grey and really hazy. We are highly populated; we

always have our own needs. We need more of everything, because we are very big and there will always be that gap. But when talking about global positioning, it doesn't happen just by talking. Firstly it is our mindset that matter. We need to have clear set policies. You see the countries where our Indian students are going; they are flocking towards those countries. They pay so much of money in Australia, in US, in UK, to study. Because they have money, or they can take loans or whatever. But we are not having a similar situation over here. There is an interest or curiosity amongst foreign students about India. There is also an acceptance that Indians when they come to their country, do very well. I think what baffles foreign students is the poor infrastructure, some of the processes and systems, they don't understand. They feel that getting simple information is also difficult. There is a problem of recognition of credits. Many students don't mind coming for one or two semesters in any course, but their country does not recognize credits, so why should they waste their time in India? Because a student also has limited time, he needs to get his degree and get off. We need to build our alliances. We need to have a clear vision and interest to become a global education destination and work towards it.

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www.engineeringwatch.in/anjubanerjee

How can the Education tourism take leverage from the larger campaigns to position India as a tourism destination, as a cultural tourism, as a medical tourism destination? We need to come up with quality institutions, with world-class syllabus, with world-class facility, with world class faculty. It will happen when they come to India, use these facilities, still at a reasonable cost, compared to where they would have gone, and feel they are getting value for money. This is where we need a clear mindset. Do we want to do it, or we don't? Medical tourism wanted to do it, they've done it. They have put in their money, and they have proved themselves. Why do you think that India should position itself as an emerging global destination for education? In education institutions your ties are built for life time. They can never be replaced. The people who studied in India, who reach senior positions in other countries; they are the best cultural and diplomatic ambassadors for us. Just a small example, we had placed a student of Rwanda, some years ago, and one of them became a minister in Rwanda. She came back to India, the first thing she said, she wanted to go and

visit EdCIL. Then she sent so many other students. It is a goodwill that money can't buy. So in an educational institution, your ties are built for life. If we are in a position to play a very positive constructive role in the world affairs, education must be a natural step. It is a very good tool that we have.

In education institutions your ties are built for life time. They can never be replaced. The people who studied in India, who reach senior positions in other countries; they are the best cultural and diplomatic ambassadors for us.

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March 2013 | Engineering Watch

18

You change
educating the
the society by

girl child
Dr. Shashi Tharoor,

while speaking to the Awardees of Edupreneurs Awards 2013 instituted by the Engineering Watch Magazine.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development Govt. of India

www.engineeringwatch.in/shashitharoor

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS 2013

Our vision for education in this country is what I would like to focus on. As you know, we have gone through an amazing journey in the last 65 years. Essentially when the British left, they left us with just 17% literacy. We had about 30 Universities, 700 colleges in the entire country and 4 lakh students at that time. Today we have gone to 70% literacy, we have 670 Universities, 35000 colleges and about 20 million students. So, the transformation has been dramatic. At the same time we cannot be complacent about it, because 74% still means that about a quarter of Indians don't know how to read and write, and some of the 74% may not be very good at it either. So the challenge is a very serious one. It starts at the bottom of the pyramid, at the lowest level, and goes up to the top to the space where you all are trying to work in the field of technical education. Let me stress that the bottom levels have not done too badly. Primary education enrolments have gone up so dramatically that the latest figures for the gross enrolment ratio at the primary level are 104%, so there are actually enrolled more kids than what existed in that age group. But when we get to Class 8th, it drops to 69% when we go to 11th and 12th, it drops to 39%. And by the time we are at University level, it is right down to just 18% against the global GER for Higher Education. So, we are behind the rest of the world. And if you look at the other yardsticks, if you look, for example, at the fact that most of the widely accepted international rankings for educational universities, there is no Indian University in the top 200 in the Times Higher Education Ranking, in the QS ranking and so on. There is a particular reason for that, that most of our institutions have tended to be teaching institutions, rather than giving heavy weightage for research. So, we are now encouraging our institutions to do more research. We are putting in research centres, innovation centres into our IITs and into the other institutions of higher education, and we will encourage more to do the same. Now I should stress two more things. The first is simply, that this is now a young peoples country. 540 million Indians are under the age of 25. 225 million in the age between 10 and 19. So, they are the ones who will be coming into college if we can train them and educate them properly in school system to be ready for a higher level of education. Do we have enough places for them, clearly not. Do we have sufficient quality. This is a big debate. I have often spoken in terms of Indian Education in terms of 4 other Es, apart from the E of education. EXPANSION The first is E of expansion, which I have described to you. Going from that modest level of 1947, to levels of today, that expansion was necessary. EQUITY Accompanied by a second E which is Equity, including those whove been left out. including those who were denied education in the earlier days, because of their birth, their caste, their religion, their region, their gender. Equity includes very great emphasis on gender education. Because when the British left us with 17% literacy, there was a gender divide too. Only 8% of Indian women were literate in 1947, so today when we spoke of 74%, there is still a gender divide. We have 82% men and 65% women literacy. So, the women have to be given an opportunity to catch up because there is nothing more transformational in any society, than educating girls.. We educate a boy, its very good, we educate a person, but if you educate a girl, you educate a family, you transform a community, you change the society. So, thats very important, we are trying everything to get more girls into school and keep them there. Dropout rates of girls by Class 8 are very high. Sometimes it can be something as simple as lack of toilet in the school. Girls, after a particular age, need the facility to be able to change, theres no such thing in the school, no toilet, they will go home, and many of them dont come back. So drop out rates can be avoided. in addition to that, we do need of course to put more resources in educating girls from under-privileged communities, backward communities, educating backward districts giving ample opportunities which we are doing through programmes like the Kasturba Gandhi Bhartiya Vidya and so on. However on focusing on these two Es of expansion and equity, I fear we have left out the third E of excellence.

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March 2013 | Engineering Watch

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS 2013

DE NT S CY RA TE LI

EXCELLENCE Quality is very important and has been lacking, by international yardsticks, and national yardsticks, and in the 12th 5 year plan, the emphasis is much more on quality. We want to see excellence in our system, thats the only way we can compete with the world. EMPLOYABILITY The 4th E which weve completely neglected so far is employability. Ive spoken to many many CEOs who say that once passing the IITs and top institutions, the students they hire from other engineering colleges and institutions, are frankly not upto the mark. After hiring these students they have to give them one more year of education to make up for the deficiencies what they have not learned from college. Im not talking about on- the job training. They are actually doing make-up classes because of the inadequacy of the education that the student has received, in many engineering colleges and technical institutions. In a FICCISurvey recently 64% of the employers were not satisfied with the quality of the young engineers they are recruiting. 20 So, when we speak of edupreneurs, we are talking of coming into the education space, and offering the service, but you must link that to the employability of your graduates. You must, as entreprenuers yourself, tie into the market place, get companies to come and tell you what sort of skills they want in your students. You should ensure that your students are well equipped with what the marketplace is demanding, before trying to get them into the job market. Otherwise that 4th E of employabilty will not be there. And unemployed engineers are not good to anybody. What we need in our society, are people who are qualified and able to take advantage of the opportunities that the 21st century India and the world offers. We have a youthful population at the time when the rest of the world is aging, including China. In 20 years, Chinas workforce will become 5% smaller, and ours will be 32% larger. But to take advantage of this, we need good, suitable, efficient, relevant education.

ST U

20 00 00 00

% 74

40 00 00

% 17
30 UN 67 0 IV ER SI TI ES

0 70 0 00 35

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Growth of Indian Educational System in the Post British Era

ES EG

Engineering Watch | March 2013 www.engineeringwatch.in/shashitharoor

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS 2013

21

If you as eduprenuers want to succeed and

get more awards in the future, you must do so by offering quality education that

that does not exclude anybody,

and will provide employability to your graduates.
If you can do that, you will succeed.

respects excellence,

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

SESSION I

Regulation of Higher Technical Education in India :

www.engineeringwatch.in/regulation

Changing Paradigms & Future Roadmap

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If the engineering entrepreneurs come to a conclusion and decide on the quantity of engineers required and then determine the capacity and not let AICTE or UGC do it. Because, if they intervene, it will probably have unintended consequences that we may not want to play.
Abhishek Tripathi Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors www.engineeringwatch.in/abhishektripathi

Its true that we require good teachers which we have but only one or two who conduct courses with the industry. So we need to look in a different way in which we can provide higher education in India.
Prof. Samir Kumar Bandyopadhyay Vice Chancellor, WBUT www.engineeringwatch.in/samirkumarbandyopadhyay

Even with on-par salary, teachers are not willing to go to remote areas. We wont get a person serving in rural area for lesser salary when his counterpart is getting higher salary in the city.

Dr. H. Maheshappa Vice Chancellor, VTU www.engineeringwatch.in/hmaheshappa

Aditi Oberoi Co-Founder Digital academy India Pvt. Ltd.

R L Gupta IEC University

IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd.

Head-Emerging Technologies Group

Ankur Rohatgi

Manish Trehan PTU's Gian Jyoti School of TQM & Enterpreneurship

Dr. Ved Vyas Dwivedi Director Noble Group of Institution

www.engineeringwatch.in/regulation

EDUPRENEURS CONCLAVE
2013

The recent admittance by a senior advisor of the All India Council of Technical Education that 90% of the institutions are flouting norms sends a warning signal. Was it an over zealous statement of a candid regulator or this is really the over arching reality of the Indian Higher Technical Education? The session went on to deliberate over the myriad aspects pertaining to the Regulation of Higher Technical Education, their changing paradigms and the future roadmap. The session got vibrant and extremely relevant due to the immense participation of the attending edupreneurs. The questions from the audience were intriguing & penetrating. You may watch the entire proceedings of this lively session at

23

We need to understand that expansion is a must. But when expansion is going on, equity is also equally important.

What exactly should be regulated? We regulate fees, we regulate admission to colleges, we regulate appointment of vice chancellors to some extent, we also regulate the infrastructure, we also want to regulate what journals engineering or other technical colleges should subscribe to.
Mani Gupta Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors www.engineeringwatch.in/manigupta

www.engineeringwatch.in/regulation

Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe College of Engineering, Pune www.engineeringwatch.in/anilsahasrabudhe

Editor

Sanjay Toshniwal Vidharbh Institute of Technology

Cecil Antony NSHM Knowledge Campus, Group of Institutions

P J Joseph TOC H Institute of Science & Technology

P Ravindra Babu Gudlavalleru Engineering College

Er. Vinod Thakur MIT College of Engineering & Management

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

SESSION II

Learning
www.engineeringwatch.in/futureoflearning
From the ancient traditions of ORAL LEARNING to those powered by the INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES, the seminal act of learning has gone through an entire metamorphosis. The FACE to FACE transmission of data, information, knowledge & wisdom from a GURU to that of a SHISHYA has diversified immensely.One can retrieve almost all possible information around the world by an intelligent selection of some search strings. The various knowledge repositories are fast becoming accessible transcending the all possible boundaries laid down by physical as well as human nature. One can access the wisdom delivered by the top Gurus across the world through the now prevalent Massive Open Online Courses, MOOCs for short. A galaxy of modern saints of technology professed the gospel of technology enabled higher technical education in this session. You may watch the entire proceedings at Editor www.engineeringwatch.in/futureoflearning

Future of

SPEAKERS

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I think that there is far too much focus on the content and the technology part. There has been too much assumption, that you put some good computer, put some good content, and things will work. www.engineeringwatch.in/vivekagarwal
Vivek Agarwal CEO, Liqvid

We are in 2012 and with the integration of upcoming technologies in our regular curriculum streams, the phase of educational institutes would probably change by 2020.
Lokesh Mehra Director-Education Advocacy, Microsoft

www.engineeringwatch.in/lokeshmehra

Ankur Rohatgi Head-Emerging Technologies Group, IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd. www.engineeringwatch.in/ankurrohatgi

Faculty are not used to technology in the same way as the students are. So that brings a huge generational divide between the two. If that divide can be abridged, essentially by way of training, that will help a lot.

PARTICIPANTS

Anil Sahasrabudhe College of Engineering, Pune

Parth Kotecha Noble Group of Institutions, Junagadh

R. L. Gupta IEC University, Solan

Sumiti V. Thakur MIT Group of Institutions, Hamirpur

Rajat Avasthi Swift Group of Colleges, Patiala

www.engineeringwatch.in/futureoflearning

EDUPRENEURS CONCLAVE
2013

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It is the whole enabling system of making things work better, you need to find the gaps in the market, which will enable these entrepreneurs to flourish.
Chris Sims Head-JPAG, Manipal Global www.engineeringwatch.in/chrissims

From a technology enablers perspective, there are technologies which if put to classrooms, would certainly raise the standards and raise the learnability of a learner, and only then can we think about the problem which is there. Ravi Pokharna Director-Relationships, Engineering Watch www.engineeringwatch.in/ravipokharna

We have to look at more interesting models as how to make classroom learning more interesting to students, and make it more motivated. Possibly, technology can play a good role there. Debabrata Bagchi CEO, Sparsha Learning www.engineeringwatch.in/debabratabagchi

Dr. Ved Vyas Dwivedi Noble Group of Institution

Prof. S. K. Bandyopadhyay Vice Chancellor, WBUT

Prof. (Dr.) M.C. Saxena Dr. M.C. Saxena Group of Institutions

Dr. H. Maheshappa Vice Chancellor, VTU

Gaurav Oberoi Digital Academy India Pvt. Ltd.

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

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www.engineeringwatch.in/edupreneurs

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March 2013 | Engineering Watch

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS
2013

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Sri Azim Premji

www.engineeringwatch.in/azimpremji

The Trendsetter in Corporate Edupreneurship Award

SPECIAL JURY CHOICE AWARDS

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March 2013 | Engineering Watch

SPECIAL JURY CHOICE AWARDS

The Pathmaker in Edupreneurship Award

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www.engineeringwatch.in/shivnadar

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS
2013

Sri Shiv Nadar

March 2013 | Engineering Watch

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS
2013

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Dr. Ashok Chauhan

www.engineeringwatch.in/ashokchauhan

SPECIAL JURY CHOICE AWARDS

The Lifetime Contribution to Edupreneurship Award

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March 2013 | Engineering Watch

SPECIAL JURY CHOICE AWARDS

The Edupreneur Par Excellence Award

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www.engineeringwatch.in/rajendrasinghpawar

EDUPRENEURS AWARDS
2013

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Sri Rajendra Singh Pawar Mr. C Murugan, President, NIIT receiving the award on behalf of Mr. Pawar
March 2013 | Engineering Watch