Engineering education in India

2021-07-06T16:53:14Z

117.215.36.211:

[[India]] has the largest numbers of engineers as well as the largest number of engineering education institutes and infrastructure in the world. In 2021, India annually produces one million [[Bachelor of Engineering|engineering graduates]], has 3500 engineering colleges, 3400 polytechnics, and 200 schools of planning and architecture, and many times more [[Industrial training institute]].<ref name=tere2/> Combination of these impart undergraduate and graduate courses in architecture, [[engineering]], applied engineering and sciences.<ref name=tere1>[https://theprint.in/opinion/modi-govts-hec-cant-just-be-ugc-with-new-label-engineering-still-needs-its-own-regulator/597847/ Modi govt’s HEC can’t just be UGC with new label. Engineering still needs its own regulator], [[The Print]], 3 Feb 2021.</ref>

Of the 1 million engineering graduates produced every year, less than 10% of the engineers are produced by the pan-India national level autonomous institutes created by the acts of parliament, such as the [[Indian Institutes of Technology]] (IITs), [[National Institutes of Technology]] (NITs), [[Indian Institutes of Information Technology]](IIITs)<ref name=tere2>{{Cite web|title=National Institutes of Technology|url=http://nitcouncil.org.in/index.php/site/console/siteAboutNit|website=nitcouncil.org.in|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Indian Institutes of Technology|url=https://www.iitsystem.ac.in/?q=aboutiit/view|website=www.iitsystem.ac.in|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref>and private [[deemed university|deemed universities]] such as [[Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani|Birla Institute of Technology and Science]] Pilani, [[Vellore Institute of Technology]] and [[International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad]]. The remaining over 90% of the engineering graduates are produced by the non-autonomous state level engineering education institutes which must obtain the approval from the regulatory authority [[All India Council for Technical Education]] (AICTE) to run such courses before they start admitting students.<ref name=tere1/>

== History ==

There is long [[history of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent]]. The western style engineering education commenced during the [[British raj]] as a necessity for the training of overseers for construction and maintenance of public buildings, roads, canals, and ports, and for the training of artisans and craftsmen for the use of instruments, and apparatus needed for the army, the navy, and the survey department. While superintending engineers were mostly recruited from Britain, lower grade craftsmen, artisans and sub-overseers were recruited locally. The necessity to make them more efficient, led to the establishment of industrial schools attached to the [[Ordnance Factories Board]] and other engineering establishments.<ref name="educationforallinindia.com">https://www.educationforallinindia.com/1949%20Report%20of%20the%20University%20Education%20Commission.pdf</ref>

In 1847, India's the first engineering college [[Thomason College of Civil Engineering]] (now called [[Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee|IIT Roorkee]]) was established at [[Roorkee]] in present day [[Uttarakhand]] state for the training of Civil Engineers. It was followed by [[College of Engineering, Pune]]'s precursor, The Poona Engineering Class and Mechanical School in July 1854.<ref name="History of COEP">{{Cite web|url=http://www.coep.org.in/about/history|title=History of COEP|last=|first=|date=|website=}}</ref>

== Legal and regulatory framework ==

Universities and institutes deemed to be universities are approved by the [[University Grants Commission (India)|University Grants Commission]]. In 2021, there are nearly 900 government and universities and 45,000 colleges affiliated to these universities.<ref name=tere1/>

All institutes, universities engineering colleges as well as government or privately funded engineering colleges affiliated to the universities, must obtain an approval from the AICTE which licenses and regulates the institutes, not the individuals or practitioners, which offer the engineering and/or technical education. IITs, IIITs and NITs, etc do not require approval from UGC or AICTE as these are created as the autonomous organisations through the act of parliament, hence they have full autonomy to decide their teaching standards, course design, curriculum, fee, etc.<ref name=tere1/> Engineering colleges run by the Central Universities, which were not created as the autonomous institutes along the lines of IITs, IIITs or NITs, must also seek AICTE approval.

== Pan-India or national level institutes ==

These are either founded and funded or approved by the Union [[Government of India]]. This mainly includes IITs, NITs, IIITs, etc.

===Indian Institutes of Technology===

The [[Indian Institutes of Technology]] (IITs) has 23 centers located in [[Bhubaneswar]], [[Bombay]], [[Delhi]], [[Gandhinagar]], [[Guwahati]], [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]], [[Indore]], [[Jodhpur]], [[Kanpur]], [[Kharagpur]], [[Madras]], [[Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India|Mandi]], [[Patna]], [[Roorkee]], [[Ropar]], [[Dhanbad]], [[Palakkad]], [[Tirupati]], [[Bhilai]], [[Goa]], [[Jammu]], [[Dharwad]] and [[Varanasi]]. All IITs enjoy the status of the Institutes of National Importance and are autonomous universities that draft their own curricula. Many IITs are members of LAOTSE, an international network of universities in Europe and Asia. LAOTSE membership allows the IITs to exchange students and senior scholars with universities in other countries.

Admission to undergraduate [[B.Tech]] and integrated M.Tech programs are through JEE Advanced (the Joint Entrance Examination Advanced) in which around 150,000 students appear annually out of which only around 16,000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/more-dreams-get-wings-as-iits-add-460-seats-this-year/articleshow/57228482.cms|title=More dreams get wings as IITs to add 460 seats this year}}</ref> get selected. These 150,000 students are initially sorted out by the JEE Mains (Joint Entrance Examination Mains) which is conducted by the NTA (National Testing Agency). Around 1.2 million students appear for this exam. Admission to most postgraduate courses in IITs is granted through various written entrance examinations: GATE (for M.Tech.), JAM (for M.Sc.) and CEED (for M.Des.). The admission for Ph.D. program is based primarily on a personal interview, though candidates may also have to appear for written tests. The IITs are also well known for their special reservation policy, which is significantly different from the one applied in other educational institutions of India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mhrd.gov.in/technical-education-2|title=IITs {{!}} Technical Education {{!}} Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development|website=mhrd.gov.in|access-date=2019-04-05}}</ref>

===National Institutes of Technology===

The [[National Institutes of Technology]] (NITs) are colleges of engineering and technology education in India. All NITs enjoy the status of the Institutes of National Importance and are autonomous universities that draft their own curricula. They were originally called Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs). In 2002, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, decided to upgrade, in phases, all the original 17 RECs as NITs. There are currently 31 NITs, with the inception of 10 new NITs in the year 2010 and another in 2015. The 31 NITs are located in [[NIT Allahabad|Allahabad]], [[NIT Agartala|Agartala]], [[NIT Bhopal|Bhopal]], [[NIT Durgapur|Durgapur]], [[NIT Hamirpur|Hamirpur]], [[NIT Calicut|Kozhikode]], [[NIT Kurukshetra|Kurukshetra]], [[NIT Jalandhar|Jalandhar]], [[NIT Jamshedpur|Jamshedpur]], [[NIT Jaipur|Jaipur]], [[NIT Nagpur|Nagpur]], [[NIT Patna|Patna]], [[NIT Raipur|Raipur]], [[NIT Rourkela|Rourkela]], [[NIT Silchar|Silchar]], [[NIT Srinagar|Srinagar]], [[NIT Karnataka|Surathkal]], [[NIT Surat|Surat]], [[NIT Trichy|Tiruchirappalli]], [[NIT Warangal|Warangal]], [[National Institute of Technology, Arunachal Pradesh|Yupia]], [[National Institute of Technology Delhi|New Delhi]], [[National Institute of Technology Goa|Farmagudi]], [[Nit Manipur|Imphal]], [[National Institute of Technology, Meghalaya|Shillong]], [[NIT Mizoram|Aizawl]], [[Nit, nagaland|Dimapur]], [[NIT Puducherry|Karaikal]], [[Nit sikkim|Ravangla]], [[National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand|Srinagar]] and [[NIT Andhra Pradesh|Tadepalligudem]]. The Government of India has introduced the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Act 2010 to bring 31 such institutions within the ambit of the act and to provide them with complete autonomy in their functioning. The NITs are deliberately scattered throughout the country in line with the government norm of an NIT in every major state of India to promote regional development. The individual NITs, after the introduction of the NIT Act, have been functioning as autonomous technical universities and hence can draft their own curriculum and functioning policies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mhrd.gov.in/technical-education-5|title=Technical Education {{!}} Government of India,of Human Resource Development|website=mhrd.gov.in|language=en|access-date=2018-07-02}}</ref> The admission to undergraduate programs of all the NITs was done by the [[All India Engineering Entrance Examination]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etoosindia.com/examinfo/jee/examdate.do|title=List of Engineering Entrance Exams|website=Etoosindia|language=en-US|access-date=2021-01-22}}</ref> popularly known as AIEEE. From the year 2013, AIEEE was replaced by JEE-Main ([[Joint Entrance Examination – Main|Joint Entrance Examination - Main]]) in which 40% weightage was given to the Higher Secondary results and 60% weightage was given to the JEE(Main) results. However, the weightage of Higher Secondary result was made to be 0% from the year 2017 onwards and it was only given as an eligibility criteria (of either attaining 75% in HS results or being in the top 20% of the respective board). The examination is objective by nature and is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://edupadhai.com/establishment-of-the-nta/|title=Establishment of the NTA: Purpose, Organization, Features|last=Misra|first=Aishwarya|date=2018-04-14|website=EduPadhai|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref> from the year 2019. The exam was previously conducted by CBSE. More than fourteen lakh(1,400,000) applicants took part in 2013 for approximately 15500 seats in the B. Tech and B. Arch programmes available in all the NITs put together.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mhrd.gov.in/technical-education-5|title=NITs {{!}} Technical Education {{!}} Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development|website=mhrd.gov.in|access-date=2019-04-05}}</ref>

=== Other Central technical Institutions ===
There are more than 25 [[Government Funded Technical Institutes]] and 25 [[Indian Institutes of Information Technology]] in addition to IITs and NITs. They also follow similar academic and admission policies of IITs and NITs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=JoSAA|url=https://josaa.nic.in/seatinfo/root/instituteview.aspx|access-date=2021-07-06|website=josaa.nic.in}}</ref>

=== Private Deemed Universities ===

Various notable private deemed universites like [[Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani|Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani]], [[International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad]],[[Vellore Institute of Technology]] are known to produce excellent engineering graduates in India in par with top [[IITs]] and [[NITs]]. Students in these universities rank fairly high in various international engineering competitions organised by [[Google]], [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]], [[IEEE]], [[ASME]] and many others. Admission to top [[Deemed university|Deemed-universities]] are competitive as [[IITs]] and [[NITs]]. Admission to most [[Technology studies|technical]] and [[Science studies|Science]] courses in these Institutes is done through national-level common entrance examinations like [[Joint Entrance Examination – Main]] for undergraduate B.Tech, B.Arch, B.Plan, [[Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering|Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering(GATE)]] for postgraduate M.Tech, M.Arch and [[Joint Admission Test for M.Sc.|Joint Admission Test for M.Sc.(IIT-JAM)]] for postgraduate M.Sc, M.S. The admission for Ph.D. program is based primarily on a personal interview, though candidates may also have to appear for written tests. For [[Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani]] admission to the undergraduate programme is based on BITSAT and for [[Vellore Institute of Technology]] through VITEEE .

[[Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani]], [[International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad]], [[LNM Institute of Information Technology]], [[Amrita Schools of Engineering]]-[[Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham]], [[Vellore Institute of Technology]], [[Manipal Institute of Technology]] and [[Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology]] are some of top private [[Deemed university|Deemed universities]] in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|title=MoE, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)|url=https://www.nirfindia.org/2020/UniversityRanking.html|access-date=2021-07-06|website=www.nirfindia.org}}</ref> Admission to these Insitutes is based purely on merit and these is an absence of special social reservation policy. The curriculum here is also more updated and flexible than public Universities.

===The Institution of Engineers (India)===

[[Institution of Engineers (India)|AMIE]] was established in 1920 in Kolkata, West Bengal and is acclaimed to have pioneered education in Engineering. IEI (I) conducts an examination for its Associate Membership(AMIE). This examination is considered as B.E. / B.Tech when contemplated as o write competitive examinations like the Indian Civil Service, Indian Engineering Services, GATE, etc., and for employment in Government, public and private sectors in India. This qualification is recognised by Ministry of HRD, [[Government of India]] as equivalent to B.E./ B.Tech.

There are 2 sections, namely Section A and Section B, who passed both of section he will be chartered engineer(CEng), chartered engineer(CEng) is considered as bachelor's degree in all National and International bodies.

As per AICTE, AMIE is recognized as equivalent to bachelor's degree in appropriate branch of engineering, to those who had enrolled themselves with the institution on or before 31 May 2013. Refer notification from AICTE website.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Public Notice for Professional Bodies/Institutes Imparting Technical Education {{!}} Government of India, All India Council for Technical Education|url=https://www.aicte-india.org/content/public-notice-professional-bodiesinstitutes-imparting-technical-education|access-date=2021-03-16|website=www.aicte-india.org}}</ref>

== State-level institutes by the state ==

As of 2021, India has 28 states each with own government elected separately from the national government (also called union or federal government), and [[States and union territories of India|8 union territories]] which are administered by the union government. Each state can find and fund own state level technical education institutes and it can also approve such institutes in the private sector, both of these legally remained confined to the specific state within and by which they were created. All these institutes must also obtain AICTE approval for conformation to the engineering and technology education teaching infrastructure and minimum standards.

List of AICTE approved institutes by state, for the academic year 2017-2018:{{doubtful|date=January 2018}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! S.No !! State/Union Territory !! Number of Engineering Institutes<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aicte-india.org/dashboard/pages/approvedinstitutes.php |title=List of AICTE approved Institutes for the academic year: 2017-2018 |publisher=[[AICTE]] |access-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170610075653/http://www.aicte-india.org/dashboard/pages/approvedinstitutes.php |archive-date=10 June 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>!! Comments
|-
| 1 || [[Andaman & Nicobar Islands]] || 1 ||
|-
| 2 || [[Andhra Pradesh]] || 149 ||
|-
| 3 || [[Arunachal Pradesh]] || 24 ||
|-
| 4 || [[Assam]] || 37 ||
|-
| 5 || [[Bihar]] || 107 ||
|-
| 6 || [[Chandigarh]] || 14 ||
|-
| 7 || [[Chhattisgarh]] || 73 ||
|-
| 8 || [[Dadra and Nagar Haveli]] || 3 ||
|-
| 9 || [[Daman and Diu]] || 2 ||
|-
| 10 || [[Delhi]] || 56 ||
|-
| 11 || [[Goa]] || 17 ||
|-
| 12 || [[Gujarat]] || 197 ||
|-
| 13 || [[Haryana]] || 226 || See also [[List of institutions of higher education in Haryana]]
|-
| 14 || [[Himachal Pradesh]] || 64 ||
|-
| 15 || [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] || 53 ||
|-
| 16 || [[Jharkhand]] || 73 ||
|-
| 17 || [[Karnataka]] || 157 ||
|-
| 18 || [[Kerala]] || 129 ||
|-
| 19 || [[Madhya Pradesh]] || 241 ||
|-
| 20 || [[Maharashtra]] || 334 ||
|-
| 21 || [[Manipur]] || 4 ||
|-
| 22 || [[Meghalaya]] || 7 ||
|-
| 23 || [[Mizoram]] || 4 ||
|-
| 24 || [[Nagaland]] || 8 ||
|-
| 25 || [[Odisha, India|Odisha]] || 242 ||
|-
| 26 || [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puducherry]] || 29 ||
|-
| 27 || [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] || 302 ||
|-
| 28 || [[Rajasthan]] || 281 ||
|-
| 29|| [[Sikkim]] || 5 ||
|-
| 30 || [[Tamil Nadu]] || 314 ||
|-
| 31 || [[Telangana]] || 253 ||
|-
| 32 || [[Tripura]] || 13 ||
|-
| 33 || [[Uttar Pradesh]] || 574 ||
|-
| 34 || [[Uttarakhand]] || 117 ||
|-
| 35 || [[West Bengal]] || 172 ||
|-
| - || Total || 4282 ||
|}

== Issues ==

=== Illegal capitation fee ===

Some of the engineering colleges have been known for involving themselves in the illegal practice of capitation fee. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body for technical education in India, has called "upon the students, parents and the general public not to pay any [[capitation fee]] or any other fee other than that mentioned in the Prospectus of the Institutions for consideration of admission.".<ref>http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/notice_prohibition_capitation_fee.pdf</ref> AICTE also mentions that the fee charged from students, has to be approved by the fee regulatory committee of the state, and the institute should mention the fee in its website.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/ApprovalProcessHandbook2016-17.pdf|title= All India Council for Technical Education|access-date=17 September 2016}}</ref> As per AICTE norms, the educational institutions are not meant to charge a fee higher than what is mentioned in the prospectus. Educational regulatory agencies such as UGC<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/1842250_deemedregulation2014.PDF|title=Deemed Regulation- The Gazette of India|access-date=17 September 2016}}</ref> and regional level fee regulating bodies<ref>{{cite web|url=http://asckerala.org/sites/default/files/MBA%20DIRECTIVES%20ISSUED%20TO%20ALL%20SELF-FINANICNG%20MANAGEMENT%20INSTITUTUES%20ON%2011.05.2015.pdf|title=MBA Directives issued to all All Self-Financing Management Institutes on 11-05-2015|access-date=17 September 2016}}</ref> has mandated that an institution should include the fee in the prospectus.

==See also==
* [[History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent]]
* [[List of Indian engineering colleges before 1947]]
* [[Science and technology in India]]
* [[Science and technology studies in India]]
* [[List of Indian inventions]]
* [[Information technology in India]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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Engineering education in India