Panel bats for more flexible, practical-oriented engineering curriculum, emphasis on teacher training to improve graduate employability

A flexible curriculum providing choice to students to pick courses, early introduction of problem-solving methods of teaching while not sacrificing attention on fundamental courses, mandatory internships and projects, and training of teachers were some of the suggestions put forth by a panel of experts while deliberating on ‘Future of Engineering Curriculum – Enhancing Graduate Employability’ here on Tuesday.

Curriculum reforms should focus on stronger industry-institution linkages, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary education, and more outcome-based learning to improve graduate employability, the panelists added. The discussion was part of Uyarkalvi Uraiyadalgal – Dialogues on Higher Education organised by Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TNSCHE).

C.N. Krishnan, Professor of Eminence, Anna University, pointed at problems on the “delivery side”, emphasising that teachers in engineering institutions will have to be part of the solution and, hence, should be trained to do so.

However, employability, he said, has other dimensions as well, such as personality, and teachers could not be expected to deliver on that front as well. A greater investment on laboratories and other infrastructure was required and industry should come forward for this, he added.

Responding to him, M.P. Vijayakumar, Vice Chairperson, TNSCHE, said that there was no dearth of funds for higher education in Tamil Nadu and that the government has allocated ₹30 crore this year for improvement of labs across the State.

Edamana Prasad, Head, Teaching Learning Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, wanted problem-solving skills to be introduced in the first semester itself while completely revamping the conventional classroom mode of teaching to help students pick up soft skills.

Sriram Parthasarathy, Chairperson, Chennai Institute of Technology, said students may find more time to do projects if they are allowed to take about 40% of their courses online, as permitted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Sajan P. Philip, Associate Professor, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, said students need to know their fundamentals well, and are expected to have a portfolio of projects, which has not been the focus of the curriculum. The two approaches are quite different and curriculum reforms should seek to balance the two.

M.P. Azhagu Pandia Raja, Founder, Scrapify Ecotech, said internships help students pick up industry related skills but there is need to set up a monitoring mechanism for this.

The session was moderated by P. Keerthi, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Anna University.