To Distinguished faculty/academician

Sub: Request for participation in research survey

Dear Sir/Madam, Quality of engineering education in India is deteriorating at a fast rate which is a cause of great concern to us. A research project entitled Analysis of performance of technical education sector in India with special reference to undergraduate engineering education has been undertaken by us to identify the factors responsible for this plight and to design possible remedial measures. Through this questionnaire we try to seek opinion of experts in this field like Vicechancellors/Directors/ Principals/ Heads of Dept/Senior faculty members of technical institutions on various aspects of functioning of technical education system in India. The opinion of the experts will be of immense value in completion of this research project and we look forward to your whole hearted support and cooperation in this study. You are therefore requested to participate in this survey by indicating your degree of agreement /disagreement in the response column on a 5 point Likert Scale ranging from 1 to 5 (1-strongly disagree, 2- disagree, 3-no comment, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree) in respect of each hypothesis/question mentioned in the enclosed questionnaire. As volunteer participants in the above mentioned research survey, responses will be treated personal opinions of the participants and not of the organizations/ institutions they are serving and will be used exclusively for this research project and will be kept secret. Name and address of researcher: Prof G. Prasad, Professor and Head, Department of Biomedical Engineering, C.U.Shah College of Engineering and Technology, Surendranagar, Gujarat- 363030 Email Id: gbprasad4@gmail.com, Mobile: 09825790189 Name and address of research guide: Dr Chandan Bhar, Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. Email: chandanbhar@hotmail.com Mobile: 09431126459 Thanking you, Yours Sincerely, Prof G.Prasad

DETAILS OF THE PARTICIPANT (To be filled in by the participant)

1. Name:
2. Designation:

3. Name of the University/ Institution/Organization: 4. Name of the Department: 5. Area of interest:.

6. Address: 7. Email id: 8. Contact No.: 9. Age: 10.Gender: 11. Qualifications: 12.Experience:

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SURVEY

(To be filled in by Vice-chancellors/Directors/Principals/Heads of Dept/Senior faculty members of Universities /Engineering Institutions) RATING SCHEME FOR RESPONSE: 1-STRONGLY DISAGREE, 2- DISAGREE, 3-NO COMMENT, 4-AGREE, 5-STRONGLY AGREE
Research objectives Research objective 1: To study the impact of proliferation of engineering institutions in India on technical education system Research hypotheses/ questions 1. Proliferation of engineering institutions has created tremendous shortage of qualified and experienced faculty. 2. Proliferation of engineering institutions has resulted in slack admission policy permitting entry of undeserving students in engineering institutions.
3. Proliferation of engineering institutions has resulted in fierce competition

Response

amongst institutions for hiring of faculty even at enhanced salary that adds to the institutional overheads and ultimately caused fee hike. 4. Proliferation of engineering institutions has resulted in faculty instability which is a great killer of quality. Without stable faculty, development of institution is not possible. 5. Proliferation of engineering institutions has resulted in deterioration of quality of teaching learning process and academic culture of engineering institutions. Research objective 2: To study the ability of Indian technical education system to produce technically competent manpower.
6. Students graduating from Indian technical education system in general (except

few elite institutions) lack in soft skills.

7. Students graduating from Indian technical education system in general (except

few elite institutions) are poor in experimental, design and problem solving skills.

8. Students graduating from Indian technical education system in general (except

few elite institutions) are not competent and hence not employable. Research objective 3: To study some deficiencies in the existing accreditation system for technical education sector in India.
9. Accreditation process being voluntary gives a scope to many technical

institutions not to get their programs accredited.

10. Accreditation criteria being followed by NBA are very much prescriptive

and are based on excessive documentation related to resources, processes and outputs. 11. Number of criteria and parameters used in accreditation process is very large. 12. Criteria used for accreditation by NBA are indirect measures of quality of resources, processes and outputs. 13. No criteria are being used by NBA in the accreditation process to measure students competencies directly. 14. Institutions intending to undergo accreditation find it extremely difficult to prepare the Self Assessment Report (SAR) as it requires voluminous data of various types for at least three years. 15. The participating institutions have a tendency to highlight their strengths and hide weaknesses in Self Assessment Report (SAR). 16. There is an acute shortage of competent assessors particularly from industry.
17. Accreditation process is slow and unable to handle accreditation and

reaccreditation of large number of programs approved in the country.

18. Accreditation system in India has not been able to bring about substantial

quality improvement in technical education. Research objective 4: 1. To study the need for replacing the existing accreditation model with a new accreditation model for
19. The proposed model of accreditation is based on direct evidence of students

learning and provides a guarantee that graduates of accredited programs possess the competencies and skills expected of them.

technical education sector in India as explained below. i) A national level exit examination will be conducted by NBA every year for all graduating engineers of all programs simultaneously at large number of centers spread throughout the country for the convenience of the candidates. ii) The national level exit examination will be designed to test various competencies, knowledge, and skills expected of an engineering graduate at the time of graduation. iii) The national level exit examination will be followed by an interview through which various other attributes of the candidates can be mapped. iv) Competency profile of each candidate will be prepared based on marks scored by them and candidates whose average score is more than a predefined threshold will be declared successful. v) Subsequently, competency profile of each program will be prepared based on average of average marks scored by all the candidates belonging to that program.

20. Performance of graduates in a national level exit examination will establish

comparability of their competencies at national level which is more valid and reliable for accreditation.
21. The proposed accreditation system will enable reviewing of accreditation

status of all eligible programs simultaneously on yearly basis which is a distinct advantage over the present system of accreditation.
22. The proposed accreditation model will relieve institutions from preparing

voluminous Self Assessment Report and will enable them to concentrate on teaching and academic activities.
23. The proposed accreditation system will relieve NBA from the burden of

reviewing SARs submitted by various institutions and sending peer team to individual institutions for site visits.
24. The proposed system will force institutions to introspect in the light of the

average score of their programs, establish accountability and sense of responsibility amongst the management of the institutions.
25. It will provide feedback to the programs on specific competencies and areas

where students may be weak that may be used for pedagogical modifications needed to address the problem(s). While teachers will be motivated to teach more effectively, students of the program will be motivated to orient themselves to better learning and skill development. Students will realize that they must do more than simply pass their courses 26. This approach is quantitative in nature hence free from subjectivity.
27. All the purposes of a good accreditation system such as informing

stakeholders about quality of programs, taking funding decisions, establishing accountability and driving institutions to self improvement, state recognition of qualification/ certification of professionals and international mobility of
5

vi) Programs whose average score is higher than a predefined threshold value will stand accredited.

students will be served by the proposed accreditation model.

28. Results of the exit examination may also be used for award of license to the

Research objective 5: To assess the soundness of present admission policy and need for change.

Research objective 6: To identify strategies for improvement of teaching learning process.

Research objective 7: To assess the soundness of present examination system and strategies for

individual graduating engineer which will be useful for their entry into engineering profession. 29. Admission policy is not sound enough to allow entry of only deserving candidates to engineering institutions. 30. Single national level admission test for all engineering institutions will lead to quality improvement in students admitted. 31. Single national level admission test for all engineering institutions will relieve students from burden of preparing for and appearing in so many admission tests conducted by various state governments/private and autonomous institutions. 32. Reservation policy and management quota in admission should be abolished as these permit admission of undeserving candidates in engineering institutions. 33. Laboratory instruction is the backbone of engineering education. 34. Laboratory instruction is in a very bad shape in many engineering institutions due to poor quality of students, faculty and infrastructure and needs drastic improvement. 35. Project based teaching is very effective in enhancing practical knowledge and problem solving skills and needs to be adopted. 36. Continuous evaluation of students learning through frequent internal tests improves students learning. 37. Continuous evaluation of students learning gives feedback to concerned faculty about quality of their teaching and helps in improvement in pedagogy 38. Examination related policies, procedures and practices at various institutions/ universities in general are not sound enough to allow only meritorious students to pass the examination.
6

improvement.

39. Marks obtained by students in examinations are not true indicators of learning

acquired by them. 40. Advancing students to next higher semester with many backlogs results in deterioration of academic culture and quality of education. Hence this practice should be stopped. 41. Practical examinations in general are not given due importance by students and faculty and are not conducted seriously. This practice needs to be stopped. 42. There is acute shortage of experienced examiners; hence examinations are managed by fresh faculty. 43. Research output should be given higher weightage than technical competency in concerned discipline and soft skills for senior faculty recruitment and promotion. 44. Industry experience should be given higher weightage than teaching and research experience during faculty recruitment and promotion. 45. Reservation policy in faculty appointment/promotion leads to appointment and career advancement of substandard quality of faculty and is not justified looking into the critical role of faculty members in quality improvement of engineering education. 46. Faculty development and retention should be given high priority by all engineering institutions. 47. Retention of qualified and experienced faculty will be possible by providing them academic freedom, better service conditions and academic environment. 48. Retention of qualified and experienced faculty will be possible by providing opportunities and motivation for self development. 49. Quality of primary and secondary education has tremendous impact on quality of engineering education. 50. Primary and secondary education in the country is not up to the mark and needs tremendous improvement.
7

Research objective 8: To identify strategies for improving recruitment and retention of faculty.

Research objective 9: To assess the impact of quality of primary and secondary education on engineering education.

Research objective 10: To develop strategies to deal with shortage of qualified and experienced faculty.

51. More P.G. Courses in Engineering and Technology should be started and

Research objective 11: To assess the quality consciousness of stakeholders of engineering education system.

Research objective 12: To assess the need to increase course duration of engineering programs from 4 years to 5 years.

intake capacity of existing P.G. programs should be increased. 52. More technical teachers training institutions in line with NITTTR should be started to deal with shortage of faculty. 53. Superannuation age of faculty should be increased to 70 years or even more depending on their physical and mental fitness. 54. Students, in general, are not interested in learning but in passing examinations with minimum effort. 55. Parents/guardians of students, in general, remain satisfied with passing of their wards and are not concerned with the quality of education acquired by their wards. 56. Managements of institutions are interested in high pass percentage from their institutions even without imparting appropriate knowledge and skills to their students just to enhance their image in the education market. 57. Faculties are also interested in passing the students even without requisite knowledge acquired by them to avoid the burden of effective teaching and evaluation of students learning. 58. Alumni are totally unconcerned about quality of education imparted by their alma mater because this aspect does not affect them at this stage. 59. AICTE is more conscious about quantitative growth of technical institutions and have shown no success in maintenance and growth in quality of technical education. 60. Knowledge is expanding at a fast rate. New subjects are being included in the curricula at the cost of expulsion of fundamentals. 61. New knowledge and skills are expected from graduating engineers by employers in the new millennium. 62. Standard of admitted students is continuously declining.
63. In view of above points, increasing course duration to 5 years is desirable and

Research objective 13:

will provide viable solution to quality problems in technical education. 64. Self improvement initiative on the part of institutions results in real and long
8

To assess the need for establishing Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in all institutions as an initiative for quality improvement.

lasting improvement.
65. Self improvement is possible by introspection of various areas of the

institutional functioning such as faculty quality and adequacy, infrastructure development, faculty recruitment and retention, teaching learning process, examination results, training and placement etc. 66. Effective IQAC in all engineering institutions should be started as this will help institutions to introspect and improve their performance.