Name game: India has 234 engineering degree, 399 diploma courses

MUMBAI: How different is a course in digital communication from one in digital communications? Or a diploma in travel & tourism from a diploma in travel and tourism? Yet, these are listed as separate courses in the All India Council for Technical Education's manual guiding engineering studies. A damning report against the council (AICTE) by a state-level expert committee says, "It is abundantly clear that there are too many substandard institutes with countless programmes and considerable examples of deceptive nomenclatures." India has 234 degree and 399 diploma engineering courses. "It is unfortunate that the AICTE has approved different nomenclatures for basic engineering courses and increased the number of undergraduate engineering programmes, which is suggestive of the downfall of engineering education," the report says. Listed as separate courses in the AICTE manual are: electrical engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, electrical and power engineering, electrical engineering (electrical and power), electrical engineering (electronics and power), electrical and electronics (power system). The committee has recommended that these courses be offered as one programme: electrical engineering. Experts say the fact that there are 42 degree programmes in electrical engineering and electronics, all with "outlandish nomenclature", indicates that these have been created for the convenience of private institutes. "A new college has to start with a minimum student intake of 300, distributed equally among five branches. Different nomenclatures benefit profit-minded institutes that want only popular disciplines," said a member of the committee, which analysed vacancies in professional courses and suggested remedial measures. Headed by G D Yadav, the vice-chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, the committee recently submitted its report to the chief minister. Experts wonder if there are industries that recruit the products of all the courses. The report says that the world over, the development of new programmes starts with PhD and master's, followed by bachelor's programmes when an industry is developed. But in India, "more diploma holders are permitted to pursue degree programmes to fill vacancies and more management institutes are created to provide a channel to the increasing number of unemployable engineering graduates... Since there are no corresponding opportunities in the manufacturing sector, the higher education system creates pools of ill-trained, unemployable professionals going for poorly paid jobs."