CHAPTER IV
TECHNICAL  EDUCATION

A. OVER-ALL POSITION

4.01. The year 1968-69 provided an opportunity for a critical review of the state of development of technical education in the country, with the focus turning on the problem of unemployment among technical personnel that suddenly assumed serious proportions and evoked nationwide interest and concern.

4.02. Facilities :

The Ministry of Education advised the State Governments and the universities to restrict admissions to engineering colleges and polytechnics in the country. This decision was taken on two important considerations: (i) it was not necessary to maintain for the next few years the present level of admissions to the engineering colleges and polytechnics as there is likely to be a considerable surplus of personnel at the present level of enrolment in the technical institutes, even in the early years of the fifth Plan; and (ii) the present opportunity should be taken advantage of to regulate and contain the enrolment in technical institutions so that all the resources can be concentrated on the more important task of improving the standard and quality of technical personnel. A rational and coordinated plan was prepared according to which admission to institutions was to be restricted in tune with the facilities avail- able in each of them. The State Governments and universities generally welcomed this plan and agreed to implement it with marginal adjustments.

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4.03. The plan envisaged a reduction from 24,200 admissions in 1967-68 to 15,400 in 1968-69 in the case of degree courses and from 48,000 in 1967-68 to 38,000 in 1968-69 in diploma courses. On the basis of information available, the actual admission to degree courses this year will be about 17,000 and to diploma courses about 28-30,000. An interesting feature of admissions to technical institutions this year was that even in cases where no deliberate attempt was made, to regulate admissions according to manpower needs, the market conditions of demand and supply operated and a very large number of institutions, particularly at the diploma level, had to content themselves with a considerably reduced number of admissions. Institutions in Gujarat and Maharashtra where the State Governments did not want to impose any cut were no exception. It seems that the present trend will continue and that, in any case in the fourth Plan, the level of admissions will be determined largely by the demand for seats in technical institutions, rather than any definite targets set for the purpose.

B.FOURTH FIVE YEAR PLAN

4.04. Formulation of the Fourth Plan:

It was in this back- ground that the preparations for the formulation of the new Fourth Five Year Plan for technical education were initiated. The Union Education Minister convened in May, 1968, a conference of the Directors of Technical Education in the States to consider the broad principles on which the Plan should be formulated. The Conference recommended consolidation of technical institutions to improve their quality and standards, inservice training of technical teachers for their professional development, diversification of polytechnic diploma courses in cooperation with industry to train the correct type of technicians, practical training of graduates and diploma-holders, curriculum development, preparation of instructional materials and textbooks for degree and diploma courses, design and fabrication of laboratory apparatus and equipment and reorganisation of the training of teachers as the guidelines for the formulation of the

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fourth Plan. The All India Council for Technical Education endorsed these guidelines and the State Governments were requested to ensure that their programmes and priorities for the fourth Plan should, in good measure, reflect the desire to fulfil these objectives.

4.05. Quality Improvement:

The Fourth Five Year Plan will give the highest importance to programmes of curriculum and faculty development. These programmes are proposed to be implemented largely through Central effort. These programmes include the preservice and inservice training of technical teachers and the provision of opportunity for professional advancement. Inservice training programmes will include summer institute and sequential courses, organised field experience particularly in industry and advanced studies and research for those teachers whose academic qualifications need to be improved. Research in technical education with special reference to curriculum development, preparation of textbooks, teachers' guides and instructional materials etc. will be organised and conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology and other well- established institutions that have adequate expert personnel.

4.06. Other Programmes:

Other major programmes include the diversification and reorganisation of diploma courses and vocationalisation of secondary education. As for diploma courses, polytechnics will designedly be brought into close relationship with industry to conduct cooperative programmes of training for technicians in selected fields; and programmes for diversification of subjects in relation to regional requirements and structural reorganisation of polytechnics will also receive priority. The subjects for diversified courses will include automobile engineering, refrigeration and airconditioning, radio and electronics, fisheries technology, machine tool technology, instrument technology and chemicals manufacture. Vocationalisation of secondary education is an area in which new ground has to be broken in the light of the recommendations of the Education Commission. A detailed scheme for reorganising and developing secondary technical education was formulated in the Ministry

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and the State Governments were requested to adopt or adapt the-.- scheme to suit their needs.

C. CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROGRAMMES

4.07. Indian Institutes of Technology:

To ensure that the available resources are concentrated on strengthening and expanding the postgraduate and research activities, the Indian Institutes of Technology have contained the admissions at the undergraduate level. The following table shows the admissions, student strength and out- turn in the five Institutes : 

                                          

                  Fresh Ad-      Total          First          Out-turn
                  missions       Student        Degree    Post-gra-  Research
                  to Under-      Strength       Students  duate     Scholars
                  graduate                                Students
                  Courses
                  in July
                  1968
                                          

        Bombay    271            2160      1657      423       80
        
        Delhi     200            1588      1243      222       123
        
        Kanpur    247            1860      1265      351       244
        
        Kharagpur 193            2494      1939      414       141
        
        Madras    228            1853      1367      329       157
        
        TOTAL     1139           9955      7471      1739      745

Twelve new postgraduate courses in engineering and technology were introduced in these institutes in 1968-69.

4.08. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore:

This Institute was established in July 1911. The institute was declared as deemed university with effect from 1958 under the provisions of the UGC Act. It is a premier institution of higher learning and research in science and technology. It awards B.E., M.E., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in engineering and sciences. It receives grant-in-aid from the Government for its recurring expenditure

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and from the University Grants Commission for all its developmental expenditure. The Institute, had 911 students on its rolls 231 undergraduate students, 375 Postgraduate students and 305 research scholars.

4.09. School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi:

During 1968-69 a new two-year postgraduate course in town and country planning was introduced with specialisation in (a) urban regional planning, (b) house and community planning and (c) traffic and transportation planning, with an intake, of 38 students. A one-year special postgraduate course in town and country planning and a three- semester postgraduate diploma course in architecture (urban design) have also been introduced. The school also completed a research project on costs of urban infrastructure for industry as related to city zone in developing countries.

4.10. National Institute of Foundary and Forge Technology, Ranchi :

The Institute started functioning in 1968-69, The first programme of organising a short-term refresher course of 12 weeks in pattern technology was conducted in 1968-69 in collaboration with the Heavy Engineering Corporation, Ranchi.

4.11. National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineer- ing, Bombay:

The Institute was set up in 1963 with the assistance of UN Special Fund for conducting short-term courses in productivity techniques. During 1968-69 the Institute conducted 48 courses. 765 participants drawn from different sectors of industry throughout India attended these courses which are intended to train junior and middle- level management personnel in techniques of industrial engineering. The participation of personnel from both private and public sector industries has been gradually increasing indicating the usefulness of these courses. The Institute has also started providing unit-based programmes and practical training schemes from 1968-69; three such courses have already been conducted. The Institute also conducts seminars, research, etc. in collaboration with A.I.M.A., I.I.I.E., and productivity councils. It proposes to start a postgraduate course in industrial engineering in association with I.I.T., Bombay.

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4.12. Regional Engineering Colleges:

Seven of the fourteen Regional Engineering Colleges which have entered their second phase of development with the introduction of industrially oriented postgraduate courses with assistance from the United Nations Special Fund will complete their programme of assistance in September, 1969. To ensure the full establishment and development of these courses, a follow-up project is being formulated for further assistance from the UN Special Fund.

4.13. Management Institutions:

In the field of management, the two all-India institutions at Ahmedabad and Calcutta, set up in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, concerned State Governments and the industry, continued to do good work during the year. Both the institutions have made further progress in the construction of their buildings with the assistance received from the State Governments, Ford Foundation, Central Government and industry, The Institutes conduct a two-year full-time postgraduate diploma course in addition to a number of short-term programmes for junior, middle and top-level executives. The, Institutes also have facilities for research and consultancy work. At present the Ahmedabad and Calcutta Institutes have a student population of 217 and 188 respectively in the postgraduate diploma course.

4.14. Management Education:

The All India Board of Technical Studies in Management set up in 1953 to advise the All India Council for Technical Education on the coordination and development of management education in the country recently reviewed the position of management education. The Board has recommended that part-time courses in management education be introduced in institutions located in centres where suitable candidates and faculty are available. The Board has so far approved 15 universities/institutions for starting part-time courses in management. As a number of universities/institu- tions have started full-time master's degree courses in management, the Board felt that before expanding the facilities in management education the requirement of managerial manpower be assessed. The Board has, therefore, entrusted the

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task of assessing the managerial manpower requirements to the Institutes of Management, Ahmedabad and Calcutta. Pending this assessment, the Board is of the view that facilities for full-time courses need not be expanded and the existing facilities should be consolidated.

4.15. Postgraduate Courses and Research:

A good beginning has already been made in the field of organising, facilities for postgraduate courses and research in engineering and technology. Over 2000 places are at present available for postgraduate courses and research in the Institutes of' Technology, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and other centres, but the necessary instructional facilities, including faculty development, have still to be organised.

4.16. Technical Teacher Training Programmes:

There: has been a noticeable improvement in the staff position in the engineering colleges in the country in recent years. The programme of recruitment of young engineering graduates for training as teachers has considerably helped in meeting the shortage of trained teachers when the expansion programmes were implemented. As no further expansion of facilities for technical education is envisaged in the near future, the scope of the programme has been restricted to the training of working teachers only or of those who have been sponsored by engineer- ing colleges with assurances of employment. The programme in this modified form will continue in the Fourth Plan.

4.17. For the training of teachers for polytechnics, the four Regional Institutes at Bhopal, Calcutta, Chandigarh and Madras, started in. 1965-66, are being fully established and developed. These institutions will also undertake specific programmes designed. to improve the faculty and curriculum for polytechnic courses.

4.18. Practical Training Stipends Scheme:

In pursuance of the recommendations of the Scientific Manpower Committee, the Ministry of Education, initiated in 1949-50, a Practical

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Training Stipends Scheme with the object of assisting graduates and diploma-holders passing out of technical institutions to equip themselves with the necessary practical training for gainful employment. The trainees are given stipends of the value of Rs. 250 per month for graduate and Rs. 150 per month for diploma-holders in engineering and technology. The duration of training is generally one year. Practical training of all graduates and diploma-holders in mining engineering is also covered under the scheme.

4.19. Taking into account the recommendations of the Education Commission and the unemployment situation among engineers, the present scheme has been revised. Under the revised programme the number of training places has been increased from 2787 to 10,944 during the current year. The Ministry have also decided to set up four Boards of Practical Training, one in each region, i.e., East, West, North and South. The Board in the Eastern Region has started functioning and the remaining three are also likely to come up during the course of the year. Setting up of the Boards will ensure systematic and properly supervised training to the trainees and the actual involvement of the industries (both in the public and private sectors) in the training programme.

D. FINANCIAL ALLOCATIONS

4.20. Financial allocations for technical education during 1968-69 and 1969-70 are given below: 

                                                               (Rs. in lakh)
                                          

         
                                      Provision for 1968-69    Budget
        S.        Scheme                                       Estimates
        No.                           Original      Revised    1969-70
                                          

        1         2                             3         4         5
                                          

        1    Postgraduate Courses and Research
                  Plan                          50.00     43.43      50.00
        
        
        2   Postgraduate Courses and Research 
             at Regional Engineering Colleges
                  Plan                          ..        25.00      30.00

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        1         2                             3         4          5
                                          

        3    Part-time Courses
                  Plan                          20.26     17.73      8.50
        
        4    Fellowships for Training of
             Teachers of Technical Insti-
             tutions
                  Plan                          19.36     17.74      14.19
        
        5    Practical Training Stipends Scheme
        
                       Plan                     13.00     109.00     110.00
                       Non-Plan                 22.00      22.00        40.00
        
        6    Research Training Scholarships/
             Research Fellowships Scheme
        
                       Non-Plan                 6.40      5.00        5.25
        
        7    Summer Institutes
                       Plan                     23.00     18.00      23.00
        
        8   Recurring Grants-in-Aid to Others
             for Specialised Courses
        
                  Non-Plan                      4.58      4.58        4.58
        
        9    Revision of Salary Scales of 
             Teachers
                  Plan                          26.00     26.00      15.00
        
        10   Establishment of Four Regional Insti-
             tutes for Training of Teachers of
             Polytechnics
        
                  Plan                          75.00     58.70      49.90
        
        11   Regional Engineering Colleges
        
                  Plan                          368.00    300.00    313.00
        
        
        12   Indian Institutes of Technology
        
                  Plan                          515.93    521.92     347.02
                  Non-Plan                      355.74     355.29     527.24
        
        13   School of Planning and 
             Architecture, New Delhi
        
                  Plan                          5.04      5.04          2.64
                  Non-Plan                     10.96     10.96        14.20

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        1            2                          3         4          5
                                          

        14   National Institute of Foundry 
             and Forge, Ranchi
        
                       Plan                     20.00     7.78       20.00
        
        
        15   Management Institutions
        
                       Plan                     29.04     38.77      27.19
                       Non-Plan                 23.29     23.29      28.11
        
        
        16 Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad
        
                       Plan                     7.00      5.13       8.46
                       Non-Plan                21.57     21.18      21.10
        
        
        17   Indian Institute of Science, 
             Bangalore
        
                       Non-Plan               112.00     112.00      112.00
        
        18   Directorate of Practical 
             Training in Mines, Dhanbad
        
                       Non-Plan                 1.94      1.83         1.95
        
        19 National Institute for Training in
           Industrial Engineering, Bombay
        
                       Non-Plan                  ..       ..          5.51
        
        20   Central Grants to Private 
             Institutions
        
                       Plan                     144.00    110.00    102.50
        
        21 Grants to other Parties Under Old
             A.I.C.T.E. Scheme
        
                       Non-Plan                 16.10     16.10      16.10