50 engineering colleges to be turned into centres of excellence

“I was shocked to hear (during the meeting) that a survey conducted by an IT firm has found out that the average mathematical and problem-solving ability of a 21-year-old engineering graduate from India is lower than an average 15-year-old in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Hence, we agreed to to identify 50 engineering colleges in the state and bring them on par with the CoEP, Pune, which has been transformed into an IIT-like institution with the help of mentoring arrangement from IIT Bombay,” said Rao. He is also the chancellor of universities in the state.

The governor also requested state education minister Vinod Tawde to constitute a committee of experts to prepare a roadmap for transformation of 50 engineering colleges in the state into centres of excellence within the next five years.

At the event, an initiative of the state’s department of higher and technical education, Tawde said that akin to a Development Plan (DP) for a city, which changes periodically, there needs to be a DP for education as the world is changing so rapidly. He added that there should be an autonomous body to work on the DP for education. “The ideas emerging out of this brainstorming session will be implemented and won’t remain just on paper. I want to do things that are useful for the state and if needed, we will spend money for it and give universities a helping hand,” he added.

The governor, meanwhile, said that what is true of engineering is also true of other disciplines. “It would be ideal if we set specific goals for ourselves. It includes nurturing at least two universities in Maharashtra, which will find a place among the top 100 universities in the world; developing at least 10 universities and 50 colleges into centres of national excellence; and developing at least one college in every taluka or town into a centre of state excellence,” said Rao.

To achieve these, he said, prerequisites would be set and prioritised. Stating that faculty shortage has become a severe constraint and that institutions are not getting enough teachers through qualifying examinations like NET and SET, the governor said that one needs to consider seriously whether lowering the bar would help get a large pool of good teachers.

“We also need to see how we can encourage more post graduates to go for PhD and research. Till such time, Maharashtra should think of inviting competent retired teachers as well as professionals from industry to take up teaching assignments,” he added.

He further asked the vice chancellors of all universities in the state to prepare a ‘white paper’ on infrastructure, availability of teachers, and student-teacher ratio in every department and colleges, and see whether there is any mismatch between the approved strength and actual strength of teachers.

Full academic, administrative and financial autonomy for universities and centres of excellence with appointment of board of governors having eminent people to guide the institutions and design new need-based programmes, a policy that encourages and enables universities and affiliated colleges to raise additional non-governmental resources through innovative means with proper accountability norms, were other suggestions of the governor. “An innovative approach could be to raise at least Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years by way of donations from alumni, philanthropists and corporate donors,” he added.

Stating that our best export is Indian talent, Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, National Research Professor and president of Global Research Alliance, questioned whether that talent should be doings things for India.

“Shouldn’t we be creating our own Google and our own Microsoft?” Mashelkar questioned as he stressed on talent, technology and trust to create a conducive atmosphere for startups.

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