The Indian Society for Technical Education organized the 19th ISTE Students Convention (Tamil Nadu Section)at PSG iTech on 18.12.19.The Chief Guest of this program was Prof.Vidya Shankar, Vice Chancellor, Karnataka State Open University, Mysuru.
Out of the many students and faculty who are member of ISTE TN Section, the best were honored with ISTE Awards during the occasion.30 Teachers/Principals were honored with Best Teacher Award, 145 students from different colleges were honored with ISTE Awards and 6 Batch-Projects were honored.
17 veterans in the Technical Education from Tamil Nadu were honored with the ISTE Lifetime Achievement Award.
In his Presidential Address, Dr.A.K.Natesan congratulated the winners of the ISTE Awards. He said in the last 10 years Engineering Education saw a great rise but at present the scenario is different. He said the stakeholders in this field of Technical Education- especially faculty and faces difficulties.Present teachers (except Aided teachers) face trouble. He said ISTE is exploring many ways to clear this tough scenario. He stated that many colleges struggle to provide quality technical education and proper salary to faculty.”Teachers have left the teaching profession to find opportunity in other fields like Marketing etc”, he remarked. Veterans and Awardees in today’s program should play a big role to change this scenario, opined Dr.A.K.Natesan.
The Chief Guest in his address said there are 4000 Engineering colleges in India and the every year 6 to 7 lac graduates step on the floor but the industry deems that only 10 to 12 % of them are fit for recruitment. He asked the gathering to investigate why is the case such.
He said demanding colleges to provide all that is needed in an industry-ready graduate is no longer possible.He said students can be given impetus to boost their quality but for that students must keep themselves ready for enhancement by adapting to change and incorporate technology for their improvement. He remarked that the world of Engineering and education is changing and students should step up. He said there are jobs for Engineering students but the job is given only to those quality-graduates.
With the enormous amount of student intake and the rapid development in industry due to technological advances in A.I. and Automation, he said an engineering graduate should not say that he will only take up the job a traditional engineer used to take some years ago but keep himself ready for the jobs of the future.
“There will be many indirect Engineering jobs in the future and students should adapt to the jobs.”, said the Chief Guest.Engineering jobs in manufacturing sector in the future will see a drop due to automation but at the same time there will be many indirect jobs which graduates should grasp and keep on improving themselves to work up their way up, he said.
Talking about the future of technical education, he said multidisciplinary approach will take place in Engineering education. 2 years of theory and 2 years of skill and practical education might arrive.The affiliation system could vanish and all engineering colleges will have the provision to frame their own syllabus as per the guidelines of AICTE. He said this option will make graduates “future ready”.
He said instead of students seeking internships elsewhere or meagre intake of internship provided by industry, every engg.college will have its own Industrial Training Facility in future.He wanted the students to be avid learners and explorers of ways to enhance their skills through technology.”The future depends on Inventions and inventors”, he stated and advised them to not keep their patterns idle but commercialize it.