On one fine morning, we had a chance to share his views on various aspects of higher technical education in India, some excerpts from the conversation are:
GC: In your visits across the country, what was the general response of the students towards post-graduate technical education?
DS: Students prefer immediate employment to PG technical education. In most engineering colleges, the placement happens in the 7th semester, or beginning of 8th semester. All good students are able to secure a job through campus placement. These students either do not apply for GATE, or even if they do, they are not serious about it. Thus I found the student community at large, losing their interest in higher technical education. While choosing a college for BE/BTech too, students and even guardians are more inclined towards a college advertising higher placements than one advertising quality faculty.
GC: How has been the general performance of students in GATE?
DS: Over the last few years, the general scores of students in GATE are declining. In some questions, the condition is so bad that the average mark scored by students is negative, even worse than what the random responses will result in. Sometimes it makes me ponder what has seven semesters of engineering education added to a student's knowledge. As a student has not received any education in these seven semesters, he/she can't be expected to achieve good score in GATE exam. Apart from the negligence on the part of students, poor facilities, and a placement-oriented mindset also play a big role.
GC: How many MTech students and/or BTech students from IITs move on for a PhD?
DS: Very few (5-7%) and this is a very unhealthy figure.
GC: In addition to the GATE scores, many departments of IITs conduct a written test and/or interview. What kind of aptitude you want to test through them?
DS: GATE papers are designed such that there should not be any possibility of guessing. A guess is strongly discouraged through negative marks. The kind of questions asked in written exams conducted by individual departments are also similar, covering the same syllabus and of the same level as that of GATE (after all they are also prepared by faculty of IITs only). The primary reason to conduct a separate written test is to confirm the seriousness of students towards admission in the program. If a student finds it tougher than GATE, it's quite possible that his/her preparation is lacking somewhere.
GC: What do you look for in a student appearing for an interview?
DS: First, an interview gives much more insight into a student’s line of thinking and of his/her bent of mind. An objective written exam can only differentiate between correct and wrong, but an interview also gives the degree of correctness and logic for an answer which is sometimes more important than the answer itself.
Second, a student can score reasonably well in GATE exam by just covering 50% of the syllabus well. Also, through GATE-specific coaching and directed preparation (focusing on solving specific kind of questions than understanding the concepts), many students crack the exam but face difficulties after joining here, because their conceptual knowledge is not up to the mark. Through an interview, we can judge the overall understanding level of a student.
GC: What’s your take on MS or MTech?
DS: There are some foreign universities which are better in terms of facilities, faculty and research than IITs. A chance to study there should be preferred. However, a lot of students think that everything foreign is good, and they are willing to go to a poor quality university abroad for MS. That attitude is not right. Studying abroad has an added advantage of living in a new culture, which expands one's horizons, and is a useful experience in the globalized world. But it is not worth going to poor quality university just for foreign experience.
GC: What should be the mode of study for engineering students?
DS: Since the question paper of a university usually asks the student to answer any 5 questions out of 8 or so, students do not bother to go through the entire syllabus. Also, the trend of reading through local books is widespread, which are often the cut-paste versions of the original standard books. What the students fail to understand is that the portions modified/left out in these local versions are many a time most important for concept-building. Learning right things is more important than scoring well in the university exam in my opinion. Thus, I recommend students to purchase and read original standard books, which are usually not costlier than their local versions.
GC: Message for the students?
DS: As an institute I too am concerned that the department should get good post-graduate students, and I would like all the top students of good engineering colleges to seriously consider higher technical education for a bright future. At this age, students should have maximum idealism than greed for high packages. 8-10 year down the line you would agree that some things are more important in life than money. Also, one must seek an admission based on the interest area, faculty list and quality education in an institute than placement scenario, which is often misleading.
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