Undergraduate projects, yes; but no impact

A major irritant in generating innovative brains among the youth turning out as engineers, doctors and scientists is that the crucial years of their professional education fail to exercise their minds on research lines.

The result: A slew of engineering/medical college undergraduate projects fail to be based on innovative ideas or fall short of exciting the students about being involved in something important that could change the way we live. There is a reason why this is happening. Two or three decades ago, students had only two main career options — medicine or engineering. Parents and relatives pushed the hapless student towards these professions, even as peer pressure provided little help to a student, who was otherwise oriented towards a different career which he/she may have been passionate about.

The situation has improved today. But those opting for medicine or engineering do so for the same reason as their predecessors decades ago — money, not the urge to push frontiers!

Unfortunately, as experts point out, India’s higher education system lacks research-orientation and the stress is on teaching than on research and trying to find out ways and means to overcome known, existing problems in medicine or engineering.
This is clearly reflected in the types of college projects that are doled out.

For instance, earlier this month, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT) students developed an unmanned aero vehicle (UAV), which was more or less like reinventing the wheel.

The only unique feature was an autopilot system they had developed. But the objective of developing the system was basically for college project purpose, not to make a difference in the aviation field. The project is set to participate in the Eighth Annual Student Unmanned Systems (UAS) competition organised by Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in Maryland, USA, on July 1.

Unfortunately, projects focusing on solving impending problems faced by common people — although not completely absent — are far and apart.

Faculty of professional engineering colleges say projects are decided in consultation with scientists of reputed research institutions or industries.

Identifying problems plaguing the common people and attempting projects that can solve those are left to students who are passionate and innovative — a rarity in the field, the reasons for which we have already discussed in the last three parts of this series.

CPS Prakash, head of mechanical engineering department, Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, says the quality, relevance and applicability of projects depend upon the involvement of the faculty and students.

“We are trying to get there. Getting marks is not the end of it. They (the students) should get the learning exercise. Therefore, they should face the problems, and if a student is inquisitive he can take one or the other problem faced by the society and solve it as part of his/her project for the benefit of the society,” he says.

One attempt at setting the house in order is colleges putting a stop to project tours. Instead, encourage projects under direct supervision of expert guides from the college or an expert who is on the rolls as a visiting faculty. This is being done to avoid their project efforts from being marginalised by on-site guides — when on project tours — who often drive their own agenda, without getting involved in the project-oriented requirements of the students. For example, through direct supervision, students from Prakash’s department have developed a system that generates electricity when vehicles pass over a speed-breaker. Although this is aimed at looking at alternative methods of generating small amounts of electricity that could be used for specific purposes in the respective localities, it needs to be commercialised first.

“We are trying to improvise and improve and then aim for commercialisation… we are looking at feasibility in terms of commercial proportionality,” he says, hinting that the project, though well-meaning, is yet to be perfected in order to be accepted by the industry to develop the system into a full-fledged electricity generator.

Some years ago, Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in Avadi, near Chennai, showed keen interest in a remote-controlled model of a battle tank developed by a RV College of Engineering (RVCE). The team of students was called by the centre, which is under the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). But the idea of trying to develop a full-fledged tank based on the students’ design and concept fizzled out for lack of backing and will to take it up with the Centre. The college team members have since passed out and even settled down in life.

Interestingly, though faculty members from various engineering colleges feel that the quality and impact of college projects could be significantly improved if guides and student teams chose projects that addressed the problems of the people, what happens in reality is an attempt to appease the industry with an eye on commercialisation. But that too rarely happens.

Amit Bansal, CEO and co-founder, PurpleLeap, a company which helps professional colleges produce quality talent for the industry, says: “Initially, the focus was only on IITs and RECs (regional engineering colleges). Now, there is a proliferation of engineering colleges. But the focus remains more on replicating success stories in the West.” He feels that in all this, the need for innovation is lost. “Although education has been more or less practical, it does not take students into uncharted areas to be more innovative,” he says. “They are given a set thing and asked to go about it.”