Social Service

Technical Education

The Twelfth Five Year Plan aimed at encouraging the private sector to establish larger and higher quality institutions and Public–Private Partnerships (PPP) in higher education particularly in the establishment of research and innovation institutions. The State of Kerala has entered into MOUs with some of the leading global industrial enterprises and is going to implement some schemes in the technical education realm where skill development is a matter of concern. The State has entered into an MOU with Bosch Group which is a global company with wide network of operations in Automotive, Industrial and Consumer goods and building service sectors. Bosch Rexroth will set up one Centre of Excellence in Automation Technologies at College of Engineering, Trivandrum and one Centre of Competence in Automation Technologies at Government Polytechnic at Kalamaserry. These centres will work on dual education system centres that will provide in depth knowledge on automation technologies.

The following courses are implemented under the technical education department in Public–Private Partnerships (PPP) mode.

1. Advanced Diploma in Automotive Mechatronics (ADAM) and Establishment of Centre of Excellence in Mechatronics at Government Engineering College, Barton Hill.
2. Centre of Excellence in Automation Technologies in College of Engineering Trivandrum.
3. Centre of Competence in Automation Technologies in Govt. Polytechnic College, Kalamassery.
4. Two year MS Course in Translational Engineering in Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, Thiruvananthapuram.

Directorate of Technical Education is the nodal department for technical education in the State. The basic objective is to achieve faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth. The details of technical institutions under the administrative and financial control of Directorate of Technical Education is given in Appendix 4.38.

Various projects are being undertaken through funding from different agencies like Ministry of Human Resource Development, All India Council for Technical Education, Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) (Box 4.4), Trivandrum Engineering Science and Technology (TREST) Research Park, Technology Business Incubators (TBI), Department of Science and Technology (DST), and University Grants Commission.

Engineering Colleges

There are 183 engineering colleges in the State with a sanctioned intake of 60,376 in 2016. Out of these engineering colleges, 171 (93.44 per cent) are self-financing colleges (unaided), 9 (4.92 per cent) are government colleges and 3 (1.64 per cent) are private aided colleges. Largest number of the unaided engineering colleges are functioning in Ernakulam (31) followed by Thiruvananthapuram (26). There is no government engineering college in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kasargode. The district-wise and management-wise details of engineering colleges and sanctioned intake are given in Appendix 4.39. The sanctioned intake of government colleges during 2016 was 3283 (5.44 per cent), in aided colleges was 1850 (3.06 per cent) and in unaided colleges was 55,243 (91.5 per cent).

Of the engineering colleges in Kerala, the largest number of branch wise seats was in Electronics and Communication (12,063) followed by Mechanical Engineering (11,165), Civil Engineering (10,412) and Computer Science and Engineering (10,269). Branch-wise distribution of seats in engineering colleges in 2015-16 is given in Appendix 4.40. The number of students enrolled in government and aided engineering colleges for graduate courses decreased to 5,134 in 2016-17 from 6370 in 2015-16. The proportion of girls’ enrolment has also decreased to 36.42 per cent from 36.86 per cent in 2015-16. 1,515 students have been admitted in government and aided engineering colleges for post graduate courses in 2016-17. Girl students constitute 61.19 per cent of total students studying for post graduate courses in government and aided engineering colleges. Details are given in Appendix 4.41 and Appendix 4.42.

Source: Directorate of Technical Education

Academic Excellence in Engineering Colleges

The academic excellence in Government Engineering Colleges is high and appreciable and this was due to the high pass percentage and increasing placement of students in reputed firms. The placement record of the students in various government institutions is also relatively high. A large number of students are also qualifying for higher studies through competitive examinations like GATE, and CAT. Most of the students get placement in multinational firms like WIPRO, MAHENDRA, TCS, and BOSCH. Placement details of students of various Govt. Engineering colleges during 2015-16 are given in Table 4.5. The number of visiting faculty programmes in various engineering colleges may be seen in
Appendix 4.43.

Table.4.5
Placement Details of Students of Various Engineering College during 2015-16

Source: Directorate of Technical Education

Polytechnics and Technical High Schools

Forty five Government polytechnics and 6 private aided polytechnics are functioning in Kerala. The annual intake of students in government polytechnics and private aided polytechnics during 2016-17 were 9,708 and 1,475 respectively. The total number of students in government polytechnics during the year 2016-17 is 27,861 and that of private aided polytechnics is 4,448. Details of annual intake and student strength in polytechnics for the year 2014-15 to 2016-17 are given in Appendix 4.44 and Appendix 4.45. Details of trade-wise annual intake of students in polytechnics of the State in 2016-17 are given in Appendix 4.46. Student intake is highest in the trade of Mechanical Engineering (2620) followed by Computer Engineering (2190), Civil Engineering (2170) and Electronics Engineering (2120).

Total number of teachers working in polytechnics of the State is 1,801. Women teachers constitute 30 per cent of the total number of teachers in polytechnics. Student- teacher ratio is high in Government Polytechnics.

Total number of teachers working in polytechnics of the State is 1756. Women teachers constitute 28.87% of the total number of teachers in polytechnics. Student-Teacher Ratio in polytechnics is given in Table 4.6.

Table 4.6
Student- Teacher Ratio in Polytechnics

Source: Directorate of Technical Education

Details of number of students and teachers in polytechnics are given in Appendix 4.47. Number of SC/ST students and SC/ST teachers in polytechnics in the reporting year are given in Appendix 4.48. It is seen that the percentage of SC/ST students is low and it is decreasing over the last three years (Table 4.7).

Table.4.7
Percentage SC/ST students in Polytechnics

Source: Directorate of Technical Education

39 Government technical high schools are functioning in the State. Total number of students in technical high schools in the year 2015-16 is 8872, and 794 teachers are working in technical high schools of the State in the corresponding period. Women teachers constitute 23.93 per cent of teachers in technical high schools. Number of students and teachers in technical high schools from 2013-14 to 2015-16 are given in Appendix 4.49. Compared to the previous year, the percentage of SC and ST students in technical high schools has declined from 12.76 per cent to 9.36 per cent and from 0.96 per cent to 0.63 per cent respectively. Details are given in Appendix 4.50 and Appendix 4.51.

Some specific measures need to be taken on priority basis, as there is a consistent fall in the quality of higher education being imparted in the State. In this context, it would be useful to revisit some of the measures adopted in the past when concerns on quality of education were voiced. Although courses were started with a focus on skill orientation towards specific occupations with the intention of achieving self/wages/direct employment as well as vertical mobility, it remained unsuccessful for various reasons.

Kerala has a paradoxical situation prevailing where the number of job seekers is rising alongside a scarcity of labour for manual jobs. Another major issue confronting the educational system of Kerala is the mismatch between the courses available and the courses required. This mismatch between demand and supply is more pronounced in the area of higher and technical education. There exists lack of interaction between educational institutions and industry. Collaboration of our leading technical institutions with leading industrial concerns may change the situation.To enable the higher and technical education system in Kerala to utilise the increasing opportunities generated by globalization, the State needs to introduce various industry based courses, which will increase the quality of education. Expanding higher education to new spheres is also expected to generate more placement opportunities.

Source: Directorate of Technical Education, Kerala.