By Team Mangalorean – Mangalore
Mangalore June 13: Leaders of engineering education
and engineering businesses from US and India, along with several
government dignitaries met at an Action Planning Forum for Indo US
collaboration in engineering education, hosted by Kris Gopalakrishnan,
Managing Director and CEO-Designate of Infosys at their Mysore Campus
on June 3 to June 5, 2007.
Infosys offered outstanding hospitality at their state-of-the art
facilities of their Leadership Institute to the 81 participants who
included several directors, deans of engineering, vice chancellors as
well as over 25 business representatives. Prof. N. Balakrishnan,
Associate Director, Indian Institute of Science and Dr. Frank Huband,
Executive Director, American Society for Engineering Education,
welcomed the participants on behalf of the organizers. Prof V.S.
Arunachalam, Former Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister, Dr. T.
Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Dr. D.
Acharya, Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education, gave
keynote addresses.
The goal of the Forum was to develop an action plan for improving
the quality and global relevance of engineering education in India and
in the US. Of particular concern to the participants was the lack of
interest in science and engineering in the US, the inadequate
preparation of engineering graduates in India, the shortage of students
pursuing Ph.D. programs in engineering in India and the need to
encourage and support women and underrepresented minorities in
engineering careers in both countries. The participants discussed
several successful and promising models of collaborations which have
potential for scaling up. This was the first of two forums organized by
the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the newly
formed Indo US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE). The
preliminary recommendations from the Mysore Forum will be developed
further at the second Forum to be held at the National Academy of
Engineering in Washington DC on August 29 to 31, 2007.
One of the key outcomes of these action planning forums could be the
establishment of an Indo US Engineering Faculty Institute with four
thrust areas: curriculum and delivery, quality and accreditation,
research and development, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Cross
cutting themes for these thrust areas are industry needs and global
relevance. This Institute would help improve the preparedness of the
large number of faculty in engineering colleges in India and in the US
to address the needs of the global economy. Another outcome could be
the development of an Indo US Engineering Student Network for
facilitating student internships and interactions as well as providing
students access to high quality learning materials. Expectations are
that the Student Network will be linked to the Global Student Forum
currently sponsored by ASEE and International Federation of Engineering
Education Societies (IFEES).
The resulting sustainable collaborations are expected to lead to
clear mutual benefits to India and to the US. Benefits to India
include an increase in the number of qualified engineering faculty,
access to better curricular experiences for students, better
employability of engineering graduates with skills needed by industry,
increase in the research activity and increase in the production of
Ph.Ds. in engineering colleges. Benefits to US include opportunities
for global experiences for faculty and students, collaborative
research, development and entrepreneurship in emerging technologies of
global relevance, as well as access for US universities and companies
to more and better prepared engineering graduates.
Initial
support for the planning was obtained from Infosys, Deshpande
Foundation, Indo US Science and Technology Forum as well as the
corporations Hewlett Packard, National Instruments, Dassault Systemes,
Microsoft, Autodesk, Agilent Technologies and UGS. Faculty,
administrators and alumni of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
played a major role in initiating the collaboration at the Pan IIT 2006
Conference held in Mumbai in December 2006. The US Embassy as well as
the International Federation for Engineering Education Societies
(IFEES) and the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) were also
important partners.
The US delegation led by Dr. James Melsa, President-Elect of
American Society for Engineering Education, visited New Delhi after the
Mysore Forum. They met with President Abdul Kalam as well as the US
Ambassador David C. Mulford to brief them about the recommendations
from the Mysore Forum and to seek their advice. A small team of the
participants, led by Barbara Olds, Associate Vice President, Colorado
School of Mines visited Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh (alma
mater of Kalpana Chawla, the Indian born astronaut who died in the
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), for the nomination a faculty member,
Uma Bathra, as Member-at -Large for Society for Women Engineers
