Computing Education in India A Brief Summary For ACM Education Council Meeting September 2009

Indian Technical Higher Education Universities : 20 Central State universities 128 ‘Deemed’ universities Indian Institutes of Technology 8 existing, 8 more under way Indian Institutes of Information Technology 11 existing, 20 more under way National Institutes of Technology Leading regional engineering colleges Engineering Colleges ~3500 with ~0.5M new entrants a year Usually privately run but with government concessions & grants Note: age group population is ~50M

Standards and Quality Widely varying selection standards: IIT’s take 1:60 applicants (total of 6500 admitted in 2009) Good institutions take 1:5 after an entrance examination Smaller engineering colleges take the rest Widely varying quality: IIT’s are world standard: Good teachers, equipment, high peer pressure Typical small engineering college: Under-provisioned, under-resourced, poor teaching Used as stepping stone to a job or higher degree elsewhere

Deficiencies Narrow entry criteria : –Based on single exam result, dependence on coaching courses –No second chance: applicants filter through & get admission somewhere Major recruiters have restricted focus: –Campus recruitment at 100+ ‘accredited’ institutions –Occasional open entry test for all others Large recruitment targets: –Upto 20,000-30,000 fresh graduates a year

Growth IT industry is main employer for computing graduates: Over 2.2M directly employed and ~150K added each year Hence rapid increase in engineering colleges: Demand driven, usually privately financed But no similar rise in training of teaching staff! IT industry skims off good potential teachers: Much higher salaries Better working conditions Not the route to sustainable good education!

Remedies Frequent short courses to train teachers: Provide basic knowledge of important fields Outline possible syllabus Make on-line resources available Work directly with students: Use their high level of drive & ambition Make on-line resources available Introduce professional qualification tests: Slowly bring pressure to improve syllabus Employers will see value in standardized evaluation

ACM India Starting to think of educational initiatives –Provide a channel for faculty networking –Create an active on-line student community –Provide objective opinion to policy makers Create deeper understanding of computation (not just IT) –Change perception of fundamentals from ‘trade’ to science –Show linkage between science, technology, application –Move from ‘training’ to education … and learn from ACM initiatives elsewhere