• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

There's e in engineering

Ambar Singh Roy

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-K), established in 1951, has several firsts to its credit including the distinction of being the first IIT in the country. In 1964, it was the first to boast of a computer -- a prized I BM 1620. Moving with the times, IIT-K has incorporated computing and computer education in the curriculum of all the 26 disciplines offered.

Says Prof. Nori Prakasa Rao, former Deputy Director of IIT-K, and presently MD of Science & Technology Entrepreneurs Park at IIT-K: ``Computer-orientation enables students to get a better appreciation of the course material and equip thems elves to effectively handle more realistic and large-scale problems in engineering design and in the teaching of all engineering subjects, including thermo-dynamics and aerospace engineering.''

Students of computer science, electrical engineering and electronics engineering are taught the hardware aspects in detail -- including design and development of chips, large-scale integration, and improvement of computer memory and speeds. Students of other disciplines are taught to use computers and computing with a view to improving performance in their respective fields. ``All disciplines require computers at the design and management stages. Computer availa bility has made it easy to handle complicated mathematical expressions in engineering design rather easily. For instance, all engineering books published in the US are sold with CDs carrying solutions to problems contained at the end of e very chapter. Students are, thus, assured of better appreciation of the theory that is taught in the classes,'' observes Prof. Rao.

Prof. M.A. Faruqi of the Department of Mechanical Engineering avers that conventional engineering has undergone an irreversible change. Engineering in the future will be focussed entirely on Web-based, computer activity. ``Today, no one wants engi neers to design what has already been designed in the past. No one wants to employ engineers without a management degree. Engineering in the future will be more focussed on Web applications in engineering collaborations. IIT engineers w ill be more into entrepreneurship and Web development.''

With information freely and easily accessible on the Web, there has been a discernible shift to `e-engineering.' Prof. Faruqi is firm in his belief that `either one is an e-engineer or he is no engineer at all.' The `chalk and talk' method of tea ching is gradually being replaced -- though not entirely -- with experiments simulated in laboratories with the help of computers. For example, it's simpler to use a computer simulation to explain the working of a differential gear rather than drawing it on the blackboard.

The future undoubtedly belongs to a globally-networked, Web-based engineering education system with closer linkages between institutions. This calls for a total overhaul of the curriculum, and ``With integration taking place, some subjects hav e to be dropped and others added. The additions have to be linked to functioning in a global environment,'' feels Prof. Faruqi.

# Interestingly, students too are demanding more of IT. Most of them are computer-savvy before they enter the portals of the institute. In fact, the basics of computers no longer need to form part of the course content. Asst. Prof. Cheruvu S. Kumar is convinced that changes in the course content have been necessitated by the fact that IIT students are increasingly aware of changes that have taken place outside the institute. Therein lies the importance of integrating the curriculum of all engineering disciplines with computers.

The advent of e-engineering, however, has had its negative impact. First, the exodus to the US is on the rise. Clearly, the perspective that the integrated curriculum gives them is valuable to employers and foreign universities. Second, and pe rhaps of greater concern, is that graduate engineers have displayed a marked preference for an MS or MBA degree instead of a Ph.D. In the long-term, this would have a direct impact on the quality of the future faculty at premier technical centre s of excellence.

#Prof. R.N. Banerjee of the Department of Industrial Engineering explains that the academic content of computer education at IIT-K is only one aspect of the usage of computers. The other, and equally important, aspect is the dependence on computerisation in administration and generation of information at source that is required to effectively run the daily business at IIT-K. No small matter given the fact that the institute has over 1,500 faculty and staff and over 4,000 students.

Reconciliation of the institute's Rs. 60-crore budget is computerised. So are records pertaining to outstanding leave and loans of employees, student and faculty activities. IIT-K has all types of computers besides a huge software invento ry, both developed in-house and purchased. ``We cannot separate administration from academics. When technology changes, software changes and then the whole methodology changes. Administration needs to be world class if the institute is to be world class'', Prof. Banerjee observes.

Decentralised computerisation, which took off at the institute way back in 1982-83 under the leadership of Prof. Faruqi, drastically changed the work culture at IIT-K. Today, every faculty member has a PC is his room with Internet access . It has an inventory of computers waiting to be readily given to faculty who join the institute. Faculty can accord grades and monitor performances online.

The institute is slated to introduce an interactive, computerised time-table from the next semester, aimed at streamlining the time-table system which in turn is connected to pre-registration. Students will soon be identified by bar codes. A virtual private network will provide for online registration. Already, its information cell has its own private network which is linked to the academic structure and the outside world.