Item 6. Curriculum Reform

Transcription

1 Item 6. Curriculum Reform 1. Curriculum reform to facilitate UMA and relevant activities. 2. Autonomy needed to undertake these changes The UMA program is a unique program which sets up a clear link between (i) Needs. Engineering and societal requirements as posed by society, (ii) Roles. The roles that a graduate should be able to undertake, and (iii) Academics. The research and training required for the above Needs. The needs of society are expressed in both the UMA as well as the UBA framework. These include the following: (i) The institution should serve the immediate society as a knowledge resource. This may be done by offering a list of knowledge products and services at reasonable prices. This list may be updated in regular meetings of regional representatives. (ii) The institution should supplement and grow the scientific temper and comprehension of everyday problems in society as amenable to planning for better outcomes. These may include improving chulhas, better water management, agricultural practices and household enterprises. It also includes an understanding within society of its various parts such as the state and its agencies, civil society and markets. This is clearly enshrined in the goals and objectives of UBA and UMA Roles. The roles for fresh graduates are many. First and foremost, graduates must function as change agents. This means that the modern engineer must be able to perform the basic engineering cycle of value creation given by: (i) the ability to comprehend, analyse and express socio-economic or environmental problems. (ii) to map these into terms-of-reference for a technical and institutional design. (iii) carry out such a design with the help of other disciplinary professionals. (iv) carry and/or oversee the implementation of the design. (v) measure outcomes and satisfaction. Such a role is clearly enshrined in the Outcome Statements for Engineering Technician Education Base annexure of the Washington Accord Rules and Procedures (13 June 2014). Moreover, there is a clear set of sectors identified in UMA in which the fresh graduate must be fit to work. These are basic engineering services, support of the small and household

2 enterprises and key state programs. The fresh graduate may work as a professional, employee, innovator, a consultant/designer, analyst or in evaluation, documentation and research roles Academics. A curriculum and research practice must be designed which is in alignment with the above requirements. This will mean: (i) Familiarity of students with basic developmental areas and the ability to operate in the same. This will mean inclusion of relevant areas in suitable departmental curricula. This may be done in two ways: (a) an introductory Development Engineering course which introduces to students the professional cycle highlighted above, and (b) a 1-2 unit development project course for UGs (TDSL in IIT Bombay) which requires students to study, analyse and design (in separate courses) real-life situations. These also require a stake-holder interaction, interdisciplinary analysis and reporting. (ii) Creation of coordination centre to liaison with society. This is a requirement in UMA in the form of the Technology and Development Cell (T&DC). T&DC must support for liaising with external agencies, provisioning of data, and appropriate funding. The institute should allow linkages between student project-work, theses work and practices and problems posed by societal agents to T&DC. (iii) Support for inter-disciplinarity and recognition of practice and case-study as an important pedagogical and research device. This will require allowing inter-disciplinary theses and projects and the recognition of case-study as a valid M.E./M.Tech. project output. It also calls for the inclusion of the study of practices and their development as valid research Autonomy. Autonomy is required to be able to institute Development Engineering as a course, offer TDSL projects for UGs, re-interpret research at the Master's level, allow and bring in inter-disciplinarity, account for faculty time spent in development research and coordination, operate T&DC, and finally to organize events and workshops of regional stakeholders. Appendix A Development Engineering A.1 Background and Rationale What is development (from an engineering perspective)? Development is (i) a sense of empowerment, dignity and identity at the household level (ii) physical, material and cultural well-being at the community level (iii) sustainability, preservation and diversity at the biospheric level. Important components of development are (a) the sustainable, equitable and efficient delivery of environmental services and (b) a protection of the livelihoods of people and communities who work with natural resources, (c) support of sustainable scales of production and consumption.

3 What is the development deficit? There is much to be desired in the provision of basic amenities and engineering services, particularly in rural India. According to a NSSO Survey on Drinking water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition (July 2012-December 2012)- Only 46.1 percent households in rural India and 76.8 percent households in urban India got drinking water within the premises percent of households in rural India and 16.7 percent of households in urban India did not have any bathroom facility percent households in rural India and 97.9 percent households in urban India had electricity for domestic use percent households in rural areas and 12.5 percent households in urban areas did not have any drainage system. In rural India, 58.7 percent household had disposed of waste water without treatment to open low land areas compared to 15.9 percent households in urban India. As per the final report of the Fourth All India Census of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ( : Unregistered Sector), 48.17% enterprises were found to be using electricity as main source of power whereas 38.59% enterprises were not using any kind of fuel. A large proportion of this deprived population lives in our very own state of Maharashtra. How does an education and research institution respond to this? Research. Leading engineering and technical universities have always been at the forefront of solving societal challenges. They do this by (i) problem solving, i.e., applying the theoretical inputs of science, mathematics, technology and engineering to real world problems, and (ii) developing practices and establishing protocols, i.e., by understanding underlying processes and developing the empirics and engagement required to design solutions. This also leads to the creation of new job definitions and new engagements between society, state and market. Teaching. Institutions should support a pedagogy of enquiry, value creation and delivery. This is best illustrated by the engineering cycle of value creation, which has been highlighted in the above section.

4 To fulfil their teaching and research obligations, institutions should aim for reform in research and curricula. An important step in this direction is in the design of Development Engineering, a semester long course to train the development professional. What is the institutional motivation behind curriculum reform? The motivation behind curriculum reform is multi-layered. New realities. Following the shrinking of the public sector and expansion of the private forprofit and not-for-profit space, there has been a shifting of priorities within core resource areas such as water and energy and issues such as agriculture, environment and small and medium enterprises. The old employee model is increasingly out-dated. For instance, the MSME (Micro, small and medium enterprises) sector has emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the economy. It is expected to play a crucial role in generating employment opportunities at a low per-capita investment and contribute to the industrialisation and socioeconomic development of rural India. The specific needs of this sector will include technoeconomic and managerial expertise, modernisation, training, skill and technology upgradation facilities, infrastructure and other supporting services. Engineers and engineering institutions can leverage their technical and professional know-how and cater to these specific needs. Knowledge Products and Mechanisms. Increasingly, government agencies (particularly at the district and taluka level) and private organizations are relying on inputs (feasibility studies, regional analyses, audits and failure analyses) from technical institutions to diagnose and solve regional developmental problems (such as drinking water, sanitation, rural energy, etc.). This has opened up a new frontier for fresh graduates willing to apply their analytical skills, derived from a wide range of technical and non-technical disciplines, to address socioeconomic development problems. Agents and Skills. A new space has been created for professionals willing to engage with these resource areas and issues. Such professionals require a thorough understanding of the professional cycle of value creation. This in turn, requires skills and understanding cutting across various disciplines, such as engineering and natural sciences, economics, business, information sciences, design, and sociology. National and State policy. The course aligns closely with national and state policy statements on science, technology and education., since it rejects the one size fits all approach and localises solutions to regional problems. Incorporation of region-specificity. It has the ability to respond to concrete demands for applied research and case-studies in design and analysis, whilst being responsive to regional needs. What are the processes of the new curriculum?

5 The objective of redefining/reforming engineering curriculum is to facilitate hands on, case study based engagement with and research within the emerging development sector. This entails two steps-(i) preparing a list of capabilities for institutions, faculty members and students, and (ii) enabling these capabilities. A simple way of implementing this is to list important projects/thesis which an institution will offer on demand. This is the UMA model. It incorporates socio-economic development related project/thesis work in the core disciplines (mechanical engineering, civil engineering, etc.) A complementary action is to offer a composite, inter-disciplinary course, Development Engineering, to prepare students to undertake case studies and field work. A.2 Development Engineering Course Design What is Development Engineering? Development Engineering, as a social engineering practice, as well as an academic sphere of enquiry and research, aims to fill the gap between disciplinary training and real-life problems and situations. It (i) trains students so that they can perform field work, use regional data-sets, record and understand interdisciplinary systems, set objectives for designs, report to various stakeholders etc. (ii) trains students in designing studies, gadgets and processes which will meet development requirements and criteria. Both these meet the objectives of UMA. Course Structure Topics to be covered while designing this course include- Governance structure (at the district and taluka level) Field-work and reporting- Primary data gathering tools, audits, feasibility analyses, third party assessments Data- GIS and multi-design framework, census data Introduction to a specific sector and state processes- Socio-economic analysis (such as the cost-benefit analysis of a water treatment plant), key policies/projects Cap-stone. Students will use the above to analyse case-studies within their major sector and also across sectors and see how they meet the engineering cycle. Course Support

6 The course will be buttressed by additional resources and facilities such as the project facilitation unit [(T&DC) under the UMA framework], seminar series, guest lectures, interdisciplinary courses, and support for fieldwork. Implementation at the institutional level Choice based credit system in autonomous TEQIP institutions enables them to introduce two levels of Development Engineering into the curriculum. Based on preliminary discussions, the first level can be a compulsory course which touches upon the basics, while the second level can be an elective which involves supervised project work. With the institutionalisation of the Development Engineering course, the innovating community can be widened by encouraging interdisciplinary design teams that include social science practitioners as well as science and engineering research experts. A cohesive, holistic approach will enable closer cooperation and engagement with the government, private sector, and the civil society at large. Working in tandem, social scientists, economists and engineers can pool their core competencies and generate more rigorous design, evaluation and monitoring methods, such as field studies with accurate representative samples that incorporate remote, sensor-based measurement of economic actions.