AICTE proposes GATE as the ‘Exit Exam’ for fresh engineers

Countering the problem of unemployable engineers, AICTE proposed GATE as the ‘Exit exam’ for students graduating in 2019-2020. Though it is just a proposal and yet to be approved, but it has already received so much criticism. Let’s see what it is all about.

Concept of Exit Exam

Students pursuing technical courses across the country for the academic year 2019-2020 might soon have to write a mandatory ‘Exit Exam’ and pass it to get their degree certificate. This decision was taken at a recent AICTE meeting in New Delhi. Considering the increase in the number of unemployed graduates even after graduation, the AICTE has taken this decision. Interestingly, for candidates who have completed their engineering course, the degree certificate will be awarded only after they clear GATE, said AICTE officials. The rest have to re-appear for GATE. 

Degrading Engineering Education Quality

According to the article written by Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi in Navhind-times, the total employable engineers in the country are only 7-8%. National Employability Report 2016 by Aspiring Minds state the pathetic condition of engineers in India. The survey was conducted in 650+ colleges and 150,000 students took part in the survey throughout the country. The key findings were that the employability had remained stagnant for last 4 years. Only 3.84% were found to be employable for startup software engineering jobs. For chemical design engineering jobs, only 1.64% were found to be employable. National Programming Skills Report by Aspiring Minds concludes that only 36% engineers were able to write compilable codes. As low as 2.21% engineers possess the skill to write a fully functional code with best efficiency and writing practices. (Read more: Click here)  

Criticism

The move received a lot of criticism from both college and students fraternities. Some teachers believe that it is of no use and the employability depends on individual skills. Students iterates the similar concern. They add the concern of students are already placed in the companies which visit the college before graduation. 

Some people term it as a necessary reform to filter out better students and thus, differentiating between ‘engineers’ and ‘degree-holders’. Some people also have an opinion that it is the pedagogy that is to be checked. The curriculum is quite old and students aim to find placement in any profile.  

Conclusion

Blame anyone but the end product shall remain the same without reforms. We all know that most of the engineers lack engineering skills and knowledge, which can fetch them placements in core-companies.  At least by this reforms, the trend of becoming engineers will shift and the existing students will study. This would also ‘force’ institutes to improve their teaching standards. So, the move can actually reform the engineering education level. Let’s see if it gets the approval.