Nair, Pachauri call for changes in technical education

Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair and Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Rajendra K Pachauri cited shortcomings in technical education, albeit in different ways, in their acceptance speeches. The two were presented with honorary degrees at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.

Nair, while recalling his interaction with VTU students, said: "As a user, the quality of students were not upto the mark. Even graduates from reputed institutes did not have the  wherewithal to solve problems," he said. For instance, many students cannot even remove a bulb and put it back, he added.

Train youngsters

The solution, Nair pointed, was in improving the quality of university personnel. He added that in a developing country like India, it was necessary to train youngsters to solve problems related to power, alternate energy, food security etc.

Pachauri, while paying tributes to Sir M Visvesvaraya, said that today's students needed to inculcate compassion and feeling that the great engineer showed.

"Engineers who are pursuing their work should not lose sight of values", he said. He pointed at the example of the Mayan civilisation, which vanished due to a breakdown in the social value system.

Pachauri also called upon the university to develop curriculum that is integrated with the concept of sustainable development. "Issues related to sustainable development or protecting the environment has to be part of everything that we teach these days", he said.

Higher Education Minister and Pro-Chancellor of VTU Dr V S Acharya said that the state government was in the process of revisiting the academic programmes of universities.

Towards improving the standard of engineering education, the state government has approved the opening of a research centre in Visvesvaraya's name at Muddanahalli, he said.