[Reader-list] For Nalin/B grade Engineering College

Wed Apr 11 20:39:46 IST 2007

Hi Sucharita,

Let me begin by a very sincere thanks for giving your feedback for this
study. It was great to go through an "outsider's" take on such colleges,
believe me, your insight has been enriching and will go a long way to help
me for this study.

Though I have not planned to study a specific university and its ways as
whole and I am more keen to be college centric. I aim to study what goes
behind the scenes, and that amid poor infrastructure and faculty, the
students still come up trumps and secure a decent job. Actually this
occurrence of getting jobs can be attributed to the simple funda of demand -
supply. Such colleges mushroomed post liberalization, say around '97 - '98,
primarily to cater the huge demand of skilled resources, to which the Indian
industry was subjected. And even with sloppy course modules, as experienced
by your friend, I can say that the students have done a great job for
themselves. Indian IT techies being glare examples, a large chunk of which
hail from such colleges.

Let me also add that despite everything, such B Grade Engineering Colleges
are repositories of a huge 'brain bank' and slowly but steadily are inching
their way up the ladder. With many Corporate tie ups, better placement
facilities and considerable improvement in infrastructure things are looking
up. Again, these self contradictory statements baffle me at times, but guess
thats what makes this project so exciting for me.

Looking to hear more from you.

Warmly,
Nalin

On 9 Apr 2007 07:01:42 -0000, Sucharita Sengupta <suchisen1 at rediffmail.com>
wrote:
>
>
> Dear Nalin,
> I am very enthused by your idea of studying B Grade Enginnering Colleges.
> I shall proceed to give you my observations.Please note that i am not an
> engineer by profession, but most of my friends have studied in such
> colleges.
>
> You could possibly study the Punjab Technical University. Several colleges
> under the university often have poor infrastructure, from building to
> faculty. The qualifications of the faculty may not be suspect, but is by no
> standard world class. There is faulty marking and poor syllabi.
>
> A friend who studied at one such college got the shock of her life when
> she chose to work on a topic called Data Mining. While on a visit to
> Vancouver, she spoke to a professor who was a leader in the field. When he
> asked her to tell him what she knew, she confidently rattled off all that
> she had studied. The Professor then gently broke the news to her that this
> knowledge was ancient, and she had a lot of reading and research to catch up
> on. Predictably, she returned very disappointed.
>
> Several of these colleges seem to have very relaxed cut-off percentage.
> There is also something called 'Capitation Fee', which basically means that
> one can pay an exorbitant amount to buy seats if they cannot gain admission
> purely on the basis of merit.
>
> I was thinking, during the anti-reservation campaign, much was made of the
> concept of 'merit', but cannot really spot true merit coming out in rushes
> from several of the colleges.However, one thing i have noticed, everyone
> gets a job.
>
> Before the entrance exams, yet another scam takes place. Previosuly,
> students aspiring to gain admission used to the IITs would pay huge amounts
> for coaching. Now, anyone who wishes  to become an engineer, even from a B
> grade college, does the  same. So in line with the actual colleges, several
> coaching centres have come up, all of which charge crazy money. One such
> college in Chandigarh, has an entrance exam to qualify for admission into
> the coaching institute!
>
> Again, where is the 'merit' part? I haven't really made up my mind on the
> reservations issue.But having seen what i have in B Grade Engineering
> Colleges, the merit argument does not hold much water. Readers are free to
> disagree and provide counterarguments.
>
> Somehow,one cannot stop this niggling feeling that we're churning out
> mediocrity. Again, counterarguments are welcome.
>
> Good luck with your study, and keep posting what you discover.
>
> Warm Regards
> Sucharita Sengupta
>
>
>
> On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote :
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> >    1. B Grade Engineering College Culture (Nalin Mathur)
> >    2. Cinematic City:Kolkata, Modernity,     MiddleClass&the Urban
> >      Woman--1950s &60s Popular Bangla cinema. (smita mitra)
> >    3. Re: Nizamuddin Basti (Yousuf)
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> >----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Message: 1
> >Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 01:23:14 +0530
> > From: "Nalin Mathur" <nalin.mathur at gmail.com>
> >Subject: [Reader-list] B Grade Engineering College Culture
> >To: reader-list at sarai.net
> >Message-ID:
> >      <7c0063460704071253k2287ea1ah169423459673f6ab at mail.gmail.com>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> >
> >Sarai / Independent Fellow 2007/ Nalin N. Mathur/ Second Posting
> >
> >Confession Time
> >
> >Now nobody calls his or her *Alma Mater* a B – Grade institute,
> definitely
> >not in public. It remains a universal fact that one tends to relate with
> >ones institute, irrespective of its social or educational ranking. Even
> >though I agreed with this theory, I had to experience it first hand when
> I
> >broke the news of receiving a fellowship to study B – Grade Engineering
> >college culture to my friends. Let me share with you upfront that I was
> >expecting words of praise and encouragement, which I eventually got, but
> not
> >before being subjected to ridicule. Most of my friends were dejected at
> the
> >adjective I had used to describe our college. Almost all showered
> >obscenities. Those few with a sense of history reminded me of Arthur
> >Wellesley's epic tribute to his *Alma Mater* mentioning the famous "*The
> >battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton *" quote
> >(forgetting that the play ground at our college resembled an over sized
> cow
> >shed for the better part of our graduation). Nevertheless, what hit me
> the
> >most with this quote was our uncanny resemblance to Wellesley's
> educational
> >and professional life. Like Wellesley, I or my friends never scored well
> at
> >school. Later in life he was a highly successful and decorated soldier,
> >something which we wish to accomplish in our respective field of
> expertise.
> >
> >As a whole, I observed two points, which have become the basis of my
> study
> >for this fellowship. One – the utter disregard of ones academic
> credentials
> >in view of gaining success in life. The zeal to accomplish and beat the
> odds
> >has absolutely nothing to do with ones *Alma Mater.* The aspiration and
> >attitude to go for the kill are as independent features from the place of
> >graduating as rocket science is from the excavations at Harappa. In
> short,
> >just like a shrewd Wellesley defeated the mighty Napoleon, graduates from
> B
> >– Grade engineering colleges are all pumped up to take on the world.
> >
> >Two – all said and done, Wellesley was from Eton, among the best schools
> in
> >the world with a culture and legacy as enriching as it can get. No matter
> >how he fared in classes, he must have gained something, the credit for
> which
> >can go to his school as well. A similar scene shapes up for my study. B –
> >Grade Engineering colleges have a lot to catch up on when compared with
> the
> >top tier institutions, engineers from which, irrefutably, have a major
> edge,
> >in terms of level of education, exposure and environment.
> >
> >So here I am, trying to get over this fascination from Duke of Wellington
> >and his times, and the contradictory notions cropping up in my mind. And
> try
> >to study and document as to what goes inside those worn out walls of a
> >second tier engineering college. What happens to half a million engineers
> >passing out from such colleges every year in India? What role do they
> play
> >in building on a society? What aspirations do they carry? What is it that
> >makes them believe that they can excel when they would be competing with
> >peers who are far better equipped? And importantly what kind of dynamics
> do
> >they create and live through?
> >
> >To be honest I am skeptical if I would be able to present the answers in
> the
> >manner they deserve. Or, in the first place, if I would be able to find
> them
> >at all.
> >
> >If I do, my Orkut profile would read – I am done!
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Nalin N.
> >Mathur
>
>
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