[Reader-list] B - Grade Engineering College Culture / Fifth Posting / Nalin N. Mathur

[Nalin Mathur]

B - Grade Engineering College Culture / Fifth Posting / Nalin N. Mathur

The text for this posting has been copy-pasted from the website of
Department of Education. It gives in a beautiful insight as to how
engineering evolved as a subject. This article has helped me conclude one
important thing - All present day renowned colleges were born out of need,
while the ones that are coming up are because of requirement. I believe
herein lies the different.

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Engineering and Technological Education in India up to 1920

The impulse for creation of centers of technical training came from the
British rulers of India, and it arose out of the necessity for the training
of overseers for construction and maintenance of public buildings, roads,
canals, and ports, and for the training of artisans and craftsmen for the
use of instruments, and apparatus needed for the army, the navy, and the
survey department. The superintending engineers were mostly recruited from
Britain from the Cooper's Hill College, and this applied as well to foremen
and artificers; but this could not be done in the case of lower grades-
craftsmen, artisans and sub-overseers who were recruited locally. As they
were mostly illiterate, efficiency was low. The necessity to make them more
efficient by giving them elementary lessons in reading, writing, arithmetic,
geometry, and mechanics, led to the establishment of industrial schools
attached to Ordnance Factories and other engineering establishments.

While it is stated that such schools existed in Calcutta and Bombay as early
as 1825, the first authentic account we have is that of an industrial school
established at Guindy, Madras, in 1842, attached to the Gun Carriage Factory
there. A school for the training of overseers was known to exist in Poona in
1854.

Meanwhile in Europe and America, Colleges of Engineering were growing up,
which drew to them men having good education, and special proficiency in
mathematical subjects. This led to discussions in Government circles in
India, and similar institutions were sought to be established in the
Presidency Towns.

The first engineering college was established in the U.P. in 1847 for the
training of Civil Engineers at Roorkee, which made use of the large
workshops and public buildings there that were erected for the Upper Ganges
Canal. The Roorkee College (or to give it its official name, the Thomason
Engineering College) was never affiliated to any university, but has been
giving diplomas which are considered to be equivalent to degrees. In
pursuance of the Government policy, three Engineering Colleges were opened
by about 1856 in the three Presidencies. In Bengal, a College called the
Calcutta College of Civil Engineering was opened at the Writers' Buildings
in November 1856; the name was changed to Bengal Engineering College in
1857, and it, was affiliated to the Calcutta University. It gave a
licentiate course in Civil Engineering. In 1865 it was amalgamated with the
Presidency College. Later, in 1880, it was detached from the Presidency
College and shifted to its present quarters at Sibpur, occupy in the
premises and buildings belonging to the Bishop's College.
Proposals for having an Engineering College at Bombay city having failed for
some reasons, the overseers' school at Poona eventually became the Poona
College of Engineering and affiliated to the Bombay University in 1858. For
a long time, this was the only College of Engineering in the Western
Presidency.

In the Madras Presidency, the industrial school attached to the Gun Carriage
Factory became ultimately the Guindy College of Engineering and affiliated
to the Madras University (1858).

The educational work in the three Colleges of Sibpur, Poona, and Guindy has
been more or less similar. They all had licentiate courses in civil
engineering up to 1880, when they organized degree classes in this branch
alone. After 1880, the demand for mechanical and electrical engineering was
felt, but the three Engineering Colleges started only apprenticeship classes
in these subjects. The Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, which was
started at Bombay in 1887, had as its objective the training of licentiates
in Electrical, Mechanical and Textile Engineering

In 1915, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, opened Electrical
Engineering classes under Dr. Alfred Hay, and began to give certificates and
associateships, the latter being regarded equivalent to a degree.
In Bengal, the leaders of the Swadeshi Movement organized in 1907 a National
Council of Education which tried to organize a truly National University.
Out of the many institutions it started, only the College of Engineering and
Technology at Jadavpur had survived. It started granting diplomas in a
mechanical and engineering course in 1908, and in chemical engineering in
1921.
The Calcutta University Commission debated the pros and cons for the
introduction of degree courses in mechanical and electrical engineering. One
of the reasons cited, form the recommendations of the Indian Industrial
Commission (1915, under the Chairmanship of Sir Thomas (Holland) against the
introduction of electrical engineering courses is given in the following
quotation from their report: "We have not specifically referred to the
training of electrical engineers, because electrical manufactures have not
yet been started in India, and there is only scope for the employment of men
to do simple repair work, to take charge of the running of electrical
machinery, and to manage and control hydroelectric and steam-operated
stations. The men required for these three classes of work will be provided
by the foregoing proposals for the training of the various grades required
in mechanical engineering. They will have to acquire in addition, special
experience in electrical matters, but, till this branch of engineering is
developed on the constructional side, and the manufacture of electrical
machinery taken in hand, the managers of electrical undertakings must train
their own men, making such use as they can of the special facilities offered
for instruction at the engineering colleges and the Indian Institute of
Science".
The credit of first starting degree classes in mechanical and electrical
engineering and in metallurgy belong to the University of Banaras, thanks to
the foresight of its great founder, Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya (1917).

About fifteen years later, in 1931-32, the Bengal Engineering College at
Sibpur started mechanical engineering courses, electrical engineering
courses in 1935-36, and courses in metallurgy in 1939-40. Courses in these
subjects were also introduced at Guindy and Poona about the same time.

Quite a number of engineering colleges have been started since August 15,
1947. It is due to the realization that India has to become a great
industrial country, and would require a far larger number of engineers than
could be supplied by the older institutions. In some cases, existing lower
type institutions have been raised to the status of degree-giving colleges.

Post Independence Scenario

The last half of this century has transformed our environment, perhaps
radically, and brought more changes in our lives and thinking than in any
corresponding period in history. These are the consequences of discoveries
of sciences and applications of technology. The concept of absolute
knowledge in the sense of storing all knowledge is perhaps no more relevant
today. Our efforts for reconciling the traditional concepts and ways with
the demands of technological age cannot provide simple solutions for our
difficulties and complexities based on such stored knowledge. Frontiers of
knowledge are themselves expanding rapidly making it possible to device
newer and more efficient methods of solving problems of the society.
Education must therefore make efforts for securing knowledge and mastering
modern skills and methods than merely storing and distributing the
traditional ones. For this purpose of training of mind and mastering of
skills and for harnessing science and technology to profitable and
productive processes of economic growth and social well-being, the
technological education system has to be continuously reviewed and adopted.
This has indeed been the basis of our efforts during the last three decades,
the result is that there is a well-organized structure and a wide network of
technical institutions offering different types of programmes: craftsman
courses, technician (diploma) courses, graduate and post- graduate courses,
etc., catering to the various levels of knowledge, skills and competences
required by the economy.
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