Though this thought came to me quite some time ago (6-8 months, Feb-2013); I got involved with few other topics which are very close to my heart; Mars mission, University rankings and IndiSpaceFan. Meanwhile, I could see that there were at least 45-hits during this time. Sorry for this lapse...
It is interesting to note that the spurt in private engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh state of INDIA, is phenomenal during the past decade; starting from a humble number at 200 in 2002, it rose to 700 in 2012. The present topic of discussion would be narrowing down to What is the future of these engineering graduates who are emerging out from this part of the country; it is quite scary to extend the same for a vast country like INDIA?
So, where does the problem lie...
The problem is... we are producing more and more engineers per year. Isn't it a good news.. NO. The reason being... we are producing a LOT ... 3,06,309 of them to be precise, every year; but without a control on the QUALITY. Now who's job is it anyway... to keep the check on what type of engineers we are producing. Something good has happened during this year (2014)... the "nature" has decided that ONLY BEST WOULD SURVIVE, and hence many colleges have to live with unfilled seats; on top of this, thanks to the policy makers, the AICTE which has now come under the umbrella of UGC has decided NOT to allow even a single engineering college to crop up in 2014; this is in stark contrast to almost 350 colleges emerging in this state for the year 2005 and with an average increase of 75 colleges adding up every year till 2012.
The top 2-percent of the 3,06,309 engineers produced recently (EXACT) amounting to around 6,000 ( THIS IS NOTHING BUT A PURE GUESS) graduates are certainly finding themselves in the corridors of plush IT-parks (via campus selection). Another 8-percent approximately (SECOND GUESS) are finding their ways to lower rank jobs (call centers, thanks to IT boom in Hyderabad) again connected to IT itself. If we take another 10 percent students to be dissolved in the different sectors of technologies we are talking about almost 2,30,000 Engineering graduates left out every year. If we go back 5-years in the past a simple conservative estimate puts a staggering number of 10,00,000 ten lakh ( A MILLION) UN-EMPLOYED engineers wondering on the streets; this MILLION number is only the contribution from 2009-13 (both the years included). The boom in the engineering colleges started from 2002 and hence we can safely add another million un-employed engineers amounting to an unbelievable number of 2-MILLION (means a whopping 20-lakhs) "qualified" un-employed engineers produced by the state which boasts the home to the most influential IT icon on earth Mr. Satya Nandella.
FUTURE....
What is the road ahead to these 2-million aspiring graduates. The numbers only makes me nervous; before I could think of some thing for them. Here is what comes to my mind:
Let us go back in time starting from 2013
1. The recently groomed "engineers" (age between 22-26 years) must opt for Post graduate courses; there is a huge demand to sustain the teaching program of the existing engineering colleges. This would also offer better opportunities beyond post graduation by opting Ph.D. and other highly skillful jobs; including an opportunity to go abroad; which seems to be the mantra of this state for "achieving big".
2. There are many courses which are short term called PG diploma, Certification and short term courses; all these lead to practical world and hence a safe bet to land in the job market.
3. The IT and Software graduates must opt for certification courses which will be in demand and hence offer job opportunities.
4. The ones who have completed their degree 3-4 years ago ( age of 25 and beyond) must look for state based and central governmental job openings such as : APPSC, UPSC. Of course private jobs are always an option.
5. Entrepreneurship is something which has not been tried out by many of our youngsters. One must try to establish his own products depending upon their skills and their orientation. Unfortunately in a vast country like India there seems to ONLY one Entrepreneur Institute, EDI, Ahmedabad, which comes to my mind which is meant for helping the entrepreneur. What is wrong if some body interested in designing; opting for new mobile covers to be designed and sold via his/her own network chain. I have seen one of my friends daughter doing the same while she is just doing her B.Tech (IT) 2nd year.
6. Solar Energy, Wind energy and why not agriculture?? ... these are the areas which needs hundreds and thousands of young minds to bring this country up the ladder..
AS WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS; LETS HOPE THAT THE NEW GOVERNMENT BRINGS CHEER TO THESE MILLIONS OF YOUNGSTERS OF OUR NATION..
So, where does the problem lie...
The problem is... we are producing more and more engineers per year. Isn't it a good news.. NO. The reason being... we are producing a LOT ... 3,06,309 of them to be precise, every year; but without a control on the QUALITY. Now who's job is it anyway... to keep the check on what type of engineers we are producing. Something good has happened during this year (2014)... the "nature" has decided that ONLY BEST WOULD SURVIVE, and hence many colleges have to live with unfilled seats; on top of this, thanks to the policy makers, the AICTE which has now come under the umbrella of UGC has decided NOT to allow even a single engineering college to crop up in 2014; this is in stark contrast to almost 350 colleges emerging in this state for the year 2005 and with an average increase of 75 colleges adding up every year till 2012.
The top 2-percent of the 3,06,309 engineers produced recently (EXACT) amounting to around 6,000 ( THIS IS NOTHING BUT A PURE GUESS) graduates are certainly finding themselves in the corridors of plush IT-parks (via campus selection). Another 8-percent approximately (SECOND GUESS) are finding their ways to lower rank jobs (call centers, thanks to IT boom in Hyderabad) again connected to IT itself. If we take another 10 percent students to be dissolved in the different sectors of technologies we are talking about almost 2,30,000 Engineering graduates left out every year. If we go back 5-years in the past a simple conservative estimate puts a staggering number of 10,00,000 ten lakh ( A MILLION) UN-EMPLOYED engineers wondering on the streets; this MILLION number is only the contribution from 2009-13 (both the years included). The boom in the engineering colleges started from 2002 and hence we can safely add another million un-employed engineers amounting to an unbelievable number of 2-MILLION (means a whopping 20-lakhs) "qualified" un-employed engineers produced by the state which boasts the home to the most influential IT icon on earth Mr. Satya Nandella.
FUTURE....
What is the road ahead to these 2-million aspiring graduates. The numbers only makes me nervous; before I could think of some thing for them. Here is what comes to my mind:
Let us go back in time starting from 2013
1. The recently groomed "engineers" (age between 22-26 years) must opt for Post graduate courses; there is a huge demand to sustain the teaching program of the existing engineering colleges. This would also offer better opportunities beyond post graduation by opting Ph.D. and other highly skillful jobs; including an opportunity to go abroad; which seems to be the mantra of this state for "achieving big".
2. There are many courses which are short term called PG diploma, Certification and short term courses; all these lead to practical world and hence a safe bet to land in the job market.
3. The IT and Software graduates must opt for certification courses which will be in demand and hence offer job opportunities.
4. The ones who have completed their degree 3-4 years ago ( age of 25 and beyond) must look for state based and central governmental job openings such as : APPSC, UPSC. Of course private jobs are always an option.
5. Entrepreneurship is something which has not been tried out by many of our youngsters. One must try to establish his own products depending upon their skills and their orientation. Unfortunately in a vast country like India there seems to ONLY one Entrepreneur Institute, EDI, Ahmedabad, which comes to my mind which is meant for helping the entrepreneur. What is wrong if some body interested in designing; opting for new mobile covers to be designed and sold via his/her own network chain. I have seen one of my friends daughter doing the same while she is just doing her B.Tech (IT) 2nd year.
6. Solar Energy, Wind energy and why not agriculture?? ... these are the areas which needs hundreds and thousands of young minds to bring this country up the ladder..
AS WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS; LETS HOPE THAT THE NEW GOVERNMENT BRINGS CHEER TO THESE MILLIONS OF YOUNGSTERS OF OUR NATION..
N.B. : The above estimates are very crudely made and hence the author takes no responsibility what so ever in the exactness of those numbers.
