News

The Collaboration Starts

The global vision of the leadership of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) prompted the formation of Indo US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE). Initial inputs were sought from several leaders of engineering education in the US, including many of Indian origin. A white paper was drafted as the basis for shaping the Collaboration. Several members of the ASEE academic and business leadership helped shape the white paper further at the Global Colloquium in Rio de Janeiro in October 2006. Inputs from leaders of engineering education in India and in the US were sought via telephone and email. The consensus was that this is an excellent and timely project and that we need to develop an Action Plan. The decision was made to conduct two workshops, one in India and a second in the US, for developing an Action Plan. Proposals for funding the workshops were submitted to National Science Foundation (NSF), Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and several private foundations. The Deshpande Foundation was very enthusiastic about the proposal and became a lead sponsor with $ 40,000. Hewlett Packard and the National Instruments Foundation contributed $ 10,000 each and UGS provided $ 2,000. The proposal to NSF was not a good fit to the program targeted and was withdrawn. IUSSTF has just informed that they will support the workshop at Bangalore to the extent of roughly $ 30,000.

Encouraged in Washington DC

IUCEE and ASEE members visited several interested groups in Washington DC in order to solicit their inputs. Meetings with authors of the World Bank Report “India and Knowledge Economy” as well as authors of the National Academy of Engineering Report “Educating the Engineer of 2020” provided valuable insights. The Director of the National Science Foundation encouraged the Collaboration to help increase research collaborations between India and the US. The Council for Academies of Engineering Technology and Science (CAETS) as well as the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) expressed enthusiastic support for IUCEE. The World Bank funded Technology Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP) was suggested as a promising program to which IUCEE could add value.

Partnering with Pan IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology)

IUCEE members played a leadership role in organizing the segment on “Technology for Nation Building” at the Pan IIT 2006 Conference in Mumbai Dec 23-25, 2006. Prominent IITians and other distinguished speakers expressed strong interest in IUCEE. The Action Plan for the Pan IIT Conference emphasized the need for IITs and IITians to play a more prominent role in improving the quality of engineering education in the wide range of engineering colleges that have sprung up all over India. IUCEE can expect Pan IIT to be a strong partner in doing this.

The Collaboration takes Root in India

A meeting of distinguished academic and business leaders was held at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on Jan 2, 2007. The 21 participants from Karnataka state engaged in a discussion of the directions that the Collaboration should take and recommended that the Collaboration should focus on adding value to promising initiatives such as TEQIP, NPTEL and EDUSAT. Participants volunteered to be on sub-committees for preparing white papers in four thrust areas: Research & Development, Curriculum, Delivery and Accreditation; Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Industry Participation. These white papers will be the basis for developing an Action Plan at the proposed workshops in summer 2007. Participants include leaders from Indian Institute of Science, Visvesvaraya Technical University, Indian Society for Technical Education, Board of IT Education Standards, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Indian Space Research Organization, IBM, HP India, National Instruments, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Gogte Institute of Technology, IGCAR, Mico-Bosch and ICMIS. IUCEE also visited an impressive workshop on entrepreneurship education conducted for engineering faculty at Bangalore. It was part of the National Entrepreneurs Network, supported by the Wadhwani Foundation, and has the potential for being an activity to which IUCEE can add value.

Partnering with the Indo US Collaboration led by Amrita University

Amrita University at Coimbatore has shown dynamic leadership by joining hands in 2005 with over 15 reputed American Universities for Higher Education & Research to teach and guide research to a large population of Indian students at hundreds of colleges and universities in India via Amrita's E-learning setup and ISRO’s Edusat. IUCEE has taken the initial steps to join hands with this initiative by visiting with the Vice-Chancellor and several leading faculty members at Amrita University on Jan 5. Amrita University is preparing to share their experiences at the IUCEE workshop planned for June, 2007 in Bangalore.

Encouraged in New Delhi

IUCEE has received strong encouragement from several leaders in the Indian Government, who were either visited in their offices on January 8 and 9, 2007 or were briefed about IUCEE during the Pravasi Bharati Divas Conference at the same time. These include Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India, Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, Honorable Sri Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Sri Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, Prof. S. Thorat, Chairman, University Grants Commission and Sri Madhu Yashki, Member of Parliament. In addition, Lt. Gen (Retd) S.S. Mehta, Director General of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) expressed strong support for the efforts of UICEE. Technology Information and Forecasting Council (TIFAC), was put forward as an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, to which IUCEE may be able to add value. Dr. Satish Kulkarni, Counselor for Science, Technology, Environment and Health Affairs at the US Embassy in New Delhi was very supportive of IUCEE and emphasized the strong interest of the US Ambassador in education. The US Embassy is willing to play an active role in organizing the workshop in Bangalore in June 2007, particularly in hosting the US delegation to India in June 2007.

Andhra Pradesh Chapter emerging

Spurred by dynamic leadership from Sri Nidhi Institute of Science and Technology (SNIST) and Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University (JNTU), a series of meetings were held in January in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, facilitated by IUCEE. Visits with the leadership team at SNIST on January 4, and with the Vice Chancellor of JNTU on Jan 11, helped generate momentum for a conference of over 50 leaders of engineering education from Andhra Pradesh held at JNTU on Jan 13. Participants included Directors of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal and NIT Calicut. More than 10 private engineering colleges, several government colleges as well as industry were represented. The discussion focused on developing a list of promising practices and actionable items in the categories of Research & Development, Curriculum and Delivery, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Accreditation Processes and Industry Participation. The participants agreed to prepare white papers for discussion at a meeting in Hyderabad in May 2007. Recommendations for action from this meeting will be presented by the Andhra Pradesh chapter at the IUCEE workshop planned for June 2007 in Bangalore. A meeting of some of the colleges participating in the World Bank funded TEQIP program was hosted by the Director of Technical Education in Hyderabad on January 12, as a start for IUCEE to add value to their activities.

IUCEE facilitates Indian application to Washington Accord

IUCEE has successfully facilitated the submission of the Indian application for Provisional Membership in the Washington Accord. IUCEE has worked with the Chairman of All India Council for Technology Education (AICTE), Prof. Damodar Acharya and with representatives of accreditation agencies in US, Canada, UK and Australia and helped obtain support the Indian application. The application will be reviewed and acted upon by the Washington Accord members at their meeting in June 2007.

Web site being prepared

An interactive website will be launched shortly and will provide the format of a dynamic discussion of projects and possible action plans, in preparation for the workshops.