Engineers from colleges in tier-2 and 3 cities driving start-up ecosystem in India, AICTE chairman
The Hindu
Engineers from Tier 2 and 3 cities driving India's start-up ecosystem, observed AICTE chairman T.G. Sitharam. Most of ISRO's Chandrayaan 3 engineers were from Tier 2/3 cities. AICTE has embarked on a programme to provide engineering books in mother tongues. Need to change teaching methods to experiential and hands-on learning. AICTE has created Idea Labs, Innovation Councils and start-up eco-systems. India's goal to become USD 5 trillion economy in 5 yrs. Need to convert demographic dividend into quality technical human resource. Every young person should identify one digital/domain skill.
Engineers from colleges in tier 2 and 3 cities in the country were driving the start-up ecosystem in India, observed chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) T.G. Sitharam.
Speaking at the Karnataka Geotechnical Fusion – 2023 organised by Indian Geotechnical Society at Vidya Vardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE) in Mysuru on Saturday, Prof. Sitharam said India’s start-up ecosystem, which was the third largest in the world, had added more than 110 unicorns during the last two and a half years.
Hence, it shows that engineers graduating out of colleges in tier 2 and 3 cities were successful engineers and are helping drive the country’s start-up ecosystem.
Most of the engineers at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who propelled Chandrayaan 3, were not from the elite IITs or NITs. A majority of them were from engineering colleges in tier 2 and 3 cities, he said.
India was producing one million engineers every year from its 3,600 engineering colleges, besides another million diploma engineers from about 3,000 diploma colleges, he said.
Prof. Sitharam said excellent talent was hidden in rural India while emphasising the need to give such students an opportunity.
While a majority of students from rural India were comfortable in conversing or understanding the English language, he said AICTE had embarked upon a programme to popularise text books written in mother tongues of students in both diploma and engineering colleges in different parts of the country.