Diversifying Engineering Education Crucial For Inclusive Learning

As technological advancements have outpaced the traditional educational framework, the need for having a curriculum that not only enables the students to keep up with the trends but also to become leaders has become non-negotiable. As we enter the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the engineering educational ecosystem needs a makeover. The emphasis on promoting the aspect of diversity in such a domain has picked up pace in recent times. Industry experts have advocated the need to diversify such setup to promote inclusive learning experiences.

 

Rajeev Tiwari, Dean, School of Computer Science and Engineering, IILM, highlighted the need for diversifying engineering education. He stated, “If you see mechanical or civil engineering, they have been revamped. Devices that are being designed in the mechanical assemblies need to be automated. If I say electrical systems, there we need control systems which need to be controlled or designed by computer technologies. So, we can say that diversity has become a necessity for all of us.”

 

As the focus has shifted towards having a diverse curriculum going ahead, the demand for promoting inclusivity in the ecosystem has also found prominence. The experts highlighted the need to address unconscious biases to create a more inclusive learning environment as well.

 

“It depends on the self-motivation of the faculty. If the faculty is ready to take the challenge to learn new things, it will be better for them. Unfortunately, all the faculty that we recruit are not interested in this. We have to motivate them. Industry persons, Industry academia should be called for presentation for the faculty development,” said Mayank Garg, Professor and Director, ITES Engineering College.

 

The experts have warned that the obsession towards having a computer science engineering (CSE) degree in the name of diversity is not going to help. In the past few years, the engineering colleges in India have witnessed a shift towards the CSE among the students which, as per the experts, is not going to solve the puzzle of diversity.

 

“Every student wants only computer science engineering (CSE), which is a big problem. They do not understand the importance of mechanical engineering and control systems. They do not understand the problems of biotechnology. All the students with a CSE degree cannot be sustained for long,” Garg stated.

 

The road to having a diverse educational ecosystem in the domain of engineering goes through having a curriculum that is inclusive on every level. The experts have called for an approach to learning which has enough interdisciplinary components in the curriculum.

 

“You need to have enough interdisciplinary components in the curriculum. The National Education Policy (NEP) gives us a lot of room for doing that because now you have the options for giving minors and specialisation. So, I can do a mechanical engineering major and I can do a computer science minor,” highlighted Gopalkrishnan EA, Principal, Amrita School of Computing and Amrita School of AI, Bengaluru campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

 

Since we have entered the age of having disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, ethics and other aspects become very important. So, the experts emphasised having cultural diversity, ethnical diversity, racial diversity and also the diversity concerning the society.

 

“As an engineer when you are solving a problem, you are no more solving it for your local community but for the global community. Secondly, you are not solving any problem that can be solved by using just one set of skills, you need to bring a whole lot of skills. I may be doing mechanical engineering, but I need to know the aspects of economics and the aesthetical aspects when designing something like automobiles. It goes beyond engineering,” Gopalkrishnan EA highlighted.