‘Metro man’ E Sreedharan on Thursday rued that engineering institutes in the country are producing engineers of “very sub-standard” quality while underlining the paradox wherein IITians are heading to foreign countries for higher studies or better employment.
Addressing a gathering here, Sreedharan appealed to the engineers to get a “different orientation, standard and mission for handling various infrastructure projects for which PM Modi has set a target of (Rs) 5 trillion.” “In our country, engineers are not able to come up very fast. We (engineers) are not taking enough efforts to keep ourselves up-to-date. Engineering colleges or institutes that we have in the country, according to me, are producing very sub-standard quality of engineers,” said Sreedharan, a Padma Vibhusan awardee credited for successfully steering challenging projects like Konkan rail and Delhi Metro. He was speaking at UN Mahida memorial lecture on the topic of “professional ethics and role of engineers,” organised by the state chapter of the Institution of Engineers (India).
Sreedharan referred to a study conducted by a magazine which surveyed some 300 engineering colleges to conclude that only 29 per cent engineers are employable, while 30 per cent can be made employable after further studies, whereas 48 per cent are not employable.