Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

Abstract

Abstract : Indian engineering colleges need more qualified faculty, since, thousands of engineering colleges have been approved by AICTE with teachers who possess only bachelor's degrees without any experience in curriculum design, instructional design, evaluation, and industrial training. Many of them were not exposed to advanced industrial design and advanced manufacturing practices. This has resulted in the unemployment of about 70% of the graduates. This paper focuses on the systematic planning, and implementing appropriate faculty development programs not only for the fresh graduate teachers but also the senior faculty members through various longterm programs, short-term courses, industrial training, research works, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) under SWAYAM, and training through specialized overseas courses that are implemented by Ministry of Education. National Institutes of Technical Teachers Training are offering MOOCs in various areas of engineering education. Continuous process development has been suggested. The engineering colleges could reimburse facultymembers on the cost of training under MOOCs which are offered by edX, COURSERA, etc. Further, the colleges should organize faculty development programs in collaboration with the well-known global universities and Research & Development Centers of Multinational Companies (MNCs) which are functioning here. Such a dynamic initiative will bring excellence in the knowledge capital. The government can assist professional associations to plan industryrelevant workshops. Considering the difficulties in getting admission for thousands of faculty members in Quality Improvement Programs (QIP), alternate, hybrid and flexible programs are suggested. The significant outcomes of these initiatives are: i) It increased the skills and competencies of the faculty members and students; ii) The graduates have become be industry-ready; iii) Many regions have come industrially competitive, iv) The new initiatives like Pandit Madan Mohan Malavia National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) and MOOCs have improved the faculty competencies in hundreds of colleges; v) Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) have increased interdisciplinary research capability of the faculty members; vi) The overall outcomes of these initiatives have improved the engineering curriculum, attributes of the graduates and interdisciplinary research. It is suggested to undertake further research on the finetuning of the curricula to meet the challenges of Industry-4.0

Keywords: Faculty Competence, Dynamic Process, QIP, Summer Schools, Webinars, MOOCs.