Constructors of a New Nation
Sarath Shyam, Managing Editor The Higher Education Review
"A branch of engineering that deals with the design and fabrication of structures for improving the way we live and work and for enabling rapid, safe and high-volume transportation. Examples include building roads, railways, bridges, canals, skyscrapers and factories," is one of the bookish definitions of Civil Engineering. By mentioning this definition upfront, I do not intent to underestimate my readers and I know that most of us are aware about the role of civil engineers in our society.
Unfortunately, a few people in our country are still in a confused state of mind and they often consider civil engineers as the most suitable category of professionals to be in the civil service domain. That has to be true in a way. By definition, a civil engineer can give valuable inputs to various construction projects like dams, bridges, roads and toilets. However, are we training them to be a part nation building process or have we come to a stage where our administrative officers do not have any major responsibilities other than constructing the so-called important structures?
Now, look at the quality of civil engineers in our county. Employability of civil engineers stands at a meagre 6.48 per cent, according to one of the reports published in the recent year. The lowest employability figure across roles is observed in Chennai with employability for the Civil Design Engineers as low as 1 percent. It is evident that a large number our civil engineering graduates do not possess the basic skills required to work in their core jobs. Still, that few people in our nation do not hesitate to talk about the role civil engineers can play in the administration department. As a nation full of young and talented resources, it is high time for us to re-construct the structure of education and certain job roles, so that we can progress toward modernity rather than going back to the antiquity.
In this issue, we have come up with 'Top 10 Promising Civil Engineering Colleges in India 2018,' which have been creating employable civil engineers who can actually take up the core jobs and perform well from the day one. On the cover, we feature Valliammai Engineering College, an active entity in the process of knowledge building that has been working hard from the past to lead the future generations into R&D and innovation.
Enjoy Reading.
Unfortunately, a few people in our country are still in a confused state of mind and they often consider civil engineers as the most suitable category of professionals to be in the civil service domain. That has to be true in a way. By definition, a civil engineer can give valuable inputs to various construction projects like dams, bridges, roads and toilets. However, are we training them to be a part nation building process or have we come to a stage where our administrative officers do not have any major responsibilities other than constructing the so-called important structures?
Now, look at the quality of civil engineers in our county. Employability of civil engineers stands at a meagre 6.48 per cent, according to one of the reports published in the recent year. The lowest employability figure across roles is observed in Chennai with employability for the Civil Design Engineers as low as 1 percent. It is evident that a large number our civil engineering graduates do not possess the basic skills required to work in their core jobs. Still, that few people in our nation do not hesitate to talk about the role civil engineers can play in the administration department. As a nation full of young and talented resources, it is high time for us to re-construct the structure of education and certain job roles, so that we can progress toward modernity rather than going back to the antiquity.
In this issue, we have come up with 'Top 10 Promising Civil Engineering Colleges in India 2018,' which have been creating employable civil engineers who can actually take up the core jobs and perform well from the day one. On the cover, we feature Valliammai Engineering College, an active entity in the process of knowledge building that has been working hard from the past to lead the future generations into R&D and innovation.
Enjoy Reading.
