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A close look at the Mahindra Group's foray into an engineering education in tie-up with one of Europe's oldest and most reputed universities reveals a larger design - an ambition to transform engineering talent into business leadership. This objective, at a time when the right combination of technical acumen and leadership skills is woefully short in the Indian higher education sphere, runs throughout the concept and curriculum of Mahindra Ecole Centrale (MEC), set up in the Tech Mahindra's sprawling campus at Bahadurpalli in Hyderabad.
Consider the facts: Only 25 per cent of technical graduates and 10-15 per cent of other graduates are considered employable in the IT/ITES sector. Experts predict a shortfall of 2.5 million employable engineers in India by 2020. There is a 35 to 40 per cent shortage of faculty in state and central universities. While enrolment in higher education has grown six times, faculty strength has grown just four times. MEC tries to mend this in more ways than one. The courses on offer at the college, which will take its first batch of up to 300 students starting the next academic year for the five year course, provides a blend of technical learning with loads of industry exposure and a critical array of soft skills.
For the first two years, students, who will be chosen through the IIT selection format, will undergo courses in Mathematics, Physics and Humanities (comprising literature and philosophy, among others) and some introduction into engineering, before they move into specialisation. The faculty, at a ratio of one for every 15 students, would be a mix of Indian and French, including a Dean drawn from the Ecole Centrale's faculty in Paris.
India has a peculiar higher education system, where the placements in managerial posts do not exactly correspond to the curriculum. CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra, explains this through his own story. "I trained as a chemical engineer, but except for the first year, I have done nothing on chemical engineering.' Most IIT engineers have chosen to become leading managers. What is required therefore, is a journey in which a person is exposed to all disciplines of engineering and related fields, he says. "What we will have at MEC is the global experience of Ecole Centrale, combined with the global ambitions of Mahindra Group."
Ecole Centrale, founded in 1892, has a presence in 36 countries in the world. In China, it has a six year engineering course, with the first year a preparatory one where students are introduced to the French language, and even a few engineering lessons taught in that language. "There is a need for managers with soft, human sciences skills, who can work anywhere in the world, for the global market," says Christopher Cripps, Dean of International Affairs, Ecole Centrale Paris. 'At the Hyderabad campus, we will have a unique, harmonious curriculum that blends scientific education with management."
It seemed natural that Tech Mahindra, the $2.8 billion IT arm of the Mahindra Group should take up this not-for-profit initiative. 'We were anyway into technology in a big way, with around 20 per cent staff working overseas," says Vineet Nayyar, Vice Chairman of Tech Mahindra and Chairman of the MEC. 'This is a first step, and many more will follow." But the students who pass out of the centre will be available to the industry at large, he said. The management did not reveal the fees for the course, although it is believed it would be on the higher side. MEC has roped in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) too as partner to design the curriculum.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mahindra-mahindra-engineering-college-mahindra-ecole-centrale-tech-mahindra-tech-mahindra-college-campus-ecole-centrale/1/311223.html
Consider the facts: Only 25 per cent of technical graduates and 10-15 per cent of other graduates are considered employable in the IT/ITES sector. Experts predict a shortfall of 2.5 million employable engineers in India by 2020. There is a 35 to 40 per cent shortage of faculty in state and central universities. While enrolment in higher education has grown six times, faculty strength has grown just four times. MEC tries to mend this in more ways than one. The courses on offer at the college, which will take its first batch of up to 300 students starting the next academic year for the five year course, provides a blend of technical learning with loads of industry exposure and a critical array of soft skills.
For the first two years, students, who will be chosen through the IIT selection format, will undergo courses in Mathematics, Physics and Humanities (comprising literature and philosophy, among others) and some introduction into engineering, before they move into specialisation. The faculty, at a ratio of one for every 15 students, would be a mix of Indian and French, including a Dean drawn from the Ecole Centrale's faculty in Paris.
India has a peculiar higher education system, where the placements in managerial posts do not exactly correspond to the curriculum. CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra, explains this through his own story. "I trained as a chemical engineer, but except for the first year, I have done nothing on chemical engineering.' Most IIT engineers have chosen to become leading managers. What is required therefore, is a journey in which a person is exposed to all disciplines of engineering and related fields, he says. "What we will have at MEC is the global experience of Ecole Centrale, combined with the global ambitions of Mahindra Group."
Ecole Centrale, founded in 1892, has a presence in 36 countries in the world. In China, it has a six year engineering course, with the first year a preparatory one where students are introduced to the French language, and even a few engineering lessons taught in that language. "There is a need for managers with soft, human sciences skills, who can work anywhere in the world, for the global market," says Christopher Cripps, Dean of International Affairs, Ecole Centrale Paris. 'At the Hyderabad campus, we will have a unique, harmonious curriculum that blends scientific education with management."
It seemed natural that Tech Mahindra, the $2.8 billion IT arm of the Mahindra Group should take up this not-for-profit initiative. 'We were anyway into technology in a big way, with around 20 per cent staff working overseas," says Vineet Nayyar, Vice Chairman of Tech Mahindra and Chairman of the MEC. 'This is a first step, and many more will follow." But the students who pass out of the centre will be available to the industry at large, he said. The management did not reveal the fees for the course, although it is believed it would be on the higher side. MEC has roped in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) too as partner to design the curriculum.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mahindra-mahindra-engineering-college-mahindra-ecole-centrale-tech-mahindra-tech-mahindra-college-campus-ecole-centrale/1/311223.html
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