New BTech electrical engineering syllabus focuses on experiential learning: Ex-IIT director

NEW DELHI: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is set to roll out a new model curriculum for BTech in electrical engineering, the result of an intensive review process that’s lasted two years.

Early last year, AICTE set up a committee to revise the model curriculum for implementation in all engineering colleges of the country, barring the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the National Institutes of Technology (NIT). Prem K Kalra, founder director of IIT Jodhpur and former director of Dayalbagh Education Institute, chaired the committee.

The BTech electrical engineering syllabus and curriculum draft is still under review and shall be published soon. Model BTech syllabus and curriculum documents for mechanical engineering , computer science engineering , civil engineering and other branches were published earlier.

In an exclusive interview with Careers360 , Kalra discusses the main advancements, such as the new curriculum's increased flexibility for students, undergraduate research opportunities, and improved experiential learning. Edited excerpts:

When was the AICTE committee set up and who are the members of the committee?

Early in 2023, the AICTE committee on electrical engineering for BTech programmes was established. IIT Kanpur's Shyama Prasad Das, IIT Jodhpur's Sandeep Yadav, the Research Design and Standards Organization's (RDSO) Gaurav Mathur, AICTE's Dinesh Kapoor and Vamsi Krishna, Western University's Apurva Narayan, and Jairam Pillai, the former director of National Instruments India, and Sahab Saran, monitoring director, Francois Compressors India, former faculty of IIT Bombay and IIM Bangalore, former sales director of Bosch, and the CEO of Tata Group, Indra Narayan Kar, professor, IIT Delhi are among the committee members.

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What were your main goals for the new EE curriculum?

We have introduced flexibility, which is essential to education, through the curriculum.

Flexibility and open electives that enable students to take interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary courses are discussed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. All curricula are required by the NEP 2020 to include design, synthesis or integration, as well as experiential learning, which includes working in the industry for at least one semester.

Our previous curricula were based on analysis. Students should spend time in industry as part of experiential learning. Our goal is for students to gain practical engineering experience.

The science-based IIT curriculum includes economics, social science, and humanities with predetermined percentages to help engineers grow as people. In order to develop that portion of the personality, you must consider human nature, social science, psychology, economics – all of those things. Our committee's contribution was to include a societal component in the curriculum because NEP 2020 incorporates engineering, skill development, and "social sciences, humanities, and the arts for people and the economy" (SHAPE), giving students more choice overall.

Therefore, in addition to departmental and open electives, we have added faculty and departmental core subjects. We have established mandatory faculty core courses in science, maths, and other subjects.

For students in a particular engineering branch, there is the departmental core, which is required. After completing fundamental courses, students can choose their area of specialisation through elective courses. This aids in the development of a specialty, such as a computer science minor or an electronics specialisation.

Students can enroll in classes outside of their departments and branches, in open electives. Students can take a course on technology management if they want to study entrepreneurship or they can take advanced scientific and maths classes if they want to study science.

We also experiment with concepts for real-world implementation and execution, as well as practical learning. We made an effort to incorporate courses that would be accepted abroad because the majority of us were from IITs, prestigious industrial systems, and international members.

Further, the most important aspects kept in mind while designing the new curriculum were based on listening to the constant complaints from the industry about the severe problems faced with fitment, especially for serving current and evolving needs.

In addition, an emphasis has been put on establishing awareness and pride in our Bhartiya technical and scientific heritage and building confidence in our capabilities and potential.

Further, through the curriculum we have tried to ensure a student realises their core interests and capabilities in the first two years of the curriculum and gets an opportunity to hone these from a bouquet of subjects, proper educational guidance and training.

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What major topics have been removed or added to the electrical engineering syllabus?

In the curriculum, we have balanced foundational knowledge and experiential learning, thus broadening the scope of employment.

Higher education globally should be accessible to our students. Further, in open electives, courses like robotics and others can be pursued. Students can receive sub-specialisation and minor specialisation in electrical engineering under the new curriculum.

Even if a student wants to start an organisation, we have included experiential learning where people can make their business plans.

The credit system is decided by the academic council of the institution. We have recommended 174 credits for the overall BTech in electrical engineering degree, whereas AICTE needed a minimum of 160. We have no objection if students want to go beyond 160 credits to expand their knowledge.

Earlier, experiential learning and undergraduate research were not part of the curriculum, much like startups and design experiments. We have added a systems approach to this curriculum. Also, students can pursue 40% of courses online.

Through the new curriculum, what kind of jobs can BTech EE students expect?

Through experiential learning, students need to spend one semester in industry so that it’s easier for them to land a job. Another aspect is undergraduate research where they are taught to solve problems. All this is a part of the credit system.

How will the idea of a model curriculum solve the issue of vacant seats across engineering colleges, especially in core branches?

The question that should be asked is: are there more engineering seats or are people less interested? One needs to analyse the standards of new engineering courses opening across the country. These vacant seats are there because more engineering seats are available.

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The challenges facing engineering education extend far beyond simple job vacancy statistics. While sectors like civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering have actually witnessed job growth, we're confronting a multifaceted problem. Why are students dropping out in the first or second year? What drives talented engineering students towards administrative roles instead of core technical careers?

It's not merely about vacant seats, but understanding the underlying dynamics.