Economics of Engineering Education in India Growing Challenges of Access, Excellence and Equity

1. Introduction and Context

2. Engineering Education in India: Challenges of Growth and Inequalities

3. Emergent Challenges of Engineering Education in India: Quality, Finances and Employment

4. Who Goes to Private Engineering Colleges and Why?

5. Students’ Choice of ‘Modern’ versus ‘Traditional’ Streams of Engineering Education

6. Family Expenditure on Engineering Education and Its Determinants

7. Funding of Engineering Education: Scholarships, Other Financial Assistance and Education Loans

8. Students’ Perceptions on Quality of Engineering Education

9. Employability, Employment and Earnings of Engineering Graduates

10. Summary, Conclusions and Policy Challenges

Biography

Jandhyala B. G. Tilak is former Professor and Vice Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, India and ICSSR National Fellow. He is an economist of education and is presently Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi, and Visiting Professor at Kautilya School of Public Policy, Hyderabad, India. He is also the recipient of the Pranavananda Saraswati award (UGC) for excellence in research in education, Dr Malcolm Adiseshiah award for distinguished contributions to development studies, Inspirational Teacher of the year award and the Devang Mehta award. His recent publication includes Higher Education, Public Good and Markets (2018), Education and Development: Critical Issues in Public Policy and Development (2018), Education and Development (Academic Foundation 2018), Dilemmas in Reforming Higher Education in India (2018) and Trade in Higher Education (2011).

“Engineering as a field of university study in India has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 25 years, most of it in private institutions and of highly varied quality, from the internationally renowned Indian Institute of Technology to low-quality unaided private institutions. It is this huge and varied engineering education system which India depends on to make it a major player in the global economy. Professor Tilak’s book—a detailed study of this complex subject based on extensive empirical data—is an essential reading for understanding whether the system as it now exists will be able to fill this role.” - Martin Carnoy, Vida Jacks Professor of Education and Economics & Lemann Foundation Professor

Stanford University

“Engineering education is one of the most important aspects of Indian higher education and central for India's future economy. It is also not well understood and significant parts of it are subpar. Dr. Tilak has provided a thoughtful data-driven and policy-relevant analysis.” - Philip G. Altbach, Research Professor and Distinguished Fellow, Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, USA

 “This is possibly the first study to provide a systematic economic analysis of engineering education in India. Its  juxtaposition of the macro-level with the micro-level makes it most valuable for research scholars and policy practitioners in India, while its recognition of the wider international context will interest readers in the outside world.” - Deepak Nayyar, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and former Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi

“A must reading for higher education policy makers in India, focusing on engineering by a prominent scholar in the field.” - George Psacharopoulos, Formerly with London School of Economics and the World Bank

“There are few in India who can match the expertise of Professor Jandhyala B G Tilak in the field of research in Higher Education especially the economics aspects of education at all levels. As Vice Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), his contributions to the promotion of higher education research are of historic significance.  In the emerging decades, India will compete effectively with higher education in U.K. and U.S.A, largely because of valuable services of Prof. Tilak and a few others.

This book surveys the literature of world-renowned writers Robert Solow, Fritz Machlup, Theodoe W Schultz and others with his interpretations of their theories applicable to Indian highe.r engineering education. This book is a valuable addition to the study of higher education in India and aboard.” - Vedagiri Shanmugasundaram, Founder Vice Chancellor, Monomaniam Sundaranar University; Former Director, Reserve Bank of India and IDBI; Senior Visiting Member, Linacre College, University of Oxford

“Two great sectors are at the heart of higher education’s many practical contributions to society through learning and research – engineering and health. In Economics of Engineering Education, Professor Tilak takes us inside engineering education and illuminates the role it plays in development. Get engineering education right, he shows us, and the nation is on track.  The solid data and considered judgments in this book are making a crucial contribution to policy, the profession and the next generation that will build India.” -  Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education, University of Oxford; Director ESRC/RE Centre for Global Higher Education

“ I find this book very useful for evidence- based decisions and informed public policy regarding engineering education. The book illustrates emergence of private education and its impact on equitable access, equity, quality, affordability and related issues currently faced in India. The systematic approach and methodology adopted in the study and credible data may help in framing right policies. Prof. Tilak’s book will be useful to recalibrate the current approach to engineering education and offer policy pointers to regain the glory.” - Bhushan Patwardhan, Chairman, National Assessment and Accreditation Council; Former Vice Chairman, University Grants Commission; Distinguished Professor, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University

“Professor J.B.G. Tilak is one of India’s best-known social science scholars and an international authority on the Economics of Higher Education. His most recent book is a timely contribution to academic and policy knowledge of engineering education in India. Engineering, with its many variants, civil, mechanical, electrical, and production is a key profession in any economy. As Tilak shows, engineering education in India has undergone a sea change over the past three decades. The implications of this need to be understood by both private and public institutions and, of course, students. This is the purpose of this excellent study.” -  W. John Morgan, Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data, and Methods (WISERD), Cardiff University

“This commendable book presents a critical analysis of some of the major challenges in engineering education using valuable primary and secondary data. These challenges include: overzealous expansion and the resultant supply-demand mismatches which are reflected in high rates of unemployment, inequities in education by gender, caste/religion, and region, poor quality of education as revealed in lower employability of graduates besides, limited public financing and issues relating to affordability.   

"This rigorous research study systematically analyses some of these critical issues in engineering education in India with a futuristic perspective. I have no doubt that it will attract the attention of academia as well as administrators and policy makers.  Given the paucity of systematically conducted research studies in this field, this study undoubtedly makes an invaluable reading on the subject of a great contemporary relevance.” -  Narendra Jadhav, Former Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule (Pune) University; Former Member, Planning Commission, Former Member of Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

“Economics of Engineering Education in India is an insightful new book by Jandhyala B G Tilak describing and analyzing in depth the remarkable growth, issues related to sources of funding, quality, employment of graduates, and policies for public and private engineering education in India. Professor Tilak is a well-known and respected scholar who recognizes the significance of highly skilled human capital in engineering fields to sustained per capita economic growth. This and more universal basic education are desperately needed for broader development in India. As this occurs, this book, which is likely to become the go-to source, can help make the provision of good quality engineering education’s vital role more economically efficient.” - Walter W. McMahon, Professor of Economics, and of Education, University of Illinois

“This is an impressive single-authored book on a timely topic painstakingly researched by an eminent scholar, authoritatively articulating ideas in the discourses on the emergence and quest for future direction of higher education for development with deliberate expansion of the STEM fields in which Engineering plays an important role. By engaging theories and ideas about human capital development thorough empirical inquiry based on secondary and primary data, the author strengthens the merit of the book. Furthermore, by using a methodological approach beyond univariate account to engage in multivariate analysis that provides a rich and multidimensional analysis, the book informs the reader of the complexity of the interactions between the explanatory factors in the educational sector and entrenched socially significant determinants such as gender, caste, and region/state, as well as the dynamics of the public and private sectors of higher education and its financing.   In addition to researchers and policymakers in the public and private sectors, this book will be an invaluable source to other education stakeholders including students, international agencies, and NGOs in their respective efforts to understand and effectively tackle the development of inclusive human resources.” - N’Dri Assié-Lumumba, Professor, Cornell University; President, World Council of Comparative Education Societies