No staff: CoEP goes the tech way

IIT-B faculty teach students via video conferencing

Faced with 40 per cent shortage of staff, the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) is banking on technology to minimise the problem. The IIT-B faculty is teaching the CoEP students through video conferencing, thus reducing the extra burden on the present staff.

“We are facing the staff crunch in every stream and presently we are short of 85 teachers,” said Anil Sahasrabuddhe, director of CoEP. “The main reason behind the staff crunch is non-availability of qualified teachers,” he added. The CoEP has an approved quota of 230 posts of lecturers and readers of which 145 are occupied.

“The facility started in July 2007 and so far, the students have been taught 19 courses through video conferencing,” said Sahasrabuddhe. “Students can interact with the faculty during the video conferencing. We also have industry experts as visiting faculties,” he said.

Sahasrabuddhe also said that the CoEP now plans to extend the same facility to the colleges in small towns where the problem of staff crunch is even severe. “We will telecast our lectures live in these colleges,” he said.

However, the shortage of staff for engineering faculty is not new. According to Pandit Vidyasagr, director of Board of College and University Development, University of Pune, “it is actually a global phenomenon. The qualified teachers for engineering faculty are hard to get and Pune is no exception.”

Agreeing with Vidyasagar, founder of Flucon Equipments Sanjay Inamdar said that the number of engineering students going for PhD or masters are less. “According to an estimate, every year five lakh engineers graduate. Of these, at least 50,000 are expected to turn to masters degree or PhD and finally land up in teaching. But it is not happening,” he said.

CoEP alumni meet, graduation ceremony on October 19,20
The CoEP will conduct its graduation ceremony for two batches on October 20 coinciding with its alumni meet on October 19 and 20, Sahasrabuddhe told media persons on Wednesday.

The graduation ceremony will be for the first two batches after the college got autonomous status. “We could not hold graduation ceremony last year. This year we will present gold medals and certificates of merit to the students who have graduated this year and last year,” he said.

Sahasrabuddhe said that though the college was autonomous, the ceremony could not be termed as convocation ceremony. “According to the norms, we can offer gold medals...

and prizes on our own as we conduct the examinations. But we cannot offer degree, as the degree is offered by the University of Pune,” he said.

Sahasrabuddhe said that the college is expecting an announcement from the alumni for the campus makeover plan. “The makeover will cost around Rs 350 crore. Christopher Benninger, the architect appointed for the infrastructure development, will make a presentation before the alumni,” he said.

“We have already asked the state Government to help us with a fund of Rs 25 crore for a girls’ hostel and academic complex, which are on the top of our priority list,” said Sahasrabuddhe.

Source: indianexpress.com