The Hindu Business Line : ESCI - making engineers globally competitive

With a full-time faculty of 26 and the resources of 400 guest faculty drawn from the academia, research institutes and industry, the ESCI has trained people from 23 States and abroad.

Mr S. Naghabhushan Rao, Director, ESCI.

Hyderabad , April 19

It's a unique college for qualified engineers. Here, engineers can upgrade their technical skills, get necessary tips to get accredited to global associations, obtain higher qualifications, work in projects with the industry and ultimately infuse professionalism.

The Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI) campus, spread out on a spacious 70 acre area in Cyberabad, Hyderabad, is completing 25 years.

In its silver jubilee year, the college is planning new facilities to beef up its capabilities. It would set up a technology park, a demonstration farm on water harvesting management, establish testing laboratories and take up societal mission projects.

Explaining the contributions and role of ESCI in the national context, Mr S.N. Rao, Director, said in the Technology Park, we are trying to attract industry to exhibit their tools and technologies. "The idea is that the large number of trainees, who are present on campus would get a feel of it. Similarly, it can bring local entrepreneurs and student community to visit the park. The institute is in the process of demarcating the space for the park," he added.

Watershed management

On the demonstration farm front, the ESCI has identified 10 acres for creating a water harvesting structure. It would be ready by next season.

The objective is to have a watershed management system for both exhibition and teaching purposes. Testing labs would be created, especially in the area of power.

Meter testing, testing of transformer oil, electrical cables and also drinking water quality are high on the agenda, Mr Rao said.

With the demand on infrastructure growing, engineers are set to play a larger role within the country. In this context, ESCI is gearing up to meet the quality side of the demands through special training courses in emerging areas and offer a post-graduate programme in areas such as construction management, quality management and so on.

Tie-ups with varsities

The ESCI has tied up with the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), a deemed university, and a similar effort is on with the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal. ESCI's main promoter — The Institution of Engineers (IIE) has signed an MoU with the VIT on February 15 to offer course instructions at the ESCI, while the degrees would be given by the VIT, Mr Rao said.

The ESCI is also talking with construction majors to send in students to participate in curricula design and course structure. Project finance for infrastructure, transport, construction management and so on are some areas being probed.

The IIT, Delhi, for example, gets up to 20 students from the infrastructure major L&T for upgrading skills, we are also looking at such models, the Director said.

The college's another major challenge is to get the engineers acquainted with the system of licensing and accreditation for professional engineers in the global arena.

In India, no licensing system for engineers exists like in the West. With a full-time faculty of 26 and the resources of 400 guest faculty drawn from the academia, research institutes and industry, the ESCI has trained people from 23 States.

Similarly, it has engineers coming from Nepal, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Malaysia and so on. Last year, over 250 came from abroad, especially in the power sector from Bhutan. Nationally, 3,400 were trained during 2005.

(Feedback at soma@thehindu.co.in)

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