Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Curriculum in Tamil Nadu (in India) and the Performance of Mechanical Technicians in Manufacturing Industries in India ? A Study

Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Curriculum in Tamil Nadu (in India) and the Performance of Mechanical Technicians in Manufacturing Industries in India - A Study

R.Raj kumar, Head of the Department, A. M. K. Technological Polytechnic College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Dr. E. S. M. Suresh, Assistant Professor, National Institute Technical Training and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Due to liberalization, Industrialization and Globalization several multinational companies have established their manufacturing units in India especially in Tamil Nadu .This study examines the effectiveness of present diploma curriculum of mechanical engineering discipline in Tamilnadu, in preparing the students to face present industrial expectation. This study makes an attempt to study the perception of industries about diploma program, performance of technicians studied in sandwich pattern and non sandwich pattern and promotional opportunities available to them

1. Introduction:

To quote UNESCO "Education should provide the skills for "learning to know, learning to live together, learning to do and learning to be". Thus, education is the primary agent of transformation towards sustainable development and increasing people's capacities to transform their visions for society into reality. Education not only provides scientific and technical skills, it also provides the motivation, justification, and social support for pursuing and applying them. It is necessary to foster through education the values, behavior and lifestyles required for a sustainable future. Education for sustainable development has come to be seen as a process of learning how to make decisions that consider the long-term future of the economy, ecology and equity of all communities. Building the capacity for such futures-oriented thinking is a key task of education. .Education develop skills for creative and critical thinking, oral and written communication, collaboration and cooperation, conflict management, decision-making, problem-solving, planning and practical citizenship. The functioning of the educational institutions, as well as the educational choice of the youth, has remarkably been influenced by the market economy. Quest for knowledge is no more always or the only motivating factor for prospective learners; rather, it is the availability of employment in the market that makes the learners choose their areas of study.

Engineering and Technology education in developing countries (Indian subcontinent countries) has a mismatch between knowledge, curriculum, and skills imparted by universities and colleges and international needs. The curriculum is not planned either to satisfy the ever growing and diverse social needs or the industrial demands. In order to increase global competence and to train engineering students for leadership positions in the world arena, international education must be incorporated in the engineering curriculum. Interactions in terms of internship programmes, specialized summer programmes for engineering technology students must be included. Curriculum in the Indian subcontinents is also very rigid, which does not satisfy the needs of different categories of students. In this paper an attempt is made to find out whether the curriculum of mechanical programme prepares the technician to the expectation industries and Perception of manufacturing industries about mechanical technicians.

2. Background of Diploma course:

The Polytechnic diploma Institutions in Tamilnadu can be classified as, Government Institutions, Government Aided Institutions, Autonomous Institutions, Self-Financing Institutions. All these institutions conducting diploma program on various discipline like Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Electronics Communication Engineering, and Automobile Engineering etc. For all the courses Directorate of Technical Education develops the curriculum and syllabus. The autonomous Institutions must also follow same curriculum. The only difference between autonomous institutions and the other institutions is that autonomous institute can offer few more papers, which they feel suitable for the students. The diploma course can be classified as, regular diploma course and sandwich diploma course. In regular diploma the duration of the course is 3 years. In sandwich diploma the student has to undergo in-plant training in industries during their IV and VII semesters. During the training period, the student has to be paid a stipend of Rs.1200/- under apprenticeship amendment act 1973. The industry has to pay the stipend, out of which Board of Apprenticeship and Training will reimburse 50% of the amount paid to the trainees.

3. Methodology:

The sample for this study was collected from 12 industries located in Chennai. The questionnaire was circulated to small scale industries, medium scale industries and large scale industries. The industries were classified as Large Scale industry, Medium Scale industry, and Small scale industry. Large-scale industry is one which has an investment of more than 10 crores. Medium scale industries are those, which has an investment of 1 crore to 10 crore . Small -scale industries are those, which have an investment of less than 1 crore. These classifications are made by the Small Industries Development Bank of India's (SIDBI) and approved by the Small Scale Industry Ministry

The questionnaire was prepared and circulated to the human resources department people. The respondents were asked to rank on five point scale their opinion about the technicians the following points.

1. Expectation of the industries from the Mechanical diploma technicians

2. Depth of present mechanical diploma curriculum

3. Promotion opportunities available for Mechanical diploma technicians

Reliability statistics of the questionnaire circulated is given in the table 1.

Table 1: Reliability statistics

Cronbach's Alpha	Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items	N of Items
0.734	0.731	13

4. Analysis of data:

The statistical analyses of data were based on the five point scale administrated to the respondents. Student t test and Analysis of covariance (ANOVA) was used to determine any statistical differences of the performance, expectation and the curriculum depth of groups recruited by campus interview and by other means. Following the ANOVA procedures, significant main effects were further analyzed by post hoc paired comparisons to examine differences between groups. All null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance.

5. Result and Discussion:

5.1 Research question: Is there is any difference in perception about the Mechanical diploma holders in the large scale industries, medium scale industries and small scale industries?

Table 2: Perception about Mechanical diploma holders

	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
Perception	0.851	8	0.419

Table 3: Perception about Mechanical diploma holders (Mean)

		N	Mean	Minimum	Maximum
Perception	Small Scale industry	6	3.8462	3.15	4.08
	Medium Scale industry	2	3.6154	3.54	3.69
	Large Scale industry	4	4.0192	3.92	4.23
	Total	12	3.8654	3.15	4.23

Table 4: ANOVA for Perception about Mechanical diploma holders

		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Perception	Between Groups	0.222	2	.111	1.497	.275
	Within Groups	0.667	9	.074
	Total	0.889	11

Finding: This question posted to find out the perception about Mechanical holders in industries. Large scale industries have a higher mean of 4.0192 when compared to the small scale industries and medium scale industries for the perception of diploma holders. The t-value for perception is 0.851and the significance value is 0.4192 which is greater than 0.05. The f-value for perception is 0.146 and the significance value is 0.712 which is greater than 0.05. Hence there is no difference in perception about the mechanical engineering diploma holders in the large scale industries, medium scale industries and small scale industries.

5.2 Research question: Is there is any difference in the opinion about the Mechanical diploma curriculum in the large scale industries, medium scale industries and small scale industries?

Table 5: Opinion about diploma curriculum

	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
Depth Is Sufficient	-0.101	8	0.922

Table 6: Opinion about diploma curriculum (Mean)

		N	Mean	Minimum	Maximum
Depth Is Sufficient	Small Scale industry	6	3.0833	2.00	3.75
	Medium Scale industry	2	3.7500	3.50	4.00
	Large Scale industry	4	2.8125	2.00	3.50
	Total	12	3.1042	2.00	4.00

Table 7: ANOVA for Opinion about diploma curriculum

		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Depth Is Sufficient	Between Groups	1.177	2	0.589	1.411	0.293
	Within Groups	3.755	9	0.417
	Total	4.932	11

Finding:. The curriculum of the diploma program is generally revised once in three years. A committee comprising of academicians and experts from industry will be constituted which undertake the responsibility curriculum revision. This question is posted to find the present diploma curriculum of Mechanical engineering satisfies the industrial expectations in preparing technicians to face industrial needs. The medium scale industries have a higher mean of 3.75 when compared to the large scale industries and small scale industries. The t-value for is 0.101and the significance value is 0.922which is greater than 0.05. The f-value for perception is 1.411and the significance value is 0.293which is greater than 0.05 which shows that there is no significance difference in opinion about the present depth of curriculum of mechanical engineering in small scale industries, medium scale industries and the large scale industries.

5.3 Research question: Do the performance of Mechanical diploma holders depends upon the type the type of industry they are employed?

Table 8: Performance of Mechanical diploma holders

	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
Sandwich	1.018	7	0.343

Table 9: Performance of Mechanical diploma holders (Mean)

		N	Mean	Minimum	Maximum
Sandwich	Small Scale industry	6	3.6667	2.80	4.40
	Medium Scale industry	2	3.6000	3.00	4.20
	Large Scale industry	3	3.8667	3.40	4.20
	Total	11	3.7091	2.80	4.40

Table 10: ANOVA for Performance of Mechanical diploma holders

		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Sandwich	Between Groups	0.109	2	0.055	0.160	0.854
	Within Groups	2.720	8	0.340
	Total	2.829	10

Finding: This question is posted to find out the performance of diploma holders. Because there is a general opinion that the performance of a person depends upon the type industry he is employed. Further people generally to feels that diploma holders working in large scale industries perform better than diploma holders working in Medium scale industries or Small scale industries In ascertaining the performance of technicians studied under sandwich pattern and technicians studied under non sandwich pattern, the t-value for performance is 1.018 and the significance value is 0.343 which is greater than 0.05. The f-value for perception is 0.160 and the significance value is 0.854 which is greater than 0.05which indicates that the performance of technicians whether they studied sandwich course or regular course is same irrespective of the industry they are employed.

5.4 Research question: Is the promotional opportunities available to the diploma holders depend upon the type of industry they are employed?

Table 11: Promotion opportunities for Mechanical diploma holders

	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
Promotion	-0.173	8	0.867

Table 12 Promotion opportunities for diploma holders (Mean)

		N	Mean	Minimum	Maximum
Promotion	Small Scale industry	6	3.1667	2.25	3.75
	Medium Scale industry	2	3.2500	3.00	3.50
	Large Scale industry	4	2.6875	2.25	3.00
	Total	12	3.0208	2.25	3.75

Table 13: ANOVA for Promotion opportunities for diploma holders

		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Promotion	Between Groups	0.677	2	0.339	1.430	0.289
	Within Groups	2.130	9	0.237
	Total	2.807	11

Finding: This question is posted to find out the promotional opportunities available to Mechanical diploma holders. Because there is a general opinion large scale follows a systematic promotional policy for it's employees and no such policy is being formulated in Medium scale industries or Large scale industries. In analyzing the promotional opportunities available for Mechanical diploma holders in industries, the t-value for is 0.173 and the significance value is 0.867 which is greater than 0.05. The f-value is 1.430and the significance value is 0.289 which is greater than 0.05 which shows that the diploma holders are given promotion irrespective type of industry they are employed.

6. Conclusion:

From the study it was observed that all the industries irrespective of the type whether it is a small industry or a medium scale industry or a large scale industry does not differ in opinion about the performance of diploma holders. It can be seen from the study, all the industries do not have any difference of opinion about the diploma curriculum. Even though sandwich course students have been deputed to in plant training during their course of study, they are not showing any significant difference in their performance during their employment. This may be due to the industries are not willing to give responsibilities during their in plant training as the training spell is very short not more than six months. Even though industries recruit degree holders and diploma holders, they bother about their performance for their promotion. The diploma holders are given due regard for their work performance and given promotion in spite of their diploma qualification.

Reference:

1. Proceedings of ASEE annual conference 2004

2 The Institution of Engineering Australia Motional Competency standards for professional Engineers, 1993.

3. The institute of Engineers Australia, Changing the culture engineering Education into future, task force reports, 12 (1996)

4. On the Requirements of Industry in Mechanical Engineering Education, Global J. of Engineering. Education, Vol.I, No.1.

5. Current Status of Technical Education on India, Professor R.Natarajan., Indian Journal of Technical Education Volume 25, No 2, Page 8-23

Authors:

1. R.Raj Kumar working as a Head of the Department in A.M.K Technological Polytechnic College, Chennai, India and can be contacted at [e-mail]. He has registered for PhD under Dr.E.S.M.Suresh, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Taramani, Tamil Nadu, India.

2. Dr.E.S.M.Suresh is working as Assistant Professor, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Taramani, Tamil Nadu, India. He can be contacted at [e-mail]