Mushrooming of colleges producing unemployable graduates: B N Jain

PANAJI: The mushrooming of science and engineering colleges led to decline of standard and churning out of graduates who couldn't find jobs, said B N Jain, Vice Chancellor of BITS Pilani University, here today.

"Having seen an explosive growth in the number of colleges that offer UG and PG programmes in science and engineering, we have also witnessed a huge decline in the standards of education to the point that majority of graduates in science and engineering are unemployable," Jain said, addressing the convocation at BITS Pilani Goa Campus here.

"Prime reason is lack of motivated, talented young men and women who wish to take up teaching and research as a career in India," he added.

Former India cricketer Rahul Dravid and Chancellor Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla were amongst those present on the occasion.

Jain said the independent and privately-owned universities were facing challenges limiting their growth.

Induction and retention of research-focused faculty and creation of lab infrastructure to support research or innovation were the main challenges, he said.

BITS planned to upgrade the physical infrastructure across all its campuses -- Hyderabad, Pilani, Goa and Dubai -- with an investment of over Rs 650 crore, he said.

During the convocation, 738 students were awarded degrees.