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Latest News |
| 06th
July 2010 / Times of India / Bangalore Edition |
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READY-MADE ENGG PROJECTS
Colleges admit they have to get smarter
Bangalore: A pick-and-move robot, an electronic car or
an automatic cooking machine. The variety of projects
submitted by an engineering student is overwhelming. But
how do you figure out whether the project is original?
There is no foolproof system, admit engineering college
principals.
The Times of India had unearthed a widespread racket,
where students outsource their projects to agents in the
city, who make them for a price, of course.
Shockingly, colleges have no mechanism to check if the
student had actually worked on the project. “The
only way to find out is to quiz the students. There is
a viva and a seminar. Only if they have worked on the
project will they be able to explain it. We can ask them
technical questions,” was the common reply from
principals.
However, when reminded that many agents, while handing
over the project, help students with technical knowhow
and even train them for the seminar and viva, the principals
admitted that students can easily get away with it.
BREAKING THE RULES
Agreeing that it is very difficult to identify the wrong-doers,
H C Nagaraj, principal, Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology
said, “Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University,
Andhra Pradesh, has software to detect plagiarism. However,
in Karnataka, there is no such system in place. We can
ask them some questions, that is all. There is a rule
that the projects should be presented before the exam.
In many colleges, this is violated. Students make excuses,
saying the organisation they work for says it is confidential
and cannot be submitted before the date.”
“Sometimes, when we go to other colleges for valuation,
we find the same project done there in a similar fashion.
But by then, it would be too late to nab the culprits,”
said M S Indira, principal, M Visvesvaraya Institute of
Technology.
COUNTERING THE MENACE
Since most colleges find it difficult to trace the students
who would have outsourced the project, they find ways
to prevent it being done. “We ask faculty members
to visit the project sites. Usually, faculty members just
sign it on submission,” said K N Subramanya, director,
RVCE.
“We will have to think of making them work on projects
on campus. Or else, it should be restricted to reputed
organizations liked DRDO,” said Indira.
K N Balasubramanya Murthy, principal, PESIT, said they
carry out continuous evaluation in order to overcome this
menace. “When the project work commences, there
is an evaluation. Four weeks later, we evaluate the progress,
then during the tenth week and finally, at the end,”
he said. |
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