G.T. Thampi is currently the Principal, and a research guide at TSEC (Thadomal Shahani Engineering College). He did his mechanical engineering at College of Engineering, Trivandrum, in 1984. Thampi moved to Mumbai after his graduation and started working as a lecturer in  Sardar Patel College of Engineering in 1986, where his drive to teach and the passion to learn more in the IT stream, made his journey memorable. We interviewed Mr. G.T. Thampi on his thoughts on what the students need to focus on to cope with the academics and to improve their results.

What are the important points engineering students must bear in mind during their course?   

Students need enough time to study by themselves rather than overtly depend on their faculty and college. Students are not able to unleash their potential due to the pressure of vast syllabus and the autocratic nature of the course. Students need to thrive in a democratic and liberal environment, where, the main agenda should be learning  and excelling in their studies, devoid of all other distractions in college.  

Hard work is the prime factor required for students to pass and do well. There are students who don’t succeed in completing the course as they don’t work very hard. Gifted students with high analytical thinking excel in exams and go for research work , but majority of the students pass through hard work and learning. Students need to build a theoretical foundation over practical ways of learning. Students don’t benefit with practical learning in the long run, as they are confined to just certain technologies in practice.   

Why do companies seem to prefer graduates with average IQ over an intellectually exemplary candidate?  

Companies are not looking for extraordinary people with exemplary IQ. They are fine with graduates with average IQ as it is easier to retain them in companies. For extreme scenario based situations, and for rigorous research based work, companies require gifted people. But generally, companies anywhere look for average caliber and average IQ in students over intellectually exemplary candidates who are hard to retain. The emotional quotient in graduates is the most important factor companies look for – the reason being, there are massive technology systems to take care of the industrial setting and to contribute in decision making for companies, which replaces the need for intellectually exemplary candidates . But there are no companies focusing on human ability or human intellectual capability when recruiting engineers. A graduates’ intelligence is not a prime asset as it is taken care of by the technologies; the emotions and emotional integrity of the candidate really matters in the end.  

Are the private coaching classes and JEE exams interlinked and if so, how?  

The JEE exams cater to students taking tuition classes and enable the coaching centers to earn money. The JEE Mains and Advanced mainly facilitate the students in enrolling for these private tuition classes. People need to be educated and sensitized, and they need to gauge the capability of their child before enrolling them in coaching centers that have arduous processes and exams. We need to change the way people look at IIT exams and the abundant  importance given to such exams. Decades later, in retrospect, I feel, what we pursue and what we become is more important than the importance given to the IITs. Also, emotional and personal relationships preoccupies the students’ mind, adversely affecting their concentration and performance, leading to falling of grades and digression from the pursuit of knowledge. Such students who deviate from academics will not be productive in their pursuits.    

How  are engineering aspirants supposed to cope with such humongous syllabus and various exams conducted by Maharashtra Government?   

It is not important to have so many exams. The students’ intellectual learning ability depreciates with the pressure of undertaking many exams conducted for admissions. It is high time that we get back to our CET syllabus which is more methodical and rational. There is nothing significant about the JEE Mains and Advanced as it is artificial and skewed where the child’s mental ability and caliber is tested to extreme capacity. Students are not going to gain from such a vast syllabus. The 12th standard syllabus is so huge that the burden of studying for so many exams makes it stressful and the performance of the child is hampered. Rationalizing the syllabus and the methodologies makes more sense, as the competition among students is high.   

How did India become one of the main IT services provider in the past decade?   

At the grass roots of the IT field, there are many jobs available in the country for Indian engineers, where, the requirement for engineers has increased numerously. The multinational companies pay less wages to engineers in India in comparison to engineers in their own countries and make considerable profit.  

The graduates need to change the mentality of being comfortable with less wages; and change the attitude of being disinterested in going up the value chain. The Indian culture and economy play a part in setting a certain mindset of not helping themselves in their lives. People are timid and inhibited, and the ability to take risks is not in their mindset, so taking up big projects on their own seems improbable. We don’t have a world class product or technology that can influence the global market.  The graduates who are comfortable with the offered packages are given jobs easily and Indian professionals are generally accepting as they do not have many options. The students of India and China are said to perform much better as a result of the syllabus and the methodologies used in their respective countries.