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There are literally hundreds of University Institutions in India
teaching courses in Structural Engineering. Being autonomous, all
the Universities formulate their own syllabi. The depth and breadth
of coverage in Structural Steel Design � as in other subjects �
does vary between Institutions. In view of the obsolescence in the
teaching of Structural Steel Design referred to in the previous
paragraph, all the Universities and Colleges would need support
and assistance to varying degrees in their need for state-of- the-art
training material. Retraining of Engineers who are currently employed
in Industry and in Design Offices is an added challenge. The urgent
need for an uptodate Teaching Resource, as a reference material
for the teachers and trainers, is obvious.
A high-priority task was to upgrade and widen the
academic base of Indian University teachers in the subject of Structural
Steel Design to the levels prevailing in the Western World, so that
they can teach this subject confidently at the Undergraduate Level.
With the availability of this support, many motivated young academics
would be able to advance even further and develop an infectious
enthusiasm for the subject among the students.
In planning this task, the Expert Team identified
the following challenges and opportunities.
� Most of the teachers
for whom this Resource is intended, have not had ANY education in
up-to-date Construction Technology. This situation is not different
even in high profile Colleges. The I.S. Codes and the present level
of University teaching are out of date by 25 years. Many Masters
Degree courses in Structural Engineering (even those organized under
Quality Improvement Programmes funded by AICTE) do not include any
in-depth coverage of Structural Stability and similar subjects,
which are vital for the understanding of behaviour of Steel Structures.
� An overwhelming
majority of Colleges do not have any worthwhile collection of up-to-date
books, largely on account of their high costs and diminishing budgets.
Even if they wanted to, there is no easy way for the Teachers to
refer to modern books and enhance their level of competence. (This
is not an indictment of the Teachers; nevertheless this leads to
unsatisfactory teaching and subsequently to incompetence in the
field practice of Structural Engineering.)
� Teachers in most
Colleges are overworked. (Many Colleges routinely assign about 25
hours of teaching to very young teachers. Assuming that it takes
2 hours to prepare a lecture and to mark the scripts, they are expected
to work 75 hours a week, EVERY WEEK!). The ready availability of
a well-researched set of notes will be very helpful to them.
�
Discussions with a selection of Engineering Teachers revealed that
Structural Steel as a subject is not very popular among senior academics
and young and inexperienced Teachers in their early part of their
career are forced to teach it.
�The level of research activity in
Structural Steel is abysmally low. Only a handful of people are
engaged in research and generation of new knowledge. There are �
indeed � few Structural Steel-related patents taken out by any Engineer
or Scientist working in India.
�
There are very few refresher or in-career courses in Structural
Steel Design.
MORE....
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