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In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

expressindia.com

1–10 of 85 posts

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#2
"After three years of engineering education, the final year student is struggling to make even a simple circuit work"

If this leads to outsourcing of student projects, and thus a habit to outsource professional tasks, then that education system is a failure - and an indictment of outsourcing in general. As engineers are replaced with "business people", the world becomes less capable.

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#3
Actually I posted this article not because I wanted to point out how bad Indian students are. Not all Indian students do this. And the Indian market is a usual mix of people of various kinds- Awesome, good, bad, horrible and even clueless people like this.

What I wanted to point out was how things work out in the real world. The thumb rule for describing these sort of things in India is the saying 'No good deed goes unpunished'. You will see most of these students doing these will actually win over the actual hard working guys. The guy who did the real project would have probably failed, or wouldn't have enough polish on his project. Or due to his sheer intelligence, and little touch of arrogance gotten out of favor of his professors. Due to all this he probably would have scored less marks, missed out the interview opportunity and then left to wander for jobs.

The guys who got the project done 'ready made', would have made their project look complete. Mugged up all the viva and etc questions. Got plenty of time to study interview books and questions asked in campus interviews. And due to all this would have easily cleared the already heavily gamed interview process.

So the net story is, if you cheat you are likely to win than if you work hard the true way.

When I joined the industry I noticed the process manifest in front of my own eyes. Every joe joining the company wanted to be a manager in 4 years, with a monthly take home of 1.5L, at least 3-4 foreign travel opportunities. Of course in highly political environments like large corporates, some played their old game and got through. But most who didn't had two options

    a) MBA
    b) MS in the United States.
I saw the very people who did all this once again went to tutions, cleared their GRE/CAT were granted bank loans to go study in the US. Most of them I know are working today in the US and probably will end up being US citizens.

The actual hard working technical guys(programmers, hackers or whatever you may call them) are treated like commodity, worst like a foot ball tossed around by 'business guys', because Indian IT religion creed says 'Being technical is not important, rather one must do smart work'.

So in the name of smart work, technical career has no growth path, no long term rewards. In order to grow and get paid well you have to be a 'manager'. Or worst work at a start up, where you are likely fail, not get compensated enough, Or if you are too unlucky work for a stingy/unethical founder and burn your hands then get back to your old MegaCorp back again.

When this is the routine cycle. What do you expect this students to do?

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#4
This is another way of paying for a qualification that you don't deserve, and in doing so it dilutes the standard of graduates. I've heard personally from an Indian friend that this is very common - and is the reason that he came to Australia to study.

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#5
post #3

Actually I posted this article not because I wanted to point out how bad Indian students are. Not all Indian students do this. And the Indian market is a usual mix of people of various kinds- Awesome, good, bad, horrible and even clueless people like this. What I wanted to point out was how things work out in the real world. The thumb rule for describing these sort of things in India is the saying 'No good deed goes…

I find the tone of your comment condescending. It almost seems like you have some sort of a grudge against people who managed to go to the US. Your tone reflects this:

"working today in the US and probably will end up being US citizens."

So? And what kind of a generalization are making here anyways? You are meaning to say: "All people who did this cleared GRE/ GMAT and went to the USA". That's a gross overstatement based on no evidence. Not to mention the fact, assuming even if they did get their project made from somewhere else (I really doubt it that it happens a lot), they still had other academics to clear. And they had the GRE exam. And then they cleared the job interview. Means they were not as dull and stupid as you want them to and show them to be.

Your tone and your attitude seems more of hate based than anything else.

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#6
post #3

Actually I posted this article not because I wanted to point out how bad Indian students are. Not all Indian students do this. And the Indian market is a usual mix of people of various kinds- Awesome, good, bad, horrible and even clueless people like this. What I wanted to point out was how things work out in the real world. The thumb rule for describing these sort of things in India is the saying 'No good deed goes…

So in the name of smart work, technical career has no growth path

That doesn't quite make sense. Wouldn't technical work be the "smart" work?

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#7
post #3

Actually I posted this article not because I wanted to point out how bad Indian students are. Not all Indian students do this. And the Indian market is a usual mix of people of various kinds- Awesome, good, bad, horrible and even clueless people like this. What I wanted to point out was how things work out in the real world. The thumb rule for describing these sort of things in India is the saying 'No good deed goes…

> So in the name of smart work, technical career has no growth path, no long term rewards.

This is a defeatist attitude - giving up before you even start. Its surely better to learn technical skills and then later-on develop your business/management skills if required. Saying that students cheat because they have no long term reward is a poor excuse.

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#8
post #3

Actually I posted this article not because I wanted to point out how bad Indian students are. Not all Indian students do this. And the Indian market is a usual mix of people of various kinds- Awesome, good, bad, horrible and even clueless people like this. What I wanted to point out was how things work out in the real world. The thumb rule for describing these sort of things in India is the saying 'No good deed goes…

This is exactly why there is a "shortage" of STEMs in the USA. There is no real shortage of talent, interest, or desire. There is a shortage of good career tracks. It is the'interchangeble parts' problem.

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#9
Actually this is extremely common and infact, projects for undergraduates and post graduates are a thriving business in India. The colleges give a damn about this and they are seldom bothered. This kind of practice is extremely common in government aided universities in India.

But, I must also say that there are some universities where the students perform exceptionally.

Re: In India, engineering students outsource their academic projects

#10
I think deciding that learning and understanding is more important than pleasing markers and getting a qualification is one of the most important decisions you can make.

One of my favourite movies ever is a bollywood film on this topic. 3 Idiots. Here's a snippet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35sfBjmVWpU

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