DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF FACULTY AND STUDENTS OF CIVIL ENGINEERING TO MEET THE GLOBAL STANDARDS

Abstract

In 21st century, the major challenge in engineering education in India is to meet the demands of technical profession and emerging job market. Now a days the education pattern, nature of jobs and services are fast changing across the world. Skill is becoming a commodity that can be bought from low-cost providers anywhere across the globe. Also in the digital world, knowledge is no longer confined to experts only, rather computer and internet connectivity has empowered every citizen to look for anything and everything. In this context, the engineering education of any country is very critical/crucial for determining its global positioning as well as ensuring the prosperity of their citizens. So engineering education system should be modified to enable our students to develop the skills like creativity and innovation, communication, critical thinking, interpersonal skills, collaboration and teamwork. Communication and collaboration are identified as an essential competencies by almost all of the organizations who are seeking competent employees. All the professional/accreditation bodies like Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), Washington Accord or National Board of Accreditation (NBA), India have already elaborately stated about the students learning outcomes, program educational outcomes, list of competencies, professional/ ethical responsibilities of engineers/ engineering educators/ academic institutions. 
 The aim of this study is to define parameters for measuring competence required for engineering faculty and students in meeting the global standards. The study also focused to discuss current scenario of Indian engineering education system giving special attention to Kerala. Also, the study aspired to develop a competence measuring model.