abstract: 'From the unique `Gurukula'' style of teaching prevailed during the Vedic period, education as on date has evolved to the most modern concept of e-learning. The method of imparting knowledge through coexistence of teacher and students in ancient times has been transformed to such an extent where the direct physical interaction between students and teacher is not at all required. However, it is a fact that we are still accustomed to the traditional way of classroom teaching, memory checking tests, compulsory attendance etc. even in our post graduate level of technical education. Teaching pattern followed in high school level is followed in the same intensity even at engineering colleges. It is well known that science and mathematics are important tools of engineering programme but they are not themselves sufficient for one''s success as an engineer. As world''s dependence on technology is increasing tremendously, the need of the hour is to mould engineering graduates with adequate skills and will power required to explore and exploit the new opportunities of the world and thereby to contribute successfully towards the social and economic prosperity of our country. This paper makes a humble attempt to uncover the limitations of current engineering education and also tries to put forward some proactive measures to attain the desired results. It is a fact that the technological advancement we had made is not used up to the full potential in the field of education. The factors that restrain engineering colleges from doing so may be listed as financial constraints, lack of professionalism, method of `result-oriented'' teaching rather than knowledge based teaching and shortage of skilled teaching manpower. Serious exploration of the following areas will be required to overcome some of the above deficiencies felt in the current engineering education: 1. Thrust on Research \& Development 2. Entrepreneurship development programmes 3. Social informatics 4. Electronic Technology 5. Industry-oriented education and Institute -industry interface The judgement regarding the intellectual capability of technical professionals can be done on the basis of research work carried out in their respective countries. For every one lakh people, there are 150 researchers in India while the same is 3800 in US. Number of patents per one million is approximated as one in India where as it is 289 in US. Today''s engineers in the computer and IT field are well settled with their jobs after graduation. Due to the high salary and lucrative facilities offered by various IT companies, fields like research, teaching etc. are ignored by youth. One of the reasons for above backwardness is the lack of orientation given in the field of research during their graduation. A remarkable progress can surely be made if they are given motivation in pursuing career in the filed of research and teaching during their graduation. Availability of highly skilled and research-oriented teaching faculty is a necessity for inculcating the flair of research to fresh engineers. Thrust on research should be assured for assignments and project work carried out by the engineers during their course of study. Research-oriented learning makes our youth capable of out-of-the-box thinking and therefore innovative ideas will be generated even at student level. As a result, teaching faculty will also be equally benefited. Tomorrow''s success is highly guaranteed for those engineering professionals who can address the entrepreneurial requirements and balance them with the specialized technological competencies. The skills and knowledge required to become a successful entrepreneur is not given due importance in the current engineering curriculum. Presently, entrepreneurship is taught only in business schools, but now the situation demands the same to be incorporated sufficiently in engineering curriculum. This will help an engineer to develop business skills along with technical skills so that opportunities can be efficiently transformed into workable business models. Social informatics relates to the interaction between society and information-communication technologies (ICT). Addition of social informatics to engineering curriculum will help IT professionals to increase their accountability in social, cultural, political, economical, legal and ethical areas where their technical competencies will be applied. The other advantage is the extension of learning process beyond the classroom to the society and developing a sense of caring for others. We are now blessed with the latest networking technologies like Internet, Intranet, Cloud computing, Wi-fi etc. It is with concern to mention that most of the engineering colleges had made use of the above technologies for improving their administrative efficiency and not for bettering academic efficiency of students. Educational institutions should embrace latest networking technologies in developing new learning platform. Since jobs become more and more insecure and mid life career changes are frequent, lifelong learning is becoming an essential requirement for engineering professionals. This situation can be effectively utilised by engineering colleges for conducting virtual classrooms for practising engineers that can yield financial advantage for teaching faculty and college as well. It is often said that engineering may be the only professional course largely taught by non-practitioners. Hence institute-industry interface, can very well compensate the missing link of industrial exposure. Industries today demand teamwork from fresh recruited engineers whereas teamwork is given less priority in the current engineering curriculum. Industry being the end user of engineering graduates, restructuring of the curriculum in line with industrial demands may also be tried out. Adaptability to industrial environment is a main factor for the successful discharge of an engineer''s responsibilities. Universities must recognise the fact that industry is their main client and hence students must be given ample opportunities to interact with industries. Industry-oriented learning for engineering students is almost like a `give and take policy'' since both industries as well as students is equally benefited. India had made a remarkable progress in recent years especially in the service sector. Global community is well aware of our mettle in IT and BPO industries. The unique advantage we are having is the pool of skilled manpower, which we would need to grow consistently in order to sustain our competitive edge in current market scenario. Now we have to aim for an equilibrium in which we should focus equally on R\&D sector along with BPO. More than 200 companies listed in the fortune 500 companies had already established their R\&D facilities in India. To accelerate India''s growth as a hub for R\&D, availability of employable engineers with passion for research is utmost essential. This requires additional infrastructure and faculty requirement as well as radical changes in current technical education system. The stage is now set for industry experts, academia think tanks and top brass of government policy makers to review the existing engineering education and to initiate debate and discussions to enhance the quality of education. It is presumed that this paper will be an eye opener for the above purpose. This paper discusses the different challenges faced by the engineering education systems and suggestions based on various alternative strategies are discussed which can easily be incorporated into the engineering curricula; the introduction of which makes the system complete in all meaning.' affiliation: 'Ali, A (Corresponding Author), Ilahia Coll Engn \& Technol, Dept Informat Technol, Muvattupuzha, Kerala, India. Ali, Asha; Aliyar, Liyamol, Ilahia Coll Engn \& Technol, Dept Informat Technol, Muvattupuzha, Kerala, India.' author: Ali, Asha and Aliyar, Liyamol author-email: 'ashaali2002@gmail.com liyanousheer@gmail.com' author_list: - family: Ali given: Asha - family: Aliyar given: Liyamol book-group-author: IEEE booktitle: '2012 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING EDUCATION: INNOVATIVE PRACTICES AND FUTURE TRENDS (AICERA)' da: '2023-09-28' files: [] isbn: 978-1-4673-2267-6 keywords: 'Engineering Education; Social Informatics; Industry-Institute Interface; Entrepreneurship; Research; Industrial oriented teaching and learning' language: English note: 'IEEE International Conference on Engineering Education - Innovative Practices and Future Trends (AICERA), Amal Jyothi Coll Engn, Kottayam, INDIA, JUL 19-21, 2012' number-of-cited-references: '11' orcid-numbers: Ali, Asha/0009-0006-0479-9595 papis_id: 4260de122636c112ce7ecbf97703acc8 ref: Ali2012reengineeringict times-cited: '1' title: Re-engineering of ICT Engineering Education type: proceedings unique-id: WOS:000312406000052 usage-count-last-180-days: '2' usage-count-since-2013: '37' web-of-science-categories: 'Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications; Engineering, Electrical \& Electronic' year: '2012'