Recently, I have had the pleasure (or should I say nightmare) of meeting some young minds who are going through the grind of studying Engineering across India. On speaking to these people, I realized that there was one thing common between them that swept me off my feet.
They all came to me for a common purpose, "assistance for college project". They all walked up to be and told me boldly to my face that they had bought off projects from other people or other institutions. While telling me this, they had no shame or regret and told me as though they were taking a walk in a park with a straight face.
This left me wondering if it was me who did not understand what they were telling or it was a common and acceptable felony (like littering in public places). I then went and spoke to some of my friends who more senior and had the pleasure (or pressure) of having to study Engineering / MCA (Masters in computer applications) courses. They explained to me that it was a very normal thing for students to outsource project work and several colleges encourage students to outsource work rather than experiment on their own.
I also found out that some of the most common projects that are done are in the field of HRM, Security, Healthcare. Obviously when you ask questions about these projects, they have no clue about it and are happy to admin that they plagiarized the work (it is highly unlikely they know the word Plagiarism though).
It also dawned on me that when students go to their lecturers and tell them about an original idea, they are strongly discouraged (probably because of the fear that the guide is incapable of understanding the work that will be done). I also had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing several people who are struggling to get into IT companies who work as lecturers in colleges right after finishing their studies.
Putting all of the above together, I can reasonably conclude that many and probably most (not ALL) engineering colleges across India are run as businesses (without morals) and not as educational institutions. This also probably answers to some extent the question "Why India does not produce as many innovations as the west in-spite of having one of the largest number of educational institutions?".
