Indian Science Cruiser

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

The Genesis of the IIT System of Education: Were there Global/National/Local Factors at Play?


Affiliations
1 Sunayana Maiti, PhD scholar, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
2 PhD Scholar, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The paper intends to focus on the entanglement of global, national and local factors influencing the establishment of the Indian Institutes of Technology. The Two World Wars created an exceptional situation that saw a burgeoning of a strong scientific and technical mindset. As a response the idea of a strong technical base that would enable a self-reliant industrialized country was floating in Europe, UK, and the US which naturally attracted the minds of the Indian intelligentsia. What kind of engineering institutions were emerging from these debates? The paper aims to examine all these thoughts/ideas/influences running concurrently that possibly shaped the rise of the IIT system of education in India.

Keywords

IT System, Education, Genesis, Global Factors, National Factors, Local Factors.
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • S Maiti, Development of Scientific and Industrial Research in India around the Second World War, Bengal Pastand Present, Vol 134, page 84-85, 9192, 2015.

  • Papers Relating to Technical Education in India 1886-1904, Calcutta, Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, page 2, 1906.

  • B Sen, Development of Technical Education in India a State Policy: A Historical perspective, Indian Journal ofHistory of Science, No 24, page 224-248, 1989.

  • A Kumar, Colonial Requirements and Engineering Education: The Public Works Department, 18471947, in Roy MacLeod and Deepak Kumar ed.

  • Western Technology and Technical Transfers to India 1700-1947, New Delhi, Sage Publications, page 220-223, 1995.

  • Finance Department, Establishment etc. Education, Proposal to Establish Ten Institutions Dealing with Industrial and Technical Instructions in the Province,India Office Records, henceforth (IOR), L/PJ/6/725, No.361, page 3, 1908.

  • E W C Sandes, Report on Civil Engineering Education in Great Britain in 1924. With remarks on the Training of Indian Students in Engineering Roorkee, India, IOR, V7466, page 2, 1925.

  • A Basu, Technical Education in India, 1900-1920, Indian Economic Social History Review, Sage Publications, page361-374, 1967.

  • Report of the Committee on Technical and Industrial Education, Ranchi, IOR, L/PJ/6/798, 1914

  • H Sharp, Papers of Education in India (1907-1912): Sixth Quinquennial Review,page 174, IOR, MSS EW F112/469, 1913

  • Bengal Secretariat Press, General Report on Public Instructions in Bengal, 1885-86, Calcutta, 1886.

  • Indian Industrial Commission Report 1916-1918, Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printing, India,page125, 231-232, 1918.

  • J C Ghosh, Technical Education: Being a Guide to a Solution of the Problem of Unemployment and an Introduction to a New Conception of Indian Education and Careers, Calcutta, T2952 (British Library, London), 1943.

  • B R Clark (ed.) The Research Foundations of Graduate Education: Germany, Britain, France, United States, Japan, University of California Press, page 161, 1993.

  • P Lundgreen, Engineering Education in Europe and the U.S.A., 1750-1930: The Rise to Dominance of School Culture and the Engineering Professions, Annals of Science, Taylor and Francis, page 33-75, August 2006.

  • W E Dalby, The Training of Engineers in the US, Report on Technical Scholarships, Appendix IX, in Report of the Committee Appointed by the Secretary of State for India to Inquire into the System of State Technical Scholarships. Established by the Government of India in 1904, London: Eyre and Spottis Woode, Ltd., IOR/V/26/865/1 F743, page 132-137 1913.

  • S Banerjee, Technical Education for Industry: From the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (1901 -1950), Exploring History, Vol X, January—June No1, Readers Service, page104 -123, 2018.

  • [17] C Palit, The National Council of Education and Its Progeny: The College of Engineering and Technology, 1906-1947, in Uma Dasgupta, ed. Science and Modern India: An Institutional History, c. 1784-1947, This book is Volume XV Part 4 of D.P. Chattopadhyaya, ed. History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, New Delhi, Pearson Longman, page 853-854, 2011.

  • B K Sarkar, Education for Industrialization: 40 Years of Jadavpur College of Engineering and Technology: AShort Profile, Calcutta, National Council of Education, page 6, 1946.

  • Judicial and Police Department Files, Extracts from the Report on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Madras Weekly Mail, IOR/L/PJ/6/866, 2 April 1908.

  • IISc Archives, ED. 31, 1200, Report of the reviewing committee of the IISc Bangalore, page4, 1948.

  • N Tyabji, ‘Exemplar of Academia – Industry Interchange: The Department of Chemical Technology at Bombay University, 1915-1935’, in Uma Dasgupta, ed. Science and Modern India: An Institutional History, c. 1784 -1947, page 927-928, 939-940. This book is Volume XV Part 4 of D.P. Chattopadhyaya, ed. History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization,Pearson Longman, New Delhi, 2011.

  • B Zachariah, Developing India: An Intellectual and Social History, c. 1930 – 50, OUP, New Delhi, page 216-217, 2005.

  • The Second World War disrupted the work of NPC, which resumed at the end of the war. Before dissolving in 1949, the NPC, published twentyseven volumes of reports outlining a ten-year plan to be implemented by a government of free India. K.T. Shah (ed.), Report: National Planning Committee, Bombay: Vora & Co., June 1949.

  • A V Hill, A Report to the Government of India: Scientific Research in India, The Royal Society, London, page 29, 1945.

  • Development of Technical Institutions in India(Interim Report of Sarkar Committee), Government of India Press: Simla, page 2, February 1946.

  • IIT, KGP, Website, accessed from IIT, KGP, Opening of The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 18th August -1951.

  • Interviews of Professor S K Bhattacharya, Chemical Engineering; Professor A K Gayen, mathematics, September 22, 1966; Professor P K Bhattacharya, Geology and Geophysics, September 24, 1966. Cited in Kim Pathrick Sebaly, The Assistance of Four Nations in the Establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology, 1945 – 1970, Dissertation Submitted to the University of Michigan 1972, page 36.

  • IIT KGP, A Decennial Report, 1950-60

  • E FCrawley, J Malmqvist, S Ostlund, D R Brodeur, Rethinking Engineering Education: the CDIO approach, Springer, New York, USA, page 221, 2007.


Abstract Views: 348

PDF Views: 0




  • The Genesis of the IIT System of Education: Were there Global/National/Local Factors at Play?

Abstract Views: 348  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Sunayana Maiti
Sunayana Maiti, PhD scholar, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
Sujata Banerjee
PhD Scholar, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

Abstract


The paper intends to focus on the entanglement of global, national and local factors influencing the establishment of the Indian Institutes of Technology. The Two World Wars created an exceptional situation that saw a burgeoning of a strong scientific and technical mindset. As a response the idea of a strong technical base that would enable a self-reliant industrialized country was floating in Europe, UK, and the US which naturally attracted the minds of the Indian intelligentsia. What kind of engineering institutions were emerging from these debates? The paper aims to examine all these thoughts/ideas/influences running concurrently that possibly shaped the rise of the IIT system of education in India.

Keywords


IT System, Education, Genesis, Global Factors, National Factors, Local Factors.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.24906/isc%2F2021%2Fv35%2Fi5%2F210554