Abstract
Computer science and engineering education in India is a growing industry, with numerous new engineering colleges founded in the last decade. Many graduates of these colleges pursue postgraduate studies and industry jobs in America. Consequently, the quality of Indian engineering education directly affects American technical industry. While the computer engineering curricula in these Indian colleges is largely similar to that in the US, there are significant differences in the teaching approaches and emphasis. Faculty tend to be relatively inexperienced, with many not yet possessing a Masters degree, and rarely have autonomy over their courses. Syllabi and examinations are developed by an external Board of Study comprised of academicians and industrialists. This results in a rigid, examination-focused educational system that under-emphasizes student design projects, creativity, and classroom innovation. The authors of this paper instructed computer engineering at a teaching-focused engineering college in Gujarat, India. This institution was founded in the last decade and is typical of these new undergraduate engineering institutions. One of the authors is a computer science professor from American University who taught courses at this college under the Fulbright program. The other author is an assistant professor of that institute. This study contrasts Indian undergraduate computer engineering education in teaching-focused schools with the model prevalent in American schools. The paper describes initiatives taken by the authors to introduce Gujarati students to more hands-on design projects. These initiatives include a short-term training program for computer engineering faculty members across Gujarat. This program introduced faculty to examples of design projects used in American universities and resulted in a laboratory manual targeted for undergraduate engineering students in Gujarat.