Quality assurance in the field of technical education through autonomy and industry-institute interaction

The gap between the classroom education and technological development outside is very big. A lot of efforts are being made to reduce this gap. Eliminating the gap is not possible. The only solution is to bridge the gap. Industry Institution Interaction and autonomy plays a vital role in bridging this huge gap. Autonomy is the freedom to create and implement new ideas, new programmes and to offer new services towards attainment of excellence of the technical institutions. In a developing country like India, endowed with vast resources, the role of technical education assumes great significance as a dynamic instrument for spreading of scientific and technological temper, which alone can effectively transform the rich resources into useful goods and services for the benefit of the masses. Technicians occupy clearly defined and prominent positions in the industry. They function as a vital link between technologist and craftsman. Their province spreads over the entire range of middle level supervision including human resource management Intercept the designs to craftsman, supervision of regular day to day work, preparation of drawings, estimation, synchronizing and coordinating the work of several craftsmen, preventive and breakdown maintenance of machines, preparation of indents etc are to name a few([4]). The competence of the technician is the reason for success in any engineering activity. The total quality management (TQM) system and autonomous will enable the integration of all functions and process within an educational environment to achieve continual improvement to provide customer oriented quality services. This paper discusses the various aspects and also suggests the stages to implement in technical institution with its ultimate aim to meet the changing demands of the stakeholders. It is very surprising that, in spite of all these known facts, there is no proper recognition to the technician education. Hence, there is an urgent need to re-define the technician education, so that human resources in the field of science and technology can be developed to meet the requirements.