The Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has tied up with Gujarat Institute of Civil Engineers and Architects (GICEA) in an effort to provide a platform for its professors to share ideas with professionals.

The move, according to GTU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Akshai Aggarwal, is necessary at preventing a recurrence of the mid -1980s to mid-1990s crisis.

Technical colleges were then reducing civil engineering seats as the demand for these were not too high. But when infrastructural growth picked up pace the following decade, a shortage was felt in the market. This was further accentuated in the education system because the few civil engineers who had passed out by then were less eager to teach in colleges.

The demand for civil engineering courses has picked up in the last few years. GTU colleges have seen an intake of about 1,000 students three years ago, a number that has increased to roughly 4,900 - an almost three-fold increase.

Office bearers and other senior members of GICEA held a meeting with GTU officials a week ago where it was decided that GICEA members (there are about 5,000 across Gujarat) will be attached to GTU’s college clusters.

Twenty-five of these college clusters - called Navsarjan Sankuls - have been formed across the state, mainly keeping in mind the industrial estates that are geographically located near the colleges. Chemical engineering colleges will tie up with chemical industry clusters, mechanical with automobile and so on.

But this had essentially left out the civil engineering and software and computer industry as companies under these are spread out and usually not concentrated in industrial estates as such. GTU had earlier tied up with the Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA).


In last week’s meeting, GICEA offered to profile labs for material testing and other state-of-the-art facilities available at their premises, the minutes of the meeting reveal. A framework is currently being worked out.