[ad_1]
NEW DELHI: When you hear textile engineering, you may think apparel. But today, it has more to do with technical fibre, which has huge applications across multiple fields, says Ashwini Agrawal, professor of textile technology at IIT Delhi.
He says such textiles are increasingly being used in civil, mechanical and even automobile engineering. The subject has been multidisciplinary, and has become more so in application.
“You need to know a lot of things before you make a product, a lot of knowledge in chemistry and polymers,” says Agrawal. The government, he says, is putting its weight behind the technical textile sector and has earmarked about Rs 1,400 crore as part of the technical textile mission.
Textile technology is key to applications such as personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and face masks that are today being widely used for protection from Covid-19. It is key to body suits to protect people from harsh conditions such as fire or extreme cold.
The government’s science & technology department has approved support for upscaling an antiviral nano-coating developed by Agrawal. It can be used to produce triple layer medical masks and N95 respirators.
And yet, Agrawal says, textile engineering is often the last choice of students entering the IITs. “It is never their preferred subject because at the end of graduation, the jobs they land up with are at apparel companies, which do not pay the kind of salaries others do. And after a few years, they will pursue an MBA to move to another career,” he says.
However, students from other institutes who join the Master’s programme in the IITs end up getting absorbed in companies like Reliance and Arvind as product managers, which are really well paying. Agrawal suggests that students who wish to stay in this field should pursue higher studies.
The IITs are now more focused on higher studies, research and innovation and not just on churning out students at the undergraduate levels who would bag plum salaries. In many IITs, the ratio of undergraduate to post graduate and research fellows is now almost equal, compared to a 80:20 ratio a decade ago.
“A major emphasis is now on the entrepreneur cell. The objective is that students would use their engineering skills to create something and then float a company. IIT Delhi has created about 100 such companies in the last 5-7 years,” Agrawal says.
One of the ways the interdisciplinary approach and entrepreneurship interest have been achieved over the years has been by assigning 50% of the focus on the student’s core subject, and the rest on a minor area such as entrepreneurship and mathematics, so that students have a holistic view of the ecosystem around them.
He says such textiles are increasingly being used in civil, mechanical and even automobile engineering. The subject has been multidisciplinary, and has become more so in application.
“You need to know a lot of things before you make a product, a lot of knowledge in chemistry and polymers,” says Agrawal. The government, he says, is putting its weight behind the technical textile sector and has earmarked about Rs 1,400 crore as part of the technical textile mission.
Textile technology is key to applications such as personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and face masks that are today being widely used for protection from Covid-19. It is key to body suits to protect people from harsh conditions such as fire or extreme cold.
The government’s science & technology department has approved support for upscaling an antiviral nano-coating developed by Agrawal. It can be used to produce triple layer medical masks and N95 respirators.
And yet, Agrawal says, textile engineering is often the last choice of students entering the IITs. “It is never their preferred subject because at the end of graduation, the jobs they land up with are at apparel companies, which do not pay the kind of salaries others do. And after a few years, they will pursue an MBA to move to another career,” he says.
However, students from other institutes who join the Master’s programme in the IITs end up getting absorbed in companies like Reliance and Arvind as product managers, which are really well paying. Agrawal suggests that students who wish to stay in this field should pursue higher studies.
The IITs are now more focused on higher studies, research and innovation and not just on churning out students at the undergraduate levels who would bag plum salaries. In many IITs, the ratio of undergraduate to post graduate and research fellows is now almost equal, compared to a 80:20 ratio a decade ago.
“A major emphasis is now on the entrepreneur cell. The objective is that students would use their engineering skills to create something and then float a company. IIT Delhi has created about 100 such companies in the last 5-7 years,” Agrawal says.
One of the ways the interdisciplinary approach and entrepreneurship interest have been achieved over the years has been by assigning 50% of the focus on the student’s core subject, and the rest on a minor area such as entrepreneurship and mathematics, so that students have a holistic view of the ecosystem around them.
[ad_2]
Source link