New Delhi: Thousands of untrained faculty members across engineering colleges in India will soon be able to obtain a degree in engineering and training from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) without joining the institute or leaving their jobs.

A large number of engineering colleges across the nation are hiring engineering graduates as teachers due to shortage of faculty. But these graduates are not trained to teach hence lack the ability in orienting students towards research.

In view of this problem, the government has decided to offer an online part-time Masters' degree in Engineering Education conducted by IITs. The course will focus more on research aspects rather than just equipping students to clear the exam.

A member of the planning committee headed by higher education secretary Vibha Puri Das informed that the course will be conducted online through live video lectures ensuring that the students are fulfilling their regular teaching duties.

The ministry is planning to provide training to 6,000-7,000 young faculty members each year, which will require the participation of 1,500 faculty members from IITs and other institutions. The classes will be held during weekends in the evening.

Apart from this, government anticipates that the IIT faculty will be able to identify and motivate most of these candidates to opt for a part-time PhD programme. It aims at training around 30,000 faculty members in the 12th five-year plan period beginning from April 2012.

The demand for faculty in engineering colleges is expected to increase by 70% by 2020 and the number of students pursuing technical education has risen to over two million from less than a million in 2007-08.