Capacity Building: India needs credible professional certification mechanisms

In the past decade alone, in India, we have seen numerous accidents in the forms of collapsed residential and commercial buildings, support structures of metro rail and roadway bridges.

There have been probes ordered into the accidents and scapegoats identified from the execution team of the contractor organization to put to rest public outcry for action. The probes have either not been completed or have not been able to identify ‘causes’ leading to the accidents. Public memory is short and things continue as usual until another accident brings to fore the very same routine.

An important aspect that one can’t see being highlighted, discussed or being identified as a key action item but that could be a significant contributor to the accidents in subtle ways than being a direct cause is the general lack of professional competence of workforce (Engineers and designers) in India, especially in the infrastructure space.

Before getting further, a little context could help.

Often in discussions about education in India, Indians across strata have differing opinion on the syllabus, choice of languages, quality of teachers and such like. Some opinions are universal – such as – lack of reasonably provided schools in rural India, general lack of quality of teaching in government schools (some schools people agree are good), lack of application and dutifulness of teaching g staff in government schools, exorbitant fees in private schools, forced tuition's and so on. However, Indians in general do have an opinion that Indian education is good and sets a robust foundation until under-graduation. A large contingent of Indian students’ being admitted each year into institutes worldwide provides enough credence to such an opinion.

What India lacks for sure though is - broadly consistent, professionally competent, human resource across disciplines. Education is a different matter altogether – providing a level of background in general subjects to understanding theories and possible applications with case studies and examples from real world. Professional skills and competencies are something specific to a type of work and covers latest knowledge of science and technology in that space, international standards, and best practices in application, lessons learnt from applications worldwide, and more importantly the approach to working with other individuals and stakeholders, managing their expectations, universally acceptable processes, and procedures. This skill is essential to understand, appreciate, and adopt a certain level of engagement and work ethic based on education, sense of ownership and accountability and responsibility towards society and one’s own work.

There is no dearth of certification programs in India leading to stream of ‘professionals’ with certificates to lay claim to roles that demand those certifications as a qualification. However, the ‘professional competence’ of such certificate holders is most often of a degree that is not consistent with global benchmark in various parameters.

Professional competence requires effort and experience to build and mature.

A professional accreditation/certification from an institute that bases its certification on work experience demonstrating a body of work in a specific domain alongside testing the degree of awareness and knowledge in the domain that includes current theories, standards, applications and practices lends a level of consistency to the certified professionals. Such professional bodies involve peer reviews and interviews, which makes it even more relevant to a contemporary situation.

Such certified professionals can be expected to be comparable on work culture, ethic, and outcome of their work within a bandwidth.

Such certifications can lend credibility for a certain level of employment (and commensurate compensation). Government could mandate a level of certification to be necessary to be able to review and approve designs and engineering. A clear mandate backed by legal provisions for actions attributable to negligence or oversight will bring about responsibility, accountability, and that in turn will help avoid accidents arising out of professional incompetence.

Such certification can help take minimise the effect of fee/price on the quality of design, engineering, safety,  since the ethic of ownership and accountability for performance is part of the certification and includes a disincentive to compromise for the fear of losing the certification.

The level of professional competence is poor across institutions and organizations – government and public alike. There are exceptions but these are a minuscule part.

If India is to build world-class infrastructure, which it should, to achieve its economic growth potential and well-being of its populace, capacity building in human resources – especially in professional services is a must.

When Government of India starts to mention such credible professional certifications as qualification criteria for resources deployed on government projects, it will have a trickle-down effect across other segments. It will be appropriate for Government employees in project related roles across disciplines (technical and non-technical) to have a professional certification so that they stay aligned with project executing agencies – consultants and contractors. Such alignment has the potential to enhance the outcome of projects for stakeholders.

A certain level of professional competence will have a positive impact on quality of design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning, and safety and has the potential to improve productivity if adopted continuously and consistently over a period. A huge impact will be the efficiency and effectiveness of the budget spent on creating mega infrastructure like Ports, Highways, Metros, Airports, Arenas and Smart Cities that the Government has embarked upon.

If India can build its human resource capacity, the infrastructure spending will be more meaningful, fruitful, and sustainable and can help export such services to developing nations and lend to India’s soft power as well.