Internet and its use in the Engineering Colleges of Punjab, India: A Case Study

The aim of this study was to analyze the use of the Internet and related issues among the teachers and students of engineering colleges of Punjab, India. A well structured questionnaire was distributed among the 960 teachers and students of all the engineering colleges of Punjab. The response rate was 84.2 per cent. The present study demonstrates and elaborates the various aspects of Internet use such as, frequency of Internet use, most frequently used place for Internet use, purposes for which the Internet is used, use of Internet services, ways to browse the information from the Internet, problems faced by the users and satisfaction level of users with the Internet facilities provided in the colleges. The result of the survey also provided information about the benefits of the Internet over conventional documents. It was found that the Internet had become a vital instrument for teaching, research and learning process of these respondents. Some suggestions have been set forth to make the service more beneficial for the academic community of the engineering colleges under study