The curriculum has been framed considering the feedback of all stakeholders and as per social need, says Principal

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, Professor Maitreyi Ray Kanjilal, Principal, NIT - Narula Institute of Technology talks at length about various initiatives taken by the institute to help students become industry-ready. These initiatives include extensive aptitude training, personality development classes, technical training sessions, project-based learning, etc. The idea is to impart a quality learning experience to students.

Read the complete interview below

Q: What are the three things that your institute is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from the competition?

A: I believe, our collective initiatives taken talks about our success factors, such as

• NIRF rank since four consecutive years in engineering category by MHRD, Govt. of India
• NBA accredited BTech & MTech programmes.
• High-quality Research environment, Incubation and Innovation facilities, Cultural and sports enriched activities, National and International workshops/ seminars, conferences and Internships for the students.

Q: What are the top three initiatives undertaken by you that are helping your students become more industry-ready?

A: Industry readiness is one such crucial factor that defines the success of any institute’s curriculum and pedagogy. It includes –

• Aptitude Training: These classes refresh the fundamental areas of mathematics and logic of the students and cover areas like – Quantitative Ability, Logical reasoning, Puzzles and Verbal ability
• Personality Development Classes: These classes are conducted in parallel with the aptitude sessions and provide rigorous training in the soft skills area
• Technical Training Sessions: As a part of our training efforts, we conduct surveys from time to time among corporate to understand the technological upgradations taking place. We figure out the most appropriate technologies and provide the required training based on these inputs. We also conduct some ‘Beyond the Curriculum’ programme semester-wise from third to the seventh Semester.
• Project-based and problem-solving teaching-learning methodologies have been adopted
• The curriculum has been framed considering the feedback of all stakeholders and as per social need

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to qualify for your institution and perform better

A: To qualify for the institution, one must fulfil the eligibility criteria, which is –

• Qualify entrance exam like WBJEE/JEE Mains/CEE-AMPAI
• Minimum 60% marks in Class 10 and 12

And, to perform better in curriculum, one must –

• Be Punctual in Class and follow the guidelines of the Institute.
• Having very good academic performance

Q: Which programme/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this programme?

A: Though all the programmes offered at the campus at best in their own sense I believe ECE is more recognised in terms of NBA accredited. The programme was recently awarded with QS international rating too.

Q: What are you doing to improve/drive better campus placements for your current students and alumni? What kind of jobs routinely come to campus? What would you say are the key recruitment trends for your university/college (observed over the past five years at your institute)?

A: I believe it’s a never-ending process. In today’s dynamic and ever-changing world, any and every institute has to keep experimenting with ways to improve campus placements. Wem, as an institute aims at –

• Training the students in various upcoming Technologies under ‘Beyond the Curriculum Programme’
• Providing more and more practical exposure to the students. I believe industry applications help students to become more sustainable. We organise frequent interactive sessions between corporate leaders & students to enhance & upgrade their knowledge on recent industry developments
• For our alumni, we are emphasising on the lateral hiring process of the organisations. Based on the requirements at different domain expertise category or entry-level we communicate our passed out students and insist them to participate

Depending on the Industrial scenario our students get placed in a different type of industries such as IT, ITES, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Automobile, Education in different job roles like Software Developers, Product Developers, IT Recruiter, Business Analyst, Production, Site Engineer, Graduate Engineer Trainee, etc. Besides students also get offers in manufacturing, construction, structural engineering, telecommunication and process management roles

Key recruitment trends:

It has been observed that last five years placement scenario has been improved and students placed in higher CTC and their average salary also got increased. Emphasis has been given on

• Corporate is emphasising on microlearning & Massive Online Open Courses
• Development in English language training.
• Implementation of artificial intelligence and automation
• Organizations are focusing on employee growth and leadership cultivation.
• Introduction of remote work culture
• Talent management strategy