We Believe in Holistic Development of Students, Says Dean, School of Electronics Engineering, KIIT University

In conversation with Shiksha.Com, Dr Suprava Patnaik, Professor at the School of Electronics, KIIT University talks about the multidisciplinary approach that provides a holistic environment to students. Suprava Patnaik received B.Sc Engg and M.Sc Engg degrees from NIT, Rourkela and awarded with PhD from E & ECE Dept., IIT, Kharagpur.

She has 30 years of teaching and research experience. She has served as faculty at NIT, Rourkela, SVNIT, Surat and XIE, Mumbai. She also worked as a guest lecturer and big data research associate at the University of Western Australia, Perth, during 2015-2017. She is also a member of various professional societies such as IEEE, ISTE, IETE,IES etc.

1. What are the three things that B.tech from the School of Electronics( KIIT University) is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from the competition?

• Multidisciplinary expertise and facilities with lots of activities lead to a holistic learning environment.
• International accreditation (ABET, IET) enables the better opportunity for higher studies.
• Flexible curriculum with options to enrol in cross-domain and upcoming technologies. Students can get a minor degree (in law, economics, management, public health, and so on…) in addition to the B.Tech degree in the specialization of admission.

2. What are the top three initiatives undertaken by you that are helping your students become more industry ready?

• Initiatives and events conducted under CAAS for improving communication skills, and effective participation in group discussions.
• Students can opt for semester-long industry internships during their final year, which often gets converted to placement offers
• Industry engagement programs planned by the School, central T& P team, KIIT TBI etc.

3. What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to:

• Qualify for your institution: Strong foundation, hungry to excel, and self-disciplined.
• Get top grades in your institution: the passion to learn, attending classes regularly, and availing academic facilities to the fullest

4. Which course/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this course?

• Electronics & Telecommunication Program: Communication Network, Embedded Design, Sensors & Computing and VLSI Design
• Electronics & Computer Science Program: Data Analytics, Embedded Design, Machine Learning and Computer Networks
• Electronics & Electrical Program: Industrial IoT, Embedded Design and Power System

5. What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this course?

The strategic plan of the School of electronics is to make its graduates industry ready in 4 verticals; namely: embedded system design, communication networking, and data analytics.

1. Communication Networking is an ever-growing technology. Demand is not only to have wireless connectivity but also to enable synchronous transmission of multimedia data at a faster rate. Ericson, Cisco, and Johnson control are our industry partners to offer bridge courses, and training programs and suggest on curricular content being our BoS and IAB members
2. Embedded and VLSI Design is an upcoming trend. The school has up-to-date facilities for the students to have hands-on experience. The school has centre of excellence(CoE) in collaboration with Microchip, Texas and National Instruments (NI) to carry out sophisticate system design perspectives. It’s a trend that 30% of the total students pursued paid internships with Robert Bosch and got hands-on exposure on system design for electrical vehicles.
3. Iot, AI & ML, etc. come under the data analytics vertical. Students learn these as curricular courses and become industry ready through projects internships and training. Largest chunk of students opt for paid industry internship at Highradius Technology, an AI-Driven Autonomous Fintech Industry that works for Sony, Ferrero, Unilever, Uber, and many more. Go beyond Rule-Based Automation to Predictive AI to transform your Order to Cash, Treasury and Record to Report functions is the core motto of Highradius Technology. Most importantly Highradius branch office is within the KIIT University that helps students to stay connected with experts beyond the internship days.

6. 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 KIIT University)?

>> Students are getting trained for the placement activities from the 4th semester onwards with the help of Kareer school, KIIT.

>> Students are getting oriented from the 5th semester regarding placement processes and requirements of different pieces of training or internships.

>> Students are encouraged to do real-time projects from 3rd year itself under the guidance of faculties.

>> More industrial and research internships for the students during summer vacation.

>> Summer training courses on different core technologies.

>> Domain classes for the students of final year to enhance their technical skills.

>> Regular counselling and hand-holding of the students who are unplaced till now.

>> Sharing different pool and off-campus opportunities for the students of final year and alumni.

>> Domains of recruitment:

1. Embedded systems and IOT
2. Physical design, verification and VLSI
3. Signal processing and communication
4. Software Developer
5. Consultancy and analyst
6. Business developer and analytics
7. Testing and service engineering