We Provide Dynamic Curriculum to Meet Industrial trends, says Professor & Dean, KIIT School of Mechanical Engineering

Industry-elective courses and an extended internship program help students to be industry ready, says Dr Bharat Chandra Routara, Sr. Professor & Dean, School of Mechanical Engineering in a conversation with Shiksha.com. Dr Bharat received his Ph. D degree in Production Engineering from Jadavpur University in the year of 2008.

Dr Bharat is a member of various professional bodies like Life Member Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE), the Indian Institute of Industrial Engineering (IIIE), The Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Fellow member of The Institution of Engineers (India). He has also guided seventeen M.Tech scholars and published eighty-five research papers in different International journals of repute.

Q1. What are the three things that B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering KIIT University is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from the competition?

• Dynamic curriculum to meet upcoming industrial trends with Industry 4.0-focused learning.
• Experienced personnel from the industry recruited as faculties to seamlessly blend theoretical knowledge with real-time application.
• Exposure to the latest training and testing equipment and software emphasizing project-based learning and gaining cross-disciplinary expertise.

Q2. What are the top three initiatives undertaken by you that are helping your students become more industry ready?

• Industry-elective courses and an extended internship program to provide exposure to national and international companies.
• Technical conclaves organized with industry personnel to provide a direct view of happenings in the industry.
• Professional student society membership emphasises on the active participation of students in the events/competitions organized by professional society.

Q3. What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to:

• Qualify for your institution: Strong background in Basic Science and Mathematics, Mindset to be employed at core companies and Self-reliance and a hunger to accept challenges.
• Get top grades in your institution: Sincerity and diligence, Critical thinking ability, Complex problem analysis and Ability to quickly adapt to different conditions while prioritizing the important tasks.

Q4. Which course/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this course?

• Material Science Engineering- Highly qualified faculties, High-end industrially relevant equipment and Several ongoing researches in this domain.

• Machine Design- Strong backup in Mechanics, High-end software, and Real life industry assignments.
• RAC/ Heat transfer- State-of-the-art experimental facilities for validation of theoretical concepts, Active student professional society (ISHRAE student chapter) aids learning by ensuring active participation of students, and High-end research (experimental/numerical) being performed by the faculties and the students, international conferences on thermos-fluids being organized periodically.
• Industry 4.0 focused learning through IoT, Robotics, Simulation, Design and Analysis software and Coding in high level computerized environment.
• Choice based learning - Large number of options for Inter-departmental/Industrial elective courses are provided. Also, the students are given the flexibility to enrol under the faculties of their choice.
• Cross-disciplinary expertise is imparted through Minor (interdisciplinary) and Honors courses in B.Tech.

Q5. 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 (your campus))?

• Imparting professional training and skill development

• The training/teaching efforts are channelized by asking the students of their carrier preferences in the 2^nd year of B.Tech.
• Specialized training/coaching is then provided by an experienced team of experts through KIIT Career Advisory & Augmentation Services (CAAS).

• A dedicated school level placement cell functions with the three different prime functions:
• Enhancing the employability aspect of students

• To improve students' skill sets, the cell organizes various training programs in the core domain areas with soft skills training on CAD/CAM/CAE and PLM.
• Students are also trained by industry experts from a variety of sectors to improve their industry interaction.

• Ensuring placement of all students
• The cell ensures the placement of all students according to their skill sets and aspirations.
• The cell, using the employability index of each student, matches them with Industry requirements, ensuring a win-win situation for both students and companies.
• Alumni engagement
• By partnering with alumni, the cell offers students better placement services and is able to organize better training programs.
• In addition, the placement cell also looks after the Industry Engagement Programs, conducting school level HR Conclaves, Colloquium lectures by industry experts, and providing Internships to the students etc.
• Exposure to industrially relevant high-end skills.
• Training on communication and management skills.
• Our students are placed in the manufacturing sector, power sector, automobile sector, design software solutions, piping industry etc.
• Nearly, 100 percent students are get placed in large scale manufacturing industries (like JSW, Bluestar, Voltas, L&T etc.), technical design software and hardware solutions are the upcoming recruitment trends.