Industry-academia collaboration plays a critical role in making students employable. To a large extent, the success of this collaboration depends on the knowledge and awareness of the faculty members in latest industry needs, latest technologies and new developments in the job market. To bring the teachers close to the industry, CII -Southern Region conducted a 2-day program on 23rd and 24th February 2018, on creating awareness about the industry needs for teachers of Engineering colleges in and around Madurai (Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Sethu Institute of Technology and RVS College of Engineering). The program was successfully conducted with J.K. Fenner, Madurai as industry partner and National Skills Network – NSN as a facilitator. We present some highlights, observations and suggestions from this program.
The program presented various perspectives about Skill Development, Employability and Entrepreneurship while placing a need for demand-driven education models in College Education. It also discussed options for work-integrated learning and teachers can become the primary champions of implementing new ideas and initiatives.The teachers also got a first-hand experience of the industry by visiting the Rubber Mill that manufactures industrial rubber belts. While Mr. J Sivakumar AGM – HR and Admin JK Fenner and his team informed the participants about the industry, the manufacturing processes, quality orientation etc, Mr. L Sebastin, Manager – Rubber Mill and HP, conducted the industry visit, explaining various stages of how rubber gets processed and the knowledge and skills needed to perform the job roles.
Today, there is a huge gap is between the needs of the industry and the college curriculum. This is the main reason for unemployment and underemployment among Engineering students. We can bridge the gap by combining theoretical knowledge with practical experience so that the students get exposed to relevant skills, and understand how the needs of the workplace and job roles. Mr. J Sivakumar, AGM – HR and Admin, JK Fenner – Madurai
This is the second In-Sync with Industry program we are facilitating for CII – SR. The participants, Mechanical Engineering faculty members from various Engineering colleges have responded with lots of enthusiasm and it was overwhelming to see their commitment to build channels to interact with the industry. The factory visit helped us in experiencing the manufacturing process to appreciate the skills involved in different aspects of rubber processing. Dr. Madhuri Dubey, Founder, National Skills Network – NSN
R.Raja Sekar, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, RVS College of Engineering, Dindigul-5
Sasikumar L, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, RVS College of Engineering, Dindigul-5
- To make engineering students in-sync with industryVocational training should be imparted a part of the engineering curriculum
- The subjects should make the students understand the needs of the industry
- More practical sections or sandwich courses should be introduced in the curriculum in all collegesNew trends, techniques, technical and technological growth is to be added to the syllabus.
- Make the students practice 5s, Kaizan as life style.
- The curriculum has to be designed so that he/she involves more in practicals and demonstrations.
- Extra care can be taken to ensure that he/she spends more time in skill enrichment apart from academic activities.
- AICTE can ensure skill development cell is active and doing needful to the engineering students during their affiliations renewal.
- In every college, self-motivated staff groups should visit industry and acquire knowledge and train their students as per the industry’s needs.
- Industries also tell frankly about their requirements so that easy to make Engineering Students in-sync with industry.
- Like Home Surgeon is practiced in Medical College, in Engineering College also after teaching the basics for 2 years, in the 3rd Year (for 1 semester or 2) the students have to work and do projects in industry.
- After an assessment they can continue the final year or next semester.This will surely make him/her industrial-ready person or and may motivate them to become entrepreneurs.
Praveen Kumar B Asst. Professor, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai: With liberalization, privatization and globalization the technology in today’s world is undergoing a rapid advancement. The technologies are uncertain and the innovations are unimaginable. Our Indian Industries are competing globally for which it demands a lot from the young minds coming out of higher education. Industries are expecting not only knowledgeable but skilled students. The gap between the Indian education system and the industries should be bridged immediately. There are critical issues the students are facing today such as language proficiency, understanding capability, lesser practical exposure, lesser industry interactions, etc. These issues needed to be addressed. Certification program for language and communication should be encouraged in Higher education.
Students’ understanding capability can be enriched by making them work practically on theoretical concepts. This can be achieved by encouraging project-based learning for all the courses. Also ,making use of ICT tools in education will be helpful for the students to learn better.
Praveen Kumar B Asst. Professor, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai
The Industry-Institute gap should be bridged. Adhoc and adjunct faculty from industries shall be included in academia. This shall be made compulsory at least for one course per semester. Student’s internship at industries should be encouraged. At least one project should be done by the students under the guidance of industry experts. The project should be aiming at addressing industrial problems. This can be done as group projects. Also industries shall come forward in hosting project contests as their CSR activities. Industries may float some problem statements to the college students. Students shall submit their solutions as proposals. Industry shall select worthy proposals and can mentor and help them to complete the project. Some Industries are doing this now. But still the count shall be increased.
Prakash T, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) : TCE is one of the entrepreneurial research-oriented institution. The college has many best practices such as the curriculum is designed as per the feedback from higher institution head, alumni and reputed persons in various industry. We also have the TVS Program where the first year students are recruited by TVS group of companies and they offered Free education as residence Program and they defined their specific required curriculum for their selected TVS students.
Prakash T, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering,
This program will help to understand the role of faculty and importance of curriculum. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to attend this kind of program.
On the first day, the first session is handled by HR division from JK Fenner. We were explained the various processed followed at JK Fenner. It was quite useful to know history and process of JK Fenner. Two session was conducted by the HR team. In the post lunch session Dr Madhuri Dubey explained current scenario of engineering curriculum. She talked more on job market for students. She explained the role of faculty members and the importance of curriculum. Final session of day 1 is handled by a person from Quality Department, JK Fenner. He explained various quality practices incorporated in the JK fenner. This session is more useful for me to understand quality Principles followed by Industries.
On the second day, JK Fenner is arranged an industrial visit. We went around the mixing unit of Belt making. This unit is semi-automated where all the chemical and raw material mixing is done by automation. They used some specific material handling system for transportation of materials. Bar coding technology for selection of proper chemical with Proper composition of hammer. JK Fenner mixing unit head explained clearly. And they mentioned one of TCE part time BE Mechanical engineering student’ s Project is implemented in their industry and the results came very beautifully and the solution is beneficiary to JK Fenner.