SRM University, Andhra Pradesh - Amaravati is going to be a university to watch out for. They started with 230 engineering students and in a duration of a year, they successfully admitted 1,500 students. Also, the entire place is being designed by world-renowned architects Perkins and Will from the US. But when we talk to Rupesh Bisht, Director - Admissions of the Amaravati campus, he gives us many more reasons to look out forward to it. We caught up with him on the sidelines of TNIE’s Indian Education Fair in Dubai and this is what he had to say about the up and coming campus and all that it has to offer. Excerpts:
What is the vision for this particular campus?
We envision this university to be a multi-disciplinary one, offering courses in Engineering, Management, Liberal Arts, Medical Sciences and Law as well. Currently, we have two schools operational, one is the School of Liberal Arts and Basic Sciences and the second is the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. This is a huge project spanning over ten years with an investment
of roughly half a billion dollars. There are certain unique features of the university which will differentiate it from every other university. For beginners, we are hiring very talented faculty members. So every single person teaching at the campus holds a PhD and that is how they will bring the aspects of research in teaching and curriculum. We are focused on research and innovation and
hence, are trying to establish partnerships with the government and corporates. We are in talks with three top corporates and the Government of India to set up research institutes in the university.
What about your teaching methodology?
We have teaching methodologies which we are trying to make experiential in nature. We have an Active Learning Centre, a first of its kind in the country, which is a classroom with very good IT infrastructure where students can work in groups with inter-connected computers and with the faculty, can discuss the best way of solving a problem. We are getting the best of people, our Board of Governors is very eminent and they are from the field of academia. Our first inaugural Vice-Chancellor is Dr Jamshed Bharucha.
Coming to your placements...
Currently, the second year is on. But being part of the SRM Group, about 400 companies have already expressed their interest in hiring from the Amaravati campus. And we have also set up a dedicated placements and industry relations team which is working not just in India, but is also attracting companies and partnerships from abroad. So we will have business development personnel in key cities in the country and we will also operate to get international companies on-board. Our target is to place 30% students outside India and place 100% of the first batch with extremely good salaries.
What is the edge that this campus of SRM offers?
We have 30 years of experience in the country, our top management is extremely progressive and know what the key drivers are which will help us evolve as a university. For example, SRM was the pioneer in starting the Semester Abroad Programme (SAP) and we are very focused on getting industry partnerships because we realise that if students acquire knowledge of theory alone, they will not do well in the industry. We do tie-ups with organisations who have problems that engineering students can solve. For example, we are working with Titan for 3D gold printing. Efforts like these ensure that students are prepared for the corporate world and this is what gives them an edge in the time to come. We also encourage a lot of innovation. Like the Next Tech Lab, which is a student-driven laboratory working on cutting-edge technologies like AI, Machine Learning and Cryptocurrency. From SRM Amravati, students from Next Tech Lab participated in a national-level competition in IIT Roorkee and the top three prizes were brought home by SRM, AP - Amaravati. So these things assure us that we are going in the right direction, though we do realise that we have a long way to go as well.
For more on them, click on srmap.edu.in
