The Indian education system has been under scrutiny while it's been trying to find its way to a reformed system for decades. Dr K Sankaranarayanasamy, Director of National Institute of Technology, Puducherry, feels that academia needs to have a deeper relationship with the industry to understand their requirements and industry should invest in research, that way the research will be driven by what is relevant rather than just to attain a degree for promotion. He hopes to bring about a structural change in the institute and put NIT Puducherry (NITPY) on the list of the 100 best institutes in India. And he is determined to achieve this feat within a year.
NITPY is an autonomous public engineering institute in Puducherry, Karaikal. It is among the 31 National Institutes of Technology of India and is declared as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India under NIT Act, 2007. The institute was established in 2010, starting its intake in the academic year 2010-11. Since then, it has been expanding its teacher recruitment as well to maintain a decent student-teacher ratio. "We need to have a system where the research the professors engage themselves in is connected to the syllabus they teach. For the one and a half years that I have been in charge of the institute, I have tried to create an environment that will allow the teachers and students to develop independently. This, in turn, will help the institute develop as well," said Dr Sankaranarayanasamy.
But it is not just about the working environment. One of the major achievements of the institute in the past year has been the development of its green campus. And it was not easy, said the Director, "When I got here, this was all barren land. I cannot imagine a campus without greenery. But it was a tough job. The institute had been allotted the same land that was used for prawn culture. This made it hard to develop any type of vegetation on this land." He added proudly, "We got in touch with RS Arjunan who is an expert in this field. He helped us plant 250 trees on campus and we have planted 5,000 palm seeds. In five years, this campus will be nothing but green."
NITPY's Institutional Social Responsibility (ISR) programmes are also varied. The students and faculty have taken up the task to teach local students and coach them to crack the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). "Last year, we trained 200 students from government and government-aided institutions and we now have 18 students from Karaikal in our first-year batch," stated the Director.
Last year saw a huge influx of students, so much so that the institute ran out of hostel rooms. But they did not fret. "We built our temporary living quarters within 45 days. It is made of concrete slabs on a concrete base. It houses more than 150 students," he said. He hopes to attract more faculty from various parts of India and even from around the world. "The major issue that holds teachers back from moving here is that we don't have a school on campus. I am trying my best to have a Kendriya Vidyalaya built on campus to address this. That should solve the problem to a great extent," said Dr Sankaranarayanasamy.
Reach out: www.nitpy.ac.in/
