“Electronics college students have to discover ways to program the {hardware} utilizing the software program”
Established in 1916, SNDT Ladies’s College has been a pioneer in girls’s training. The College based the Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic in 1976, which provides a big selection of job-oriented technical and vocational programs associated to administration, design, engineering, science and paramedics. Yashasvini Razdan from Electronics For You spoke to Prof. Dinesh Girap, Head of Division (HOD), Electronics, PVP SNDT and acquired attention-grabbing insights into the college’s technique to make their electronics graduates extra employable…
Q. What’s the distinction between a polytechnic engineering course and a BTech/BE graduate?
A. Polytechnic establishments had been established as there was a necessity for technicians in supervisory roles. There’s a vertical motion given by the Division of Technical Training, which permits polytechnic graduates to realize admission straight into the second yr of a level faculty. This vertical transition equips graduates with good hands-on abilities in the course of the polytechnic years, and the diploma course permits them to construct extra analytical abilities. The polytechnic curriculum is 50% sensible and 50% idea. As college students progress to degree-level engineering, the proportion of idea will increase barely, and the variety of hours devoted to sensible classes lower. Diploma-level engineering programs, place extra emphasis on designing and analysis, leading to a distinction within the curriculum design as nicely.
Q. What sort of graduates do you purpose to develop at your establishment?
A. At SNDT Ladies’s College, positioned on the Juhu campus, now we have a polytechnic and engineering faculty. College students can enroll proper after Class 10 within the polytechnic and proceed their research as much as the doctorate degree from the identical campus. As a constituent faculty of the College now we have the autonomy of designing our curriculum. Within the polytechnic electronics stream, we provide the one four-year course in Maharashtra and doubtless in India which is solely for ladies. We offer in-plant coaching/internship alternatives to our college students within the fifth and eighth semesters. Our curriculum primarily focuses on creating expert {industry} people in embedded electronics and Web-of-Issues (IoT). Our graduates purchase experience within the fields of embedded electronics and IoT. The curriculum additionally emphasises grassroots innovation, and environmental science. By way of pupil’s participation in actions associated to NSS, neighborhood improvement and college join, we purpose to develop accountable residents. Our collaborations with thought labs, fab labs, know-how incubators, and entrepreneurs assist college students develop abilities akin to innovation, vital considering, and creativity.
Q. How do you develop and evolve the curriculum to remain in tune with technological developments?
A. These days prior to now few years, I’ve witnessed fast developments in electronics and know-how. In an effort to preserve tempo with this modification and to make our college students {industry} prepared we carried out a 48-week in-plant coaching internship packages for. We’re related to 25 corporations in and round Mumbai and we ship college students for in-plant coaching, the place they work together with specialists and get hands-on coaching on the most recent applied sciences. Trade specialists function mentors to our interns, offering inputs on what matters must be included in our curriculum and suggesting obligatory adjustments.
We usually revise our curriculum primarily based on validated inputs from specialists. Our newest curriculum is targeted on IoT and embedded programs whereas retaining core elements. We revise the appliance element, together with elective topics supplied within the increased semesters. The Nationwide Training Coverage has supplied added flexibility to include extra credit from totally different disciplines. We’ve additionally aligned our in-plant coaching with the Nationwide Abilities Qualification Framework.
Q. What sort of sectors do you see the scholars gravitating in the direction of essentially the most within the ESDM phase?
A. At the moment, our curriculum focuses closely on embedded programs and IoT. We’re additionally planning to supply extra non-compulsory credit within the sector of Built-in Circuit Design.
Q. What sort of abilities do you impart to the scholars to make them industry-employable?
A. Our college students are well-versed in coding. Earlier, college students would all get positioned in IT corporations as a result of hardly any core firm would come for recruitment to the campus.
With our deal with system-level programming issues have modified. We begin with a single-board pc akin to an Arduino or Raspberry within the second yr. If college students need to in a while migrate to IT they’ll accomplish that as their programming fundamentals and fundamental computational considering skills are developed.
So, they’ve a number of domains to enterprise into — {hardware} and software program in each embedded and IoT. They will transfer on to utility programming if the alternatives can be found.
Q. What programming languages do you deal with and why?
A. Because it’s an electronics course, we deal with {hardware} in addition to software program programming. Earlier, the main focus was solely on software program programming languages akin to C, which required a compiler on the PC. We deal with embedded C, which doesn’t use the C compiler on the PC, however as a substitute, we use a microcontroller akin to 8051 or an Arduino system.
To show Python we use Raspberry Pi because the {hardware} platform. College students discover ways to interface sensors, course of the info, and put it in a cloud. So now, while you be taught programming on this manner, you’re studying program the {hardware} utilizing the software program, which is what electronics college students want to review.
Q. Do you imagine that now we have sufficient academicians who can support in creating expert graduates?
A. Sure, we do have sufficient academicians, however these folks must be given alternatives. We’ve a really versatile work tradition in my division. The school is free to collaborate with the {industry}, spend time there and preserve themselves up to date.
If this type of flexibility is given, academics can create wonders, and the scholars taught by them will create wonders! To empower academia, these authorities insurance policies even encourage college members to open their startups.
Being a polytechnic faculty, we might discover it very tough to get the {industry} to collaborate with our college members. However that has improved, and {industry} of us are open to giving us initiatives the place we will work and ship. The one approach to develop the electronics {industry} and make sure the improvement of academia is that if they work in tandem.
I used to be glad to see that the EFY Expo in Pune gave particular privileges to folks from academia. I see that you simply’re making an attempt to fill this hole as nicely and create a typical platform. I’m part of a number of teams created by EFY, and I get a number of enter from easy and informative discussions within the teams. Even the seminars and talks present precious enter from academia to the {industry}, and vice versa. We’d like extra such platforms.
Q. What sort of jobs can be found for polytechnic graduates and what does the job market appear like at the moment?
A. We’ve an consumption of 40 for the electronics polytechnic stream, out of which 10 to 12 college students go for a job. The remainder of the scholars go for increased research. We’re capable of place all these college students who’re keen to work.
Our course is industry-integrated. We’ve round 25 corporations related to us, that are primarily SMEs. They at all times want educated folks and we don’t discover any problem inserting our college students.
Recruiters in SMEs have at all times mentioned that they’ve a number of vacancies, however they want competent candidates. Sadly, they don’t get such candidates. If college students are educated nicely on the diploma degree, there are ample alternatives obtainable within the industries.
Whereas there are ample jobs in SMEs, if we discuss concerning the alternatives in multinational corporations, they’re comparatively lesser. On the intense aspect, there are many startups and SMEs that are working in and round Mumbai. We’ve additionally seen the job market evolve after the introduction of all of Make-in-India insurance policies and startup tradition after 2014.
Q. Does the dearth of excellent candidates create a spot between {industry} and academia? How is your establishment contributing in the direction of the answer to this challenge?
A. The industry-academia hole exists as a result of industries count on freshers to have fundamental industrial abilities and a sure degree of functionality which isn’t met by the graduates. If the capabilities are met, the hole is taken care of.
To counter that at SNDTWU, now we have modified our curriculum to project-based studying. We use this system of project-based studying. College students ought to know staple items akin to the place to make use of a specific element, why to make use of a specific element, or learn information sheets.
Even the coursework for all the themes and the minor/main venture is designed to make the scholars clear up issues that put together them for the {industry}. For his or her remaining yr initiatives, we make the scholars work together with {industry} specialists to get precious enter. That is how {industry} and academia can go hand-in-hand.
Q. What sort of assist does SNDT present to college students who want to construct their startups?
A. At SNDT, now we have the Institute Innovation Council, mandated by the AICTE to assist entrepreneurship and innovation. Moreover, our university-level entrepreneurship cell has been fostering entrepreneurial spirit even earlier than the institution of the Institute Innovation Council.
We’ve an Incubation Centre positioned at Juhu, Mumbai which receives funding from the Maharashtra State Innovation Society. Moreover, numerous departments conduct their annual packages, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship or product improvement.
Over time, our college students have participated in SRISTI (Society for Analysis and Initiatives for Sustainable Applied sciences and Establishments) Summer season Faculty for inclusive innovation. Up to now, college students have additionally collaborated with the Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Community (GIAN) Incubation Centre, which offers complete amenities to assist college students all through all the prototype improvement course of.
Q. What are the novel analysis initiatives and improvements which can be at the moment ongoing at SNDT within the ESDM sector?
A. On the diploma degree, now we have programs associated to pc science and information science as nicely. We’ve collaborated with a public college in New York that has a climate station put in which collects weather-related information. Our college students utilise this information for analytics and are developing with attention-grabbing initiatives. Our college members are concerned in several initiatives associated to energy electronics, IoT, and communication networks.
