-Buddha Chandrasekhar, CCO, AICTE at SNS Institutions’ Induction Program
Engineering is a remarkable field that can produce innovators with ideas that can change the world. But before students of engineering could become brilliant minds, their raw strength and flamboyant personality needs to be groomed to help them become truly special.
Collegiate period could act as both the cradle and crucible of transformation, and on the very first day of their college, the freshmen of SNS College of Engineering and SNS College of Technology were given incredible introduction to the world of Engineering and the pros of studying at SNS Institutions.
Both colleges jointly organized an Induction Program for the first year students of the colleges, recently. More than 2500 freshmen of the colleges participated in this event along with their parents, to know about the college and the promises Engineering holds for the future. Buddha Chandrasekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE was the Chief Guest. Maya Sreekumar, Senior VP of Human Resources, Cognizant and Chetan Korada, Indian Racing icon were the Guests of Honor. S.Nalin Vimal Kumar, Technical Director, V.P.Arunachalam, Director, SNS Institutions, S. Chenthur Pandian, Principal, SNS CT, S.Charles, Principal, SNS CE were present at the program.
You can shine like Superstars!
– S. N. Subramanian, Chairman of Sri SNS Charitable Trust
S.N. Subramanian, the Chairman of Sri SNS Charitable Trust said Engineering education was taking a backseat for quite some time in the past. While its glow was dimming, it was the incredible role played by Technocrats like today’s Guest of Honor Maya Sreekumar, Academicians like the Chief Guest Buddha Chandrasekhar and other Visionaries that helped it reclaim its glam in Indian academic arena.
He expressed that opportunities for Engineering graduates are immense; they can become technocrats, entrepreneurs, innovators, academicians, government servants, sports stars, creative writers, and even become excellent politicians like PM Narendra Modi and solve challenges that the country is facing.
He wanted them to know that Technology is upgrading every day, and students will have to keep themselves updated to achieve their goals. “Our teachers will be on the task of educating you with the required caliber of skill sets”, he said.
It was conveyed that the engineering courses presented before the students at SNS Engineering Institutions are all most sought after programs by engineering aspirants everywhere, and the college also caters to the current and long term needs of learners using their Design Thinking Framework (which is framed with the assistance of leading IT giants like TCS, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Accenture, etc.)
He shared that academic nourishment will be provided to every student, wholly and the college only wants the students to master the technology, develop good communication skills, focus on studies and equip themselves to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The Chairman also highlighted that there are many Indians working in Silicon Valley (the home to dozens of major technology, software, and internet companies), and all of the students of today can find their place there if they properly utilize their time here.
Transfer knowledge into real-life experience
– Buddha Chandrasekhar, CCO, AICTE
Speaking about Tamil Nadu, the AICTE’s Chief Coordinating Officer pointed out that the early navigations systems were invented during the reign of Raja Raja Chola, and called this State as a land of great ancient knowledge.
Talking about India and its potential, he expressed that Indians have the mindset to provide solutions to every problems. “Every day we see hundreds of problems in life, we will solve it and we will move forward”, he said.
He drew the attention of the audience to the fact that earlier investments used to only be made on IT Sector, KPOs, BPOs but now investments in Indian automobile sector, railways, infrastructure sector have been arriving more. Millions and Billions of USD worth investment have been made in India, and it will the engineers of tomorrow who will provide the support system to make the investments convert as services. In the next 4 years, 10 crore job opportunities will be created and that will lead to 40 crore indirect opportunities.
Talking about how the Central Government and AICTE have been taking steps to unlock knowledge for all, he shared about the Project Udaan which aims to translate textbooks resources with the entire engineering and medical curriculum to many Indian languages using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, so that the students who study in non-English medium schools would not find language as a barrier to acquiring knowledge in their higher education pursuit.
He also shared about National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) model through which even the complicated concepts are made easy to every reader in a personalized and customized manner. Its prime goal is to help students get strong in concepts and subject that remained a huge challenge for them.
Regarding the facilitation of interaction with industry, AICTE has opened its dedicated Internship Portal where students can work virtually or physically for top class companies. In last one year alone 12 lakh internship opportunities have been provided and more than 30,000 companies have registered with AICTE to provide internship opportunities to all engineering streams. He said that transfer of knowledge gained in college to real-life experience is possible when students attach themselves with industries of repute, and he appealed to the students of SNS Institutions to register in the portal and make use of the opportunity.
Develop clarity about career right now
– Maya Sreekumar, Senior VP of Human Resources, Cognizant
Maya shared that more than 200 students who will graduate in 2022 from SNS Institutions have already got placed at Cognizant. She assured the freshmen that job-opportunities are available in abundance for them. She conveyed that just one tech-giant in India hires in tens of thousands freshers every year, and asked them to imagine the quantum of opportunities available as a whole for freshers. At the same time she told that a sizeable portion of these new recruits in many companies quit after serving it for a year.
This happens because they don’t fix on what they like to become. Maya wanted the students to develop clarity about what they like to do with their courses and be precise about their career right from the start of their college education.
Stating that Skill is the Currency in today’s world, she wanted the students to invest some time in developing technical skills every six months. She said that every 5 years of technological advancement creates changes worth 5 decades in the world.
As technology is transforming the businesses on a global scale, she appealed to the students to build skills that they like, apart from academics, join online skill development platforms Udemy, Coursera, Edx etc., enhance their caliber and repeat the process. She clarified that even developing one’s knowledge about wellness and creativity are vital and considered skills. “College education is not about getting 80-90% in marks but identifying problems and identifying solutions to problems via skill”, she emphasized.
She also threw light on why it is important to Unlearn some of the methods, ideas, styles and content one has followed, and Relearn how better the same process is done today & upskill. “When you are thinking of the future, you have to be relevant to the future,today. It is not about preparing for future,tomorrow”
Addressing the girls, she asked them to not take up jobs just to give up on them after a short while when life-changing event like marriage and childbirth. “Develop determination to go through challenges. Don’t give up your career.” Finally she urged all of them to develop gratitude to community and help it grow and make it proud by working together with a common goal -To make India a better nation.
Everything needs Engineering
– Chetan Korada, Indian Racing Icon
The Guest of Honor Chetan Korada, who is an Indian Racing Driver, urged the students to start working for the future from their first day as a college student. “When many people asked me ‘When did you start your company Quest Motorsports?’, I don’t tell them I started in February (2021), I tell them I started in 2007- the day I started Racing. That’s what I tell all the students; this is the year you start building who you are going to be in the future.” “It is all in your hands to become a ‘Somebody’ instead of becoming a ‘Nobody’”.
Chetan is the first in Asia and second in the Entire world, to participate and even to win in a moto-racing championship using prosthesis leg. Though he had faced a major physical challenge, he conquered not only that but contested boldly in the high octane Motosports world and won accolades.
He conveyed to the students that Motosports world is a complicated and sophisticated industry where the work of the driver is just 40% and the rest is all about team work, esp. the work made by engineers has a phenomenal part.
Engineers are the ones who design cars, do research & development on car’s performance, monitor the cars’ and drivers’ performance, collect data on their efficiency and work on how to make them even better. He said his company, in its debut year, has been able to pull out remarkable results and that became possible because of the engineers.
Not just Racing, everything needs engineering, he expressed. He wanted the students to make use of the opportunities presented at SNS Institutions and build long lasting, successful careers.