SNS College of Engineering and SNS College of Technology run by Sri SNS Charitable Trust have been among the most sought-after colleges in Coimbatore by engineering and tech-aspirants from various parts of Tamil Nadu to start their higher education journey.
As both autonomous institutions place high importance on academic success of the students, their transformation into innovative industry-ready professionals and entrepreneurs, they have continuously upgraded their teaching practice, and recently they have increased it manifold using ‘Design Thinking’ framework.
Over the years, the alumni of these institutions have been problem solvers, job-creators, researchers, founders of successful Start-Ups and Business organizations, and in the recently held graduation ceremony for the graduates of 2019 and 2020, the colleges’ heads wanted the new graduates to continue the legacy and shine greater.
This graduation ceremony was held on Saturday, in which Sanjeev Kumar Varshney, Head &Advisor-International Cooperation, DST, Govt of India, New Delhi took part as the Chief Guest. S. N. Subramanian, Chairman, S. Rajalakshmi, Correspondent, S. Nalin Vimal Kumar, Technical Director, SNS Institutions and VP Arunachalam, Director, SNS Technical Institutions took part in the graduation. Close to 2500 graduates of the institutions attended the event with their parents.
N. Subramanian, Chairman of the institutions declared the graduation day open. Chenthur Pandian, Principal, SNSCT and Charles, Principal, SNSCE welcomed the gathering and presented the Academic reports.
Examine the challenges, make smart decisions
– Sanjeev Kumar Varshney, Head & Advisor – International Cooperation, DST, Govt of India
sanjeev Kumar Varshney shared with the graduates that the world is completely going through a paradigm shift now, and it is in the hands of the innovative and daring youth of this global village to help it steer safely through the challenging storms of change, that have intensified due to the pandemic.
A new wave of Globalization:
He directed the attention of the young minds in the audience to think of what just happened to world’s nations due to the emergence and aftershock of covid-19. He pointed out how disruptions took place in supply chains, logistics, finance, global air travel, jobs, etc., and narrated how globalization as the world knew it, had taken a heavy blow.
While the operations of all nations and the harmony of their interdependence is slowly recovering now, he wanted the graduates to note that Globalization is not just about trade & commerce but about working together on what is the need of the hour, what is absolutely necessary for all stakeholders; like the development of vaccine and working towards bringing down the carbon emissions and combating the climate change. He wanted them to know that a more humane and equitable form of globalization needs to be crafted.
The Increase in Digital Penetration:
The Chief Guest wanted them to understand how much the digital services, platforms and products have entered Education, Profession and Lives of everyone during and after covid-19’s arrival. “The pandemic has, as we know only too well, caused real life to be transposed and projected on to screens. For the past few months, we have effectively been living online. For lawyers and judges, doctors and patients, teachers and students: the professional world of work has come to be conducted on the internet. Outside of work, too, life is being lived online – recreation, entertainment, grocery shopping, social interaction,” he said.
He cautioned the graduates to be mindful of the traps that lay before them in the social media realms. He conveyed to them that even before the covid-19, when the digital penetration was not as severe as it is now, people valorized Social networking Sites to be effective public spaces to debate about ‘the common good’ and ‘the greater good’. He pointed out how people found it hard to have a calm and reasonable debates on these sites.
He warned them of the powers Social networking Sites have, with which they can take control over some aspects of their identities. The Chief Guest wanted the graduates to be aware of how social networking sites and digital media can move the mind of the people to arrive at a targeted destination, which they (the public) may think they did it on their own. Such a manipulation is possible today, and he wished them to not fall for this trick.
“The digital media today offer enormous opportunities for what used to be called propaganda, with the possible difference that propaganda was easier to identify than the sophisticated and subtle world of political messaging today, conveyed through ostensibly non-political platforms of social networking,” he said.
“We could be deluded into thinking that our opinions are uniquely our own, arrived at by the exercise of our own rationality, though they are actually the result of our having been programmed, with our own unconscious complicity, in particular ways,” he added.
The Digital Divide:
He then drew the attention of the graduates towards the Digital Divide. While the penetration of digital technologies is getting bigger in our society, on the other side, a huge void called the Digital Divide exists.
He said that Digital Divide, or in other effective term ‘Digital Inequality’ mirrors and reproduces other forms of inequality that exists in our society. The commonplace form of this of course is the inequality of digital access but the absence of access is only the most obvious way in which digital inequality is created.
“Experts have already begun to flag concerns about algorithmic bias – based on gender, religion and caste – with artificial intelligence magnifying such bias in a range of areas,” he said.
Make smart decisions & negotiations:
He conveyed that amidst such strange and strong phases, the world needs to recover and reclaim its earlier grips; but that will certainly be a herculean task due to the volume of challenges and changes that are taking place now, at a pace we have not experienced before.
While Change is the only thing that never changes, he acknowledged that when transitions happen in an atmosphere that is filled with doubts, fears, challenges, risks and uncertainty, it is natural to feel puzzled in finding firm answers.
But he wanted them to make use of this opportunity to gather their intellect and wisdom, and use them to learn how to negotiate with uncertainty, and how to make choices under conditions that are unpredictable. “These are lessons that will surely stand you in good stead in a post-Covid world”, he said.
While innovation has become one of the important tools needed now more than ever to rebuild our world, he said that a product or a solution, unless it is innovative, is very difficult for the world to accept today.
“Academic Institutions like your college are the engines of innovations. The seeds for innovations have to come right from academic institutions. The core research for technology development happens in academic institutions. Youngsters are coming up with a number of start-up ideas. There are many start-ups working in technology ideas, which we have never seen. As youths of this country, you are going to be the drivers of our economy and development,” he said.
He placed utmost trust in the potential of India’s youth in taking it to greater heights, and he wanted the graduates to rise up to the occasion and shine, at the same time never fail to use their knowledge for the betterment of the community, which is what India wants from them.
Let Smart work & Skills be your Best Friends!
– S.Nalin Vimal Kumar, Technical Director, SNS Institutions
while speaking exclusively to S.Nalin Vimal Kumar, the brain behind implementation of ‘Design Thinking’ here, The Covai Mail learned that SNS Group of Institutions have given free education to more than 350 students, who had lost their parent to the pandemic.
“We offer free education to such students, and they can continue their school education, and go all the way upto graduation here”, Nalin shared. “We have been providing free education before the pandemic and we have extended our service, to be of support to the ones in need”, he added.
When asked what he wishes the graduates of SNS CT and SNS CE, he said “Before the students enter college, mother and father will be their friends. While they are in pursuit of their academic aspirations, they will get many college friends. After they graduate, they will get a unique friend in the form of spouse.
But graduates must have ‘Hard work’ and ‘Smart work’ as their friends, and work towards accomplishing their goals. As they progress, they will need another two friends – ‘A Good Mind’ and ‘Strong Body’, to help them go ahead in their journey. But these are not enough, they need two more friends in the form of ‘Education’ (continuous learning) and ‘Skill’.
When such qualities are there with one like friends, he/she can certainly go and climb the tallest mountain with confidence even if it is difficult and challenging, he expressed.