Interview by Yash Panchal

MRI

Dr. K. Ravindra is currently the Principal of Malla Reddy Institute of Technology & Science, Hyderabad. He received his B.Tech. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Andhra University, M.E. with Honors from IIT, Roorkee, and Ph.D. in the field of Mobile Communications from Osmania University.  He is a recipient of GOLD MEDAL from Roorkee for standing first in Masters Degree. He has Engineering teaching experience of over 33 years in various capacities and research experience of over 6 years.

Prof. Ravindra has 45 research papers to his credit published in various International, National Journals and Conferences.  He co-authored 2 technical reports in the field of GPS.  He is the resource person for 30 audio video lectures in the subject Electronic Devices and Circuits produced by SONET, Andhra Pradesh.  He produced 2 Ph.Ds and is presently guiding research scholars in the fields of Optical & Mobile Communications, Cellular and Next generation networks, Wireless sensor networks etc.  He received EDUCATION LEADERSHIP AWARD – 2013 from KRDWG, New Delhi for his outstanding contribution in the field of Electronics and Communication Engineering. He has received BEST ENGINEERING COLLEGE PRINCIPAL IN TELANGANA STATE AWARD from ISTE Hyderabad in January 2019.

Experience in the education industry

I have been in the Education industry from 33 years. Earlier, the transformation in the standards and syllabus used to happen for every 5 years. But now, it is happening almost every year and the immediate senior batches are becoming outdated compared to their immediate juniors.

Challenges to tackle

Attracting the students for admission is one challenge.  The other challenge is to motivate them to maintain regularity to college for continuation in their knowledge updation. The rebuilding of infrastructure to meet the requirement of present-day student and the parent community is another big challenge.  Establishment of innovation/incubation/research centres for developing creativity in the young minds to make them fit into the industry is another challenge.  We, at MRITS, are taking care of the 360-degree development of the students by devising several technical and nontechnical events periodically

The curriculum being updated and ensuring best practices of the industry

Being an affiliated college, we are following JNTUH academic regulations and syllabus.  Beyond that, we at MRITS, interact with several industry CEOs and working engineers to know their requirements from the fresh graduates and we collaborate with them to establish such industry oriented courses/labs beyond the JNTUH recommended syllabus

Must-have qualities in an aspiring Engineering student

Students shall have a prior clarity on the course they are getting admitted into. They should also have updation on the technological trends happening around the world in the specialization they want to choose.  They should compare the syllabus and link it with the technology available for correlation between industry and institute.  They have to think smart and possess a flexible attitude to accept and learn new technologies beyond the syllabus.  They have to work every day at least for 2 hours on curriculum-based topics and 1 hour on innovation based topics.

Source of inspiration for students when they start the program

When students see their seniors exhibiting working prototype projects in MRITS, they get a lot of motivation.  This acts as an inspiration for them to showcase their talents by converting their ideas into working models.  Several students of MRITS, right at the first year level, exhibit their projects in several events organized by NITs, IITs and other reputed institutions and get rewards.

Establishing a relation with the student

We have student-centric professional chapters such as ISTE, CSI, IETE, IEEE, IE, NSS, etc.  We form executive bodies related to each of these chapters by selecting best studying students.  We will organize a closed meeting with students and faculty coordinators to plan and schedule the activities.  We interact with each other for shaping the event innovatively and differently so that the participants from Nationwide will feel the professionalism in the organization. Even otherwise, we have students as members of our college academic bodies and we discuss openly several developmental activities in the presence of the students and we value their suggestions.  This fecilitates me to be in touch with the majority of students in my college.

Growth through placement opportunities

At present, more than 75% of our students are successful in getting the placements in reputed companies.  In order to further improve the percentage or to sustain at least the same success rate, Campus recruitment training is made mandatory for all students of the institute.  Students will be exposed to several mock tests and interviews.  The underperforming students will be given additional attention by providing more reviews and discussing the topics where they are identified to be weak.

Dr. Ravindra’s leadership philosophy

I believe that one person cannot change the system.  I also believe that change will not happen overnight. I believe in teamwork. I will form teams of students and staff for performing different tasks.  I will be one of the team members in all such teams.  I coordinate with my teams by interacting with them to know their strategies to perform a given task and fine tune them by suggesting modifications in their strategy which adds up great value to the final outcome of the task.

Suggestions for the current youth

The youth should have a specific direction for their life settlement.  They have to choose a course if they really like it themselves but not by force from others.  Once they decide to join in a course, they have to go deep into the roots of formation of that course and should also know how it can change their lives in next 30 years.  The aspiring students should have enough maturity for their life settlement.  They should be in a position to take a decision at the right time. They should foresee the developments which are going to happen globally in the next 10 years and they should select such courses for better prospectus in the future.