Shri Tulja Bhavani College of Engineering

Dr Shekhar Mallikarjun Jagade is the Principal of Shri Tulja Bhavani College of Engineering. He has over 30 years of experience in premier engineering institutions. He has published 2 research papers in national journals and 9 in international journals. He has been a research guide for 8 PhD students. 

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

“Being a provider for the students”

I think the basic criteria to remain connected is to understand the requirements of the students. The basic things that students need are support in their academics, good curriculum, good projects and opportunities for internships. Thus being a mentor, facilitator, and a guide on their road of success has kept me connected over the years. 

What is your philosophy of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

“Believe in delegating authority for an inclusive approach”

I think the leadership style is very important in guiding an institute. This process consists of guiding the staff, guiding the students and maintaining the environment in the educational institutes. If we can sustain a learning environment, then there is no stopping for the institution to become a brand. This improves the life of a teacher, the life of a student and eventually helps in improving the lifestyle of the surroundings. Personally, I do not want to come off as a bossy leader. I believe in working together. I believe in joining hands with people to do the work together. It does not matter what the work is but it matters how the work is done. Getting a team and getting the work done in the shortest time with perfection gives me immense satisfaction. As a leader, I also think every teacher should be a leader for their student. 

What are the plans you have or will design for the betterment of the institution?

“Exploring every possible room for betterment and growth”

In the next 5 years, we are planning to build an incubation centre in our premises. The basic thing behind this is Idea Innovation. To grow the ideas that are generated by students we are planning to have this incubation centre. This incubation centre will act as an avenue wherein very good ideas that are put forward by students can be commercialized. This has been approved by the government under the scheme of building an incubation centre. We have been allotted Rs. 15 lakhs by the government for the same. The second point that I want to make is we are planning to start PHD programs on our campus. This gives an opportunity for PhD students to help engineering students work on their ideas in a more effective way.

What would you like people to know about your university they may not know?

“Students being provided with abundant resources and amenities”

The strong point about my college is my faculty. More than 85% of my engineering faculty is university-approved. This signifies that I do not have any mobility issues with my faculty unlike many institutions out there. That actually helps us in creating a very good learning environment in the college. I would like to highlight the computing facilities that we are providing. We as a college make sure that facilities offered to every student are the best of its kind and there should not be any problems with the facilities provided. This helps students in gaining the requisite skills and eventually helps students in becoming employable in the industry scenario. 

Check Shri Tulja Bhavani College of Engineering Courses & Fees

Any suggestions you would like to give to the current youth and the aspiring students?

“Analyze your potential and align it with your choices”

The first suggestion I would like to give to the students who are going to take admission in fields like engineering, arts or commerce is to make a decision yourself. Do not make the decision based on suggestions from your friends or your parents. When you list out the pros and cons of your choice and think about that, you will have some kind of inner calling which will help you decide the stream you would want to take. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you see, both for higher education in general?

“Filling the industry-academia gap with a better curriculum”

It is very important that we reduce this gap between the industry requirement and the curriculum. In my opinion engineering syllabus should be very adaptive according to the industry requirements and should be subjected to change accordingly. Universities must include mandatory internships and on-job training for students in their third year or final year of engineering to make them more specific to the industry. 

How long will it take us to come out of this Covid 19 situation and how do you think the education industry will help us come out of this?

“Education is the only possible and effective way of tackling world problems”

Although the whole world has been affected due to the Covid 19 situation we have to make sure that demand is still there for various products. Once the demand increases production increases which will create the need for the labour and which will eventually create jobs. Although right now the situation is not very great I am very sure that industry will bounce back from this. All the jobs will be created again and demand will be restored. Education plays a huge role in this. When you speak about demand right now, ventilators are in huge demand. And when any product is in huge demand, it has to be created at a cheap cost. For creating any product at a cheap cost we need innovation. When innovation comes there is a need for engineering students. This innovation will help thousands of people around the globe. Thus, the education industry is a pioneer in developing solutions for everything that is wrong in the world. 

In your experience, what is the exact difference between the two and how can bridge the gap?

“Keeping a room for bringing in minor and major changes”

The Indian education system has a normal teacher to student ratio of 1:20. I think in India, we lack the number of quality teachers that are available. If you observe in developed countries the teacher to student ratio is quite higher than the teacher to student ratio in India. In foreign countries, most of the teaching is based on project learning where one student can be guided by multiple teachers at one point in time. Foreign universities have also been developing something that we called as custom based learning. In this type of learning, courses are modified according to the needs of the students. But in the case of Indian universities, it is practically not possible for us to do custom based learning. India being a developing country right now focuses more on quantity than the quality because we want everyone in this country to have some basic education. However, when it comes to cost, the Indian education system is very much affordable in comparison. 

Click here Shri Tulja Bhavani College of Engineering Placement

How do you tend to establish a healthy relation and environment in your institute/ university?

“Working effectively as a team and promoting the same”

We as a college try to build a relationship with the colleges that are around us. I personally keep in touch with various professors from other colleges. I believe that you should have a very good relationship with professors, professionally as well as personally. I try to make sure that we don’t act as a competitor but act as friends with each other but I also believe in healthy competition because it helps in the development of both the colleges.