Interview by Bhawna Rawat

Paul

 

Dr. Kemthose P. Paul is currently working as the Principal of Sree Narayana Gurukulam College of Engineering, Kerala. He has a considerable experience of more than 2 decades in pedagogy. He believes in encouraging his colleagues and students to excel and the notion that working together leads to better work.

25 years of experience in the education sector

For 25 years, I have worked with government-aided colleges. I joined this college in 2008 as Director of MBA and took over as Principal of SNGCE in the month of June 2018. I love to see students achieving their dreams in their profession, grooming youngsters to cope up with the economic growth of the country so that one day they will reach the top of the Business houses or organization.

The best philosophy of leadership is to empower colleagues

My leadership style is empowering colleagues to perform better and enjoy the work. The style of my leadership will be the participative type of leadership- “working together works better”.

Encouraging students and making them aware of the opportunities is a big challenge

Motivating youngsters to set high ambitions is a significant challenge. Nowadays, youngsters are less ambitious and thinking of jobs which are of a lower profile. In India, High profile jobs are available in very large numbers and many of our students are not aware of the opportunities with the high growth rate in salary and profession. Making the students realize this opportunity is a very big challenge.

The curriculum includes add-on programs which are useful according to the industries

We do not have much control over curriculum because of our affiliation to the university, KTU. We supplement extra learning by way of add-on programs.

The add-on programs are normally fixed in consultation with industry to make the students employable in industry.

Placement opportunities available at Sree Narayana Gurukulam College of Engineering

Last year, we were having 750+ placement offers for the final year students. We regularly give training to the students for placements. Also, we invite people from industry for presentations to make students aware of the expectations of the industry.

Extra co-curricular activities help in building strong teacher-student connection

We conduct a lot of co-curricular activities for the interaction with the students and the teachers. The students can meet me at any point of time during all working days. Generally, I am available 30 minutes before the class hours and any time after regular class time.

An ideal school environment must involve on-campus residence

I expect all the students and teachers to stay inside the campus. The ambience must be good for better learning and making the students and professors more ambitious.

We are keeping the hostel rent very nominal to encourage the students to stay in the hostel.

The top qualities that an aspiring engineer must possess

Self-learning skill is limited in today’s school environment but for the fast-growing technology-based economy, self-learning is the only skill that takes one to the top position in any organization. Acquiring knowledge through higher qualification is the other option that is essential for reaching the top position. Today, with both of these qualities one will definitely reach the top position in any industry.

Future plans for the Institute for the next few years

We have a research centre for theoretical research which leads to awarding Ph.D. We dream to have applied research centre for getting research outputs which are useful to the industry and getting more patents to the college. We want to be one of the best institutes in the state of Kerala. We already have esteemed accreditations like NAAC, NBA and IAO, and we now dream to have another International accreditations.

Suggestions for the current youth and the aspiring students

“Be more ambitious!”