Terna Engineering College HOD: Mr. Vikram Vyawahare Interview

Mr. Vikram Vyawahare is the Head of the Department at Terna Engineering College, Navi Mumbai. His work experience can be classified into Industrial, Research and Teaching. He has worked on Industry-sponsored R&D Projects as a research assistant/associate at reputed educational institutes in Thailand and the USA. After returning back from abroad for the last 7 years, he has been engaged full time in the education sector in Navi Mumbai. He believes that Engineering education in particular is changing rapidly and offers both opportunities and challenges of learning new things. 

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Managing curriculum, the lab facilities, skill development initiatives, etc”

 Mechatronics Engineering is an interdisciplinary field of study and thus students have to cope with topics from several disciplines. A team of faculties from varied academic backgrounds guides student development. As a HOD of a new department of a new technology field, I need to manage several aspects such as the curriculum, the lab facilities, skill development initiatives, the industry interaction, etc. Faculty have the responsibility to make them not just educated on technical aspects but also on the values that guide their minds. Thus my focus is on the overall development of students.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects?

“Our practical labs are furnished with the latest industrial equipment”

During lab development for our department, a careful study of the companies providing technologies relevant to a particular domain are undertaken and after doing a comparative study the best possible option is chosen. For example, we have acquired SMC pneumatic and electro-pneumatic kits for applied hydraulics and pneumatics labs. SMC is a world leader in pneumatic and automation components manufacturing. Thus the lab experiments are developed based on the SMC industry professional curriculum. Similarly, software such as LabVIEW for system development is made available to students. Industrial CNC machines are provided for students to acquire hands-on skills with digital CNC simulation software provided for practice. 

What are the interventions you bring in apart from the curriculum to train the students?

“Regular visits to Industrial fields and Automation Expo for students better learning”

In order to develop passion in students for automation and related technologies, regular visits to Automation Expo are undertaken by our department. The college has a policy of one industrial visit each semester which helps students get exposure to the industrial environment. Internships are mandatory and further add to student skill development. Workshops on Automation, Embedded systems etc are organized at college by the department. Guest lectures from companies such as SMC, B&R Automation, etc are organized to help students remain updated in relevant domains. 

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What would you like people to know about your institute?

"Platinum ranking for the most industry-connected institutes for 2 consecutive years"

The institute won Platinum ranking for 2 consecutive years for the most industry-connected institutes in a survey by a confederation of Indian Industries (CII). There are several Center of excellence in the college such as 3D Printing, Lotfi Zadheh COE For Fuzzy Logic, etc. A product innovation centre is also available for students to work beyond office hours.

What do you see as the greatest strengths of Terna Engineering College?

“Experienced and Hardworking faculty and a strong industry connect”

• Visionary management that provides overall direction. 
• Experienced and Hardworking faculty that work for student development.
• Industry-relevant curriculum and partnerships.
• An on-campus hostel for both boys and girls and prime location of the college facilitates the student educational experience.

What are some of the biggest challenges for the higher education sector?

“A need to develop value-added and skill-enhancing curriculum”

Higher education has faced several challenges even regardless of the pandemic situation. The promise of an immediate high-paying job after an engineering degree especially in India is now mainly in the Software sector. Other core engineering jobs demand a few years of struggle before landing a high-paying job. Also educational content is available on the internet thus creating confusion in the mind of students regarding the value of an Engineering degree. Thus engineering colleges need to create a value addition that is compelling enough to convince the students to join a formal engineering degree program. The value addition beyond the usual curriculum such as industrial exposure, skill development, project-based learning should attract students to formal learning.

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Any suggestions you would like to give to the current youth?

“Aspiring engineering students must focus on skills and nation’s development”

Students these days have several avenues other than engineering that seem to be attractive and money-earning in the short term. An engineering degree creates a safe stepping stone for a career that gives not just a chance of prosperous life but also to influence the progress of the nation.