Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai, Head of Civil Department: Dr. T. Ilango Interview

Dr. T. Ilango has been working as the Head of Civil Department at Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He has done BE in Civil Engineering, M.Tech in Transportation Systems Engineering and Ph.D in Transportation Engineering as part of his academics. He is a passionate teaching professional with 12+ years of academic and research experience with international and national publications. He is very experienced in handling student related activities and a proven facilitator in organizing national symposiums and workshops. He also has excellent interpersonal skills, a professional attitude along with a firm personality. He has published 18 International research papers. 

Which latest program are you offering in your Vels Institute to help students stand apart from the crowd?

"We are offering many value-added courses to students and educating them on latest software and contemporary techniques"

The Civil Engineering Department of VISTAS is offering value-added courses in association with industry members on various civil softwares and tools which are widely used in the real life civil projects. Students get a chance to work on the latest softwares employed in the industries. And after that, they need to submit a project based on their learning. 

Which factors make the programs of your college a best fit for students?

"The job and learning opportunities associated with each course makes them a best fit"

The curriculum of our Civil Department is developed after rigorous analysis and research on industrial demands and then courses are introduced accordingly to enhance the entrepreneurship and employability skills of students. And many of our students have established their own startups and our Alumni are working in companies like L&T, Hochtief, Siemens Gamesa, TCS, CTS, Accenture and our alumni entrepreneurs are offering internships and placement training and opportunities to the students. 

What would you say are the best practices of the courses your institute is offering to students?

"We use project based and collaborative way of teaching-learning techniques to teach them"

The teaching learning process of our institute is very vibrant and we constantly update it in accordance with the emerging trends of education and the industrial sector. We use different kinds of approaches such as flipped classroom, project-based learning, cooperative learning, tool-based learning, LMS and research-based learning to teach our students and upskill them. And we refer to real time case studies as examples while explaining any concept to them and also conduct open book tests to assess them. Also, internships are offered to students and advanced survey camps are organized too from time to time. 

What are the unique features of programs students are pursuing in your Civil Department?

"Our teaching methodologies and industrial exposure we offer to them makes civil engineering worth pursuing"

Our Civil Engineering Department offers industry oriented courses to students and we all work rigorously to enhance the technical competence and entrepreneurship skills of our students. Along with this, best industrial exposure is given to students in the form of guest lectures, value added courses, workshops and hands-on training, where they get numerous chances to interact with leading industry professionals. Also, we organize field trips to educate them how things actually work on ground level and projects too are assigned to them regularly. Last but not the least, we do have well qualified faculty members to teach students. 

How do the programs of your college ensure the future preparedness of students?

"We have given the flexibility to students to study subjects of cross-branches also"

The Department of Civil Engineering offers its program under Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) which provides students to take up any subject as per their interest and passion. For example, students can take a subject of the Computer Science department and enhance his/her coding and programming skills. Our department also offers NPTEL courses so that students can learn new skills and earn credits after qualifying NPTEL exams. 

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How did you train your faculties to deliver the courses to students in the best possible way?

"They are trained through FDPs, NPTEL and Swayam courses and customized training sessions"

All the faculty members of our Civil Engineering Department are highly qualified and extensively experienced in their respective areas. And along with changing technologies, they are upskilled through various training programmes, NPTEL and Swayam courses, workshops followed by the Faculty Development Programs which is generally conducted by AICTE, UGC, NITTR etc. Also, they are learning IPR related concepts and procedures through programs and workshops organized by the IPR cell of our college which empowers them to apply for patents and design their own projects.

How do you build a connection between your college's courses and industry demands?

"We organize numerous workshops and training programs in collaboration with industry experts"

Our college has established the Industry Institute Interaction Cell in the Civil Engineering Department, and the main responsibility of this cell is to organize activities and events like workshops, training programs and value added courses in collaboration with the industry experts to ensure students can learn the latest trends, tools and techniques and skills required to work effectively in the corporate world. The Alumni Cell of our department regularly organizes guest lectures and interactions for the graduate students and these sessions actually acts as a catalyst for students to start their own startups since the alumni share their own struggles and challenges and also guide the students as how to start their own venture. 

What challenges did you face while inculcating newly introduced programs in your curriculum and how you tackled them?

"Ensuring good practical exposure for students and adjusting our teaching techniques as per industry demands was a real challenge"

The biggest challenge which we faced while inculcating new courses in our curriculum was how to provide the best practical learning experience to students so that they can easily relate theoretical concepts with real time scenarios. And to fix this issue, we made it mandatory for students to apply the concepts after reading any topic. And the MOUs we have signed with our leading industry partners also helped them to learn things practically through inplant training, field visits, value added courses, workshops and hands-on training programs. Our next challenge was to adjust and upgrade our teaching-learning methodologies in accordance with the industry development and requirements. And to fix this issue, our faculty members are constantly enhancing their technical knowledge and learning the latest tools and techniques so that their teaching process becomes more student oriented and objectives of each course could be fulfilled. 

On what types of projects your students are currently working on under their respective courses?

"Our students are working on many real time projects under guidance of faculty and industry people"

Our students are working on many real time industrial projects and for project ideas our faculty members guide them as and when required. Apart from this, we invite industry experts to help and guide our students. Also, we ensure their participation and contribution in research and consultancy work and funded projects of faculty members in order to educate them about the problem solving skills which will be required in real scenarios and Engineering field too. Lastly, we encourage them to submit their project ideas to TNSCST and get funds for finishing their respective projects. 

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What career options would be available for students after pursuing courses from your Civil Department?

"They can join organizations like BPCL, ONGC, DRDO, go for Civil Services or even start their own business"

From my experience and knowledge, I can say that there is no limit of job opportunities in the outside world and students after pursuing Civil Engineering courses from our college can join public sector companies like NTPC, BPCL, ONGC, DRDO, ISRO, CPWD or can also opt for civil services. And after joining these esteemed sectors, they can work as Construction Managers, Geotechnical Engineers, Environmental Engineers, Public Health Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Transportation Engineers, Urban Planners, Engineering Geologist, Contractors and Entrepreneurs etc. And if I talk about the private sector, there are also companies, where students can also work as a BIM Expert, Planning and Scheduling Engineer, City Planner, Safety Engineer, Disaster Management Response Engineer, Fire and Risk Assessment Engineer and Seismic Design Engineer etc. Lastly, they can take up research activities and pursue higher studies courses like M.E, M.S and PhD and become scientists in central research institutes and laboratories.