Ms. T.R. Thamizhvani has been working as an Assistant Professor at Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She has started her career with VISTAS and has 5 years of teaching experience. She has done BE and ME as part of her academics and pursuing her Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering. She has total 34 publications on her name as an Author and Co-author, and has written 23 Journal Articles, 6 books and has attended 4 international conference proceedings. 

Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies

Being a Faculty of the Biomedical Engineering Department, what are your responsibilities towards the students?

"It is to provide good quality education to them and inculcate best ethical values in them"

As an Assistant Professor, my main responsibility is to deliver the finest quality education and values to my students and for that I keep enhancing my teaching techniques. In addition to this, developing the technical skills of our students, educating them on recent trends in the field of Biomedical Engineering and to encourage them to take real time projects and internships also comes under the scope of my responsibilities.

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

"By addressing students queries on individual basis and interacting with them regularly"

We have established a special Mentor-mentee system to maintain a cordial relationship with our fellow faculty and students. The basic idea of introducing this system is to understand and analyze the physical and mental status of our students and help them to fix their academic and non-academic issues and queries. We interact with our students twice a month to address their issues and provide resolution for the same on the earliest basis.

What kind of programs are conducted by your college to keep students engaged and updated?

"Workshops, seminars and induction sessions are arranged for first year students"

Orientation and student induction programs are conducted by our college in the first year to make students aware about the college and help them interact with their classmates and teachers. And to make students familiar with Engineering, various bridge courses are conducted by our department in the first year. In addition to all this, national level workshops and seminars are organized by us to educate students on the latest trends in the discipline of Biomedical Engineering.

Which best practices are offered by your department to students to help them gain the necessary skills?

"Apprenticeship are offered to them and they are included in research projects too"

We offer internships to our students in esteemed organizations in collaboration with our industry partners and by signing MoUs. And the minimum duration of these internships is one month to help students develop their technical skills. Also, to educate them about the current technological innovations, we engage them in collaborative research projects on a regular basis. Apart from this, they are encouraged to participate in conferences and seminars to analyze the present situation of Biomedical Engineering in society. Lastly, projects which we assign to them are split into phases to help them elaborately perform the study of interest. 

How do you strategize and update the curriculum to make it befitting for the students?

"New courses are included in it after taking suggestions from all stakeholders of our college"

We design and update the curriculum of our college after rigorous analysis of industrial requirements and academic standards and after taking suggestions from all our stakeholders including Industry Experts, Faculty Members, Alumni, Students and Academicians. And it gets updated every year to include latest developments of the corporate and healthcare sectors in the form of new courses and training.

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How does your college prepare students for placement and higher education?

"They are prepared for both via rigorous training programs and consultation sessions"

To prepare the students for placement, rigorous placement training, personality development sessions are conducted by us for pre-final and final year students along with classes to enhance their soft skills and aptitude skills. And among the passed-out batches, the placement percentage is greater than 90%. Also, dedicated coaching and training programs are provided to students for the preparation of competitive entrance exams including GATE, GRE and TANCET. Lastly, we involve our students in research activities on a regular basis to help them pursue higher education. 

How do you help your students to deal with the outside competitive world? 

"By motivating them to pursue courses from platforms like Swayam and NPTEL"

We regularly encourage our students to pursue online courses in the field of Biomedical Engineering through learning platforms like NPTEL and Swayam in order to increase their knowledge and strengthen their concepts. And they also participate in competitive Hackathons and technical events to make them more capable and confident to interact with the outside world.

Which extracurricular activities are organized in college to enhance the skills of students?

"We regularly organize events like seminars, webinars and non-technical competitions in college"

We are part of a Deemed University which has a large number of schools and departments. And because we truly understand the concept that extracurricular activities along with studies are very important for students' overall growth and development, hence we encourage them to participate in all the events conducted by the various departments of our college including Vels Stars and Vels Nakshatra, symposiums and non-technical events.

What challenges are you facing to uplift the education quality of your department? 

"Students-centric learning approach and making available suitable internships for them were main issue"

The first roadblock in front of us is definitely the students-centric learning process. Apart from this, developing students' personalities and enhancing their industrial exposure through internships and live projects was also a hurdle for us initially while we were upgrading the education quality of our department.

When you joined this college, what was your vision for it and how are you trying to achieve the same?

"My goal was to improve theoretical knowledge of students and upgrade their research skills"

When I joined the Vels Institute, my aim was to enhance the practical and research knowledge of our students so that they can meet the current needs of healthcare in society by becoming a good Biomedical Engineer. And to make my vision true, we equip our students with the modern teaching-learning methodologies and also support them to secure good internship opportunities in reputed companies. Also the MoU we have signed related to Biomedical Engineering with our industry partners enables our students to understand the techniques and ideologies in a better way.

How does the curriculum of your college ensure the best practices of industry? 

"It is backed by best value-added courses, professional visits and industry connect sessions"

The curriculum of our college doesn't focus only on delivering theoretical knowledge to students but it also empowers them with abundant practical skills and enhances their Industrial interactions through internships, technical events and expert programs. In addition to this, we introduce the latest value-added courses in our curriculum where industrial people conduct rigorous learning sessions for the benefit of our students. Last but not the least, industrial and hospital visits help students to understand how people and processes work together in the corporate and hospitality sector and how they can implement their learning in the outside world. 

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Any valuable advice which you would like to give to the students to have a prosperous career ahead? 

"Utilize your skills to build new projects and pursue internships of your choice to build new ones"

I would advise my dear students and youths of our society to identify technological innovations and update their knowledge through various courses, internships, and live projects. Also be adaptable to different kinds of environments so that you can develop a safe environment not only for yourself but for others as well.