Dr. Nagala Shyam Venkata Nooka Raju has been working as the Principal of Unity Degree College, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He has done B. Com in Accounting from Dr. L. Bullayya College of Visakhapatnam in 2008, MBA in Finance and Marketing from Maharajah's Post Graduate College of Vizianagaram in 2010 and PhD in Finance from Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha in 2018 as part of his academics. He has also received Certification from NPTEL in Working Capital Management, is UGC NET qualified in Management and ratified by JNTUK as an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR in 2012 and 2016. He has 12 years of teaching experience and before joining UDC, he has worked as an Associate Professor at a prestigious institution for close to 10 years. He has published 4 research papers in various national and international journals and has presented several in conferences. And he has taught subjects like Accounting for Managers and Managerial Economics at PG level and Managerial Economics and Financial Analysis, Management Science, Industrial Engineering & Management, Managerial Economics, Cost and Management Accounting and Project Management at UG level. He was also the NAAC coordinator at Department Level and has represented Andhra University twice in South Zone handball tournaments.

Unity Degree College Visakhapatnam

What is the vision and mission of Unity Degree College?

"Our vision is to offer education at affordable cost and our mission is to prepare future leaders by transforming our students"

The vision of our Unity Degree College is to provide quality education to students at affordable cost, keeping in view a global perspective, without compromising with the set parameters of the national education program. And our mission is to offer such a learning environment in which faculty members, staff and students can examine, preserve and transmit knowledge and values that will help them to meaningfully contribute to the global platform. 

Being the Principal of UDC, what is your philosophy of leadership and how educators play an important role in society?

"Leadership for me is all about helping everyone to learn and grow while utilizing their skills in the best way possible"

I firmly believe that an educational leader has dynamic responsibilities as challenges and hurdles they face keep changing everyday and they need to stay prepared for the same. Also, educational leaders should use transparent and trustworthy communication channels to interact with all the Stakeholders and they should also be open to all kinds of suggestions and adapt to new rules and regulations passed by the Government from time to time. In addition to this, Educational leaders need to be visionary and should be capable enough to guide his/her team so that they can implement new programs and practices up to their potential and an institute can meet the standard set up by the regulatory authorities. Last but not the least, Educational leaders need to monitor that learning and development of learners occur within the prescribed learning frameworks and professors regularly upgrade their professional knowledge in order to generate new ideas and improve overall teaching-learning process.

What are your roles and responsibilities as a Principal for your college and students?

"I am accountable for overall smooth functioning of our college and training of our students and teachers"

Being the Principal of our college, I am primarily responsible for conducting orientation sessions and guiding teachers and staff members on how they can contribute in the best way possible for the development of our institution. Apart from this, ensuring my students, professors and staff members stay updated and upskilled in accordance with outside world requirements and arranging suitable training programs also comes under the scope of my responsibilities. And leading and updating the college's strategic plans in line with the guidelines of Andhra University, encouraging the innovative initiatives in teaching-learning process, implementing University policies in our programs and events, promoting good governance within the College by forming various committees headed by responsible and experienced staff and conducting meetings with students and faculty members to address the hurdles being encountered by them is also part of my day to day tasks.

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How does the curriculum of Unity Degree College ensure the best industrial practices?

"Our curriculum is regularly updated in accordance with changing needs and standards of corporate sector"

We offer employment oriented and socially relevant programmes to students and regularly restructure and update the curriculum of various courses to stay compliant with latest national and international developments, trends and standards of the industrial and educational world. In addition to this, internships are arranged by us from time to time for students so that they can apply their learning to real time scenarios and expert lectures are conducted too in collaboration with corporate people. Also, the college conducts various co-curricular activities and events to teach students beyond hard-coded curriculum and books and each lecture is taken by highly experienced faculty members who use a wide variety of teaching methodologies to educate students.

How Covid pandemic impacted the educational sector and what positive changes have happened during this time?

"In my opinion, approaches of flipped classrooms and hybrid learning has surely helped us even in Covid time"

There is no doubt that Covid pandemic has drastically impacted the education sector in a very short span of time and we were bound to take online classes. But without any doubt, during the pandemic various Positive changes have also happened and the concept of Hybrid classrooms is the one where students combine face-to-face learning with latest technologies. In addition to this, flipped classrooms concept is also being used where teachers share teaching materials with students in advance so they can review them at home and discuss the topic in the classroom the following day. And Artificial Intelligence powered classrooms are also there for teachers to streamline study materials as per students' needs and pay equal attention to both fast and slow learners. Last but not the least, we have given priority to STEM based Curriculum and project based learning so that students can gain expertise in subjects by evaluating, exploring, and responding to real-world scenarios and we are also organizing Genius hour in which students work on self-chosen projects for one hour each day. 

Which best practices are offered by your college to enhance students skills and prepare them for the outside competitive world?

"Students queries are addressed on individual basis by our counselors and we provide best quality education using latest technologies"

We regularly organize Parents' meetings to take the regular feedback about the progress of their ward and overall development of the college. And we have allotted Counselors to students so that their queries and issues can be addressed and resolved on time, their academic progress could be tracked properly and new trends could be shared with them from time to time. And to supplement students' knowledge, extension lectures and guest sessions are organized by us in collaboration with corporate experts and Academicians and assignments and projects are assigned too to students so that they can implement their classroom learning in real time scenarios. Last but not the least, full support and guidance is provided to students for placement and we use the latest technologies and ICT tools, internet resources and multimedia to deliver lectures to students.

What do you think should be your college's top priority over the next 10 years?

"We should prioritize getting Accreditation from NAAC and establish an IQAC and R&D cells in college"

Our focus for upcoming years is to get Accreditation from prestigious authority NAAC and establish an Internal Quality Assurance Cell in college campus. Apart from this, we are planning to set up a Research and Development Cell in college to promote students and faculty learning through regular workshops and also iniitiate MOUs with international institutions. 

What do you see as the greatest strengths of your Unity Degree College?

"Our amazing college infrastructure, highly qualified faculty members and kind of education we offer to students makes us strong"

The main pillars of our college's greatest strengths are our WI-Fi- connected campus, well qualified and extensively experienced faculty members and staff and financial aid we offer to needy students. In addition to this, we are committed to complete course syllabus within stipulated time frame and internal exams are conducted by us to assess students' knowledge and skills on a regular basis and personality development programs are organized too to enhance their communication skills. Special classes are arranged by faculty members for slow learners, feedback reports of students are scrutinized by me to assess the teaching quality of our college and we regularly encourage teachers to publish articles in national and international journals, so I firmly believe all these factors also play an important role in making us strong and resilient.

What are some of the biggest challenges you see for higher education institutions in general and for your college specifically?

"Unavailability of qualified faculties and proper research facilities are two major hurdles in front of us"

There are actually many challenges which our higher education institutions as well as students are facing in present time and the very first hurdle in front of ambitious but economically unstable students is the rocketing fee of courses offered by prestigious institutions so this ultimately makes education unaffordable for them. In addition to this, unavailability of qualified faculties and inability of the state educational system to attract and retain well-qualified teachers is the biggest threat in the path to offer quality education to students. Last but not the least, insufficient resources and research facilities, lack of multidisciplinary teaching approach, over-centralization, bureaucratic structures and lack of accountability, transparency, and professionalism leads to stagnation in the smooth functioning of Institutions. And If I talk about UDC, ensuring best class education and amenities to students is proving costly for college and many students have other commitments and face pressures outside their academic work so they are unable to completely focus on their studies. Lastly, we are being forced to raise tuition fees in order to close the gap caused by escalating costs and governmental aid.