Prof. N. V. Deshpande

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SILCHAR

Mission:

i) Impart advanced knowledge and educate students that will best serve the nation in 21st century.

ii) To develop in all the faculty ability and passion to work wisely, creatively and effectively for the betterment of mankind.

iii) To aim to build through personal contribution a world class institution and shape it with that goal.

iv) Coupling teaching and research with relevance to the practical world.

It is expected that by 2050 India will be the superpower. To prepare ourselves to achieve the education institutes must gear up themselves. Unless the opportunities and threats are analyzed critically we may not be able to meet the challenges. There are number of opportunities for young graduates, some of them are as under.

Agriculture, Fishery & Animal Husbandry:

These sector is vital in view of our rural population as it provide employment to rural youths. Programmes & Schemes related to agriculture, fishery & animal husbandry plays a vital role in the development strategy of various sections of the society which provides opportunities to motivated scientists, engineers and field level workers to take up time bound development projects for the benefit of disadvantaged sections. Considering the tangible scope avaible for all round development through agriculture & farm sector, these must be given due importance and essential result oriented applications to boost the resources must be put into practice.

Service Sector:

It is expected that 60% of our graduates will be employed in service sector. The service sector includes employment in insurance, banking, tourism, transport, hotels, finance, etc. It is necessary to identify the needs of the sector and make changes in the curriculum.

Construction:

Considering the growth of multinational companies, Universities in India the rise in human and cargo traffic at the airports will be multifold. The growth of IT sector companies in last ten years indicates lot of construction activity in years to come. The Companies like HCC & L&T should come forward to train personnel in this sector to meet the global quality standard.

Project Management:

The salary structure of MBA graduates from quality business school lures every engineering and non engineering graduate to acquire an MBA degree. This has made number of institutions coming up with MBA degree. To maintain the quality it is essential to adopt standard curriculum by these institutes. The requirement of Indian project managers will be substantial in years to come in all sectors.

Automation:

It is likely that most of the projects & equipments will have an automation i.e. minimum use of human power and maximazation of reliable quality output. The mechanical, chemical, electronics graduates will find number of opportunities in mechatronics, a recent area of specialization in our country. Due to the record growth in IT and pay package offered by the IT sector there are few takers in automobile and manufacturing sector. The companies like Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra have taken the corrective measures for this. Others also have to follow to maintain the quality. It is sure that these sector also will play a major role to build our economy.

Education in India has a standing of over 160 years, but the education system received more attention recently. The rapid growth of educational institutes in medicine, engineering, pharmacy, management, is seen since 1990. Some of the institutes/universities have been laying emphasis on the relevance standard and quality of their educational pragrammes both at UG and PG level. These institutes are taking necessary steps to upgrade them regularly but this situation or quality education is limited to few institutes and as a result it is well known that technical/non technical professionals coming out of Indian universities/Institutes have many limitations in comparison so their counter parts from the advance countries. In particular

• Knowledge base and expertise are inadequate and not acceptable

• Required training/orientation to become useful in the world of work

This situation of average quality standards can not be permitted to continue for a very long time. India has set up a task(India 2020) and Universities will have to play a major role in this task. In view of this it is necessary for the university educational systems in the country to update them. These institutes/universities must be responsive to the needs and aspiration of its stake holders and become up to date, dynamic, self sustaining and should nurture the innovation, creativity in the students. The major challenges in the 21st century are as under.

• Rapid pace of technological change

• Globalization of Indian Industry

• New career opportunities for technical professionals

• Penetration of IT in all sectors

• Increased social/environmental concerns in the technical context.

These challenges require appropriate reorientation education courses, so that the professionals at different level coming out of the universities/institutes are well educated and trained to contribute significantly to the national vision of India 2020. Looking at these challenges it is necessary to take steps to reorient the students, faculty with the participation of all stakeholders

• Application of knowledge of applied sciences

• Analysis and Interpretation of scientific/technical data

• Modeling, simulations and design of systems

• Identifying the real life industrial problems and their solutuions

• Communication skill and personality development

• Leadership quality and team work

• Emphasis on "together we achieve" concept

• Crisis management

• Collaborative learning

• Social,professional responsibilities and code of integrity, human values

• Concern for environmental and energy issues

• Capacity for self learning and planning for life long learning

The proposed initial steps are

• Improve quality of teaching, to create opportunities for students to pursue post graduation and Ph.D. research

• Create and improve infrastructure

• Support colleges and institutions for improving teaching and research

• Create research culture and opportunities for collaborative research for society.

• Create place of higher learning and research in various subjects

• Recognize laboratories in colleges which are fit forv conducting research in engineering, pharmaceutical sciences, basic sciences, architecture

• Inter disciplinary research in thrust areas.

   I feel confident to say that I am suitable for being considered for the post of Vice Chancellor as I possess the vision required by the level of the post dictated by the responsibilities that go with it. I have the visualization for making the institue I work for a premier institute selected by the students aspiring to gain degree in engineering from such an institute which would not only provide quality education but also has the potential for attracting reputed industries in the country for placement. Having worked in the position of Director, Dean Administration I got required exposure effectively to deal in various areas such as finance, recruitment, legal issues, establishment matters etc.

   I have worked as workshop superintendent, held the position of HOD Mechanical Engineering, Dean Research and Development, besides interaction with the industries and Director, I am equipped with necessary tools to handle responsibilities in this regard. Having been on the panel of most of the AICTE committees I have the exposure to handle matters pertaining to accreditation, courses approval etc for new as well as existing colleges. In VNIT, I was the World Bank Coordinator for TEQIP. Due to my efforts VNIT is being considered for TEQIP Phase-II project. I have to my credit several research projectsnin which I acted as Principal Investigator. I am an effective team leader and have demonstrated abilities of carrying the team towards achievement of predetermined objective.

   I am committed to each and every student with the best education and infrastructure to help them achieve nothing but the best in life. I wish to inculcate in them the best creative and technical qualifications and teach them indispensable human qualities.