St. Martin’s Engineering College encourages faculty and students and provides the necessary infrastructure for interdisciplinary research. Our college has developed some of the major projects with interdisciplinary approaches like: 3D Printer, Compressed Air Car, Drone Fertilizer in Agriculture, Student Kiosk system, Library Kiosk, Power Spy Software, Air Car Seed Sowing Machine, plastic bricks, micro chief etc., shared Dr. P. Santosh Kumar Patra, Principal, St. Martin’s Engineering College, Telangana in an exclusive interview with Sheeba Chauhan of Elets News Network. Edited excerpts:
Could you elaborate on the innovative teaching methodologies and strategies employed at St. Martin’s Engineering College to ensure students are well prepared for the demands of the engineering industry?
St. Martin’s Engineering College is the premier institution that lays the path for its students to attain the goals and shows how to cross the hurdles for reaching their destinations. At our institution, we focus on the quality parameters and standards of teaching and
learning process by emphasising
the spirit of inquiry.
Classroom Teaching focuses on pragmatic approach rather than theory, which enhances imagination and creativity. 24 different teaching-learning strategies are followed like Google Classroom, Activity Based Learning, Industrial Visits, Experiential Learning, Problem Solving, Collaborative Learning etc. All classrooms are well equipped with ICT facilities and smart boards for technology integrated teaching. I Year Students have Micro Project, III Year Students have Mini Project/Internship and IV Year Students have Major Project for doing innovative projects as per the demands of the engineering industry.
The college has signed 18 MOUs with various foreign universities for global exchange. The College Library is equipped with e-resources like IEEE, ASME, ASCE, J-Gate etc.
Various Technical activities are being organised like seminars, workshops, guest lectures to enhance the breadth of learning of students. The college has innovative labs for enhancing the practical knowledge and application skills of students. Recently, we have received international awards and funding (4000 USD) from George Mason University Virginia, USA for our best start up.
In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on interdisciplinary research in academia. How does your institution encourage collaboration between different engineering disciplines and other fields to foster innovation?
Our college has a strong and well-planned curriculum focusing interdisciplinary subjects. SMEC encourages faculty and students and provides the necessary infrastructure for interdisciplinary research. Our college has developed some of the major projects with interdisciplinary approaches like: 3D Printer, Compressed Air Car, Drone Fertiliser in Agriculture, Student Kiosk system, Library Kiosk, Power Spy Software, Air Car Seed Sowing Machine, plastic bricks, micro chief etc. The remarkable achievement by the faculty members of the college is that they have published 270+ books, 12886+ research papers, 288+ patents with interdisciplinary research. The Minors degree programs offered by the college provide interdisciplinary study by the students; for example, Electronics and Communication Engineering students can also study Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Can you share specific examples of industry partnerships or research initiatives that have resulted in tangible benefits for both students and the organizations involved?
We have signed more than 100 MOUs with industries like MSME Govt. of India, Cyient, NRDC, IBM, Byjus, Cognizant etc for conducting research oriented learning by the students. Rs. 21.46 Lakhs received from SERB, Government of India, Consultancy project worth of Rs. 594 Crores received from GHMC – Hyderabad, Government of Telangana.
Ours is the only college that has received Consultancy work worth 150 Crores from HMWSSB, Hyderabad, Government of Telangana. Recently, we have received funding from MSME for 30 Lakhs for various innovative ideas. The College has a record of 100% of students being placed in top MNCs and IT giants all over the country. The statistics of the placements in the last five years: 1160 students in 2022-2023, 1158 students in 2021- 22; 708 students in 2020-21; 706 students in 2019-20; 704 students in 2018-19.
In the recent placements our students have been placed with Rs.60 Lakhs per annum package by Microsoft, Rs.58 Lakhs by Paloalto, Rs. 50 lakhs by OYO, Rs 27 Lakhs by AMAZON, Rs.19.5 Lakhs by ZSCALER. Also, our students have bagged offers with high packages in IBM, IBI & BYJU. Accomplished Industrialists are a part of our Governing Body, Academic Council, Board of Studies for imparting technological education to fulfill the requirement of industrial needs to the students. Many industrialists came as resource persons for technical events and educate our students on practical approaches of the theoretical knowledge.
As technology rapidly evolves, how does the institution stay flexible and adapt its curriculum to equip students with the skills needed for emerging fields?
SMEC is offering emerging courses in B.Tech like Computer Science and Engineering (AI&ML), Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (AI&DS), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Computer Science & Design (CSD). Honors and Minors degree programs are run in the college in emerging areas like AI&DS, AI&ML, IoT, Cyber Security etc. Our college is one of the 10 colleges to get approval for Honors and Minors degree program from affiliating university, JNTUH in Telangana. The curriculum is revised and innovated frequently to incorporate emerging technologies with the consultation of industry experts. The curriculum, syllabus and textbooks are so developed that they follow ‘from content to competency’ approach.
How do you see collaborative platforms like the World Education Summit contributing towards the growth of the education ecosystem?
The collaborative platforms chosen by the college have proven to be result oriented. Collaboration benefits are the ability to share research expertise, increase productivity and efficiency, enhance the quality of Teaching, Learning and research ecosystem. World Education Summit provides international exposures to the colleges to get the maximum benefit of learning of good practices.
