Chintan 2021- BTech Curriculum: Exploring new possibilities

An online day long event called “Chinthan” as preliminary event to Curriculum Conclave 2021 for B.Tech curriculum revision was held at MIT Manipal, as per the following schedule.

Date: 8^th October 2021 (Friday)

Time:  9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Mode: Online using MS Teams

The Inaugural address was delivered by the Vice-Chancellor of MAHE, Lt.Gen (Dr) M D Venkatesh. The Vice-Chancellor in his inaugural address emphasized on introduction of Experiential learning into the curriculum.

The Director of MIT, Cdr. Dr Anil Rana gave his opening remarks. He highlighted that constant up-gradation for all engineering disciplines is required. Special emphasis if given to value-based education, it helps in employability and Students to have lifelong learning.

Dr Sanjay Kumar Shukla, School of Engineering, Cowan University, Perth, Australia delivered a talk on “Engineering Curriculum - Emerging Trends”.  Dr Sanjay Shukla suggested that the Course should aim for sustainable development goals and innovation with cost-effectiveness. He also emphasized the need for promoting research and the design and development of the products. Enhancing employability, nurturing entrepreneurship,  and addressing the needs of the community were also stressed upon in his talk.

Mr. Raghupathy C N, Senior Advisor, Infosys and former Head, India Business, Infosys, presented on Graduate Engineer & Employability :The Changing Scenario. He opined that the pedagogy and assessment needs to be given enough importance to be effective He also emphasized on the opportunity in the health care domain and the role of engineers in the domain.

As a part of the event, a panel discussion of the topic “Engineering Curriculum - The Road Ahead” was conducted. The panel members were drawn from Academia, Industry, Regulatory body. Alumni and from successful start-up. The following panel members participated in the panel discussion.

·      Dr Niranjan U C, Director Research and Training, Manipal Dot Net Pvt. Ltd, Manipal

·      Dr Ajit Kumar Verma Professor, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

·      Dr. N.H. Siddalingaswamy, Director, eGovernance Cell, AICTE.

·      Dr Chinmay Hegde, CEO & Managing Director, Astrikos Consulting, Begaluru

·      Mr Vijaya Raghava Varada, CEO and Founder, Fractal Works

Dr. Niranjan U C was the chairman of the panel and moderated the session. The panel members presented their views on the modifications needed in the current circumstance and advised to reduce the gap between Industry and Academia. The panel stressed upon industry participation in teaching, conducting industrial visits and providing more hands-on training. The panel also opined that there should be a clear allocation of a specific time for the faculty to engage in research.

The queries from the audience were also addressed by the panel members.

Associate Director ( Academics), Dr Raviraja Adhikari presented the outcome of Manthan, an initial internal discussion that took place in connection with the B.Tech Curriculum Revision and gave an overview of the evolution of the curriculum over the years at MIT Manipal. He also presented the initial model of B.Tech Curriculum 2022.

Dr. Somashekara Bhat, Joint Director of MIT Manipal gave away the Concluding remarks, highlighting the evolution of education over the years and summarized the proceedings.

Dr. Shankaranarayana Bhat, Associate Director (FD&W), welcomed the guests and presented the overview of the program.

The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Dr. M Vijaya Kini, Associate Director (Alumni & Public Relation).

The Master of Ceremonies for the event were, Dr Poornima Kundapur, Associate Professor, in department of Computer Application and Dr Venkatachalam, Assistant Professor, Selection Grade in Chemistry were the Masters of Ceremony. Mrs. Bhagrya R Navada, Assistant Professor -Senior, department of ICE rendered the Invocation.  

This event was organized by Office of the Faculty Development and Welfare, under the leadership of Associate Director (FD&W), Dr. Shankaranarayana Bhat.

About 250 faculty members from various Departments of MIT attended the online event.