Anna University has roped in experts from various walks of life, including its meritorious students, to revise its curriculum.
“The exercise is expected to begin around mid-March,” Vice-Chancellor R. Velraj said. “There will be a brainstorming session with 90 experts whom we have identified. We will have 10 experts each from academicians and IAS officers, 10 human resources experts, 10 top ranked students from various departments and 10 alumni,” he said.
According to him, the curriculum had not been revised for 25 years and it was the reason why students from even core engineering subjects like mechanical and civil, struggled to land jobs during campus recruitment drives. “One of the issues that will be discussed is the introduction of courses in emerging technologies,” he noted.
For several years now, the admission to core subjects (mechanical and civil engineering) has been languishing. Even in the university, these branches show vacancy up to the penultimate round of counselling, while seats for Computer Science Engineering and Information Technology fill up in the first round in the university and also in almost all top colleges. Most lower-rung colleges do not fill up even one seat in these branches, university authorities said. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has mandated that colleges fill up at least 50% of their sanctioned strength in existing courses before launching new ones.
TechKnow 2022
The V-C is also the chair of an advisory committee of TechKnow 2022, a joint initiative of Anna University and the All India Manufacturers Organisation, to be held on April 22 and 23 in College of Engineering, Guindy.
The consortium of self-financing professional, arts and science colleges is also supporting the event.
Some features of the event include a talent hunt fair to identify students for early internships; a job fair with an opportunity for students to be hired in seven industrial sectors; an event for students having ideas but lacking opportunities, where they will get an opportunity to develop their ideas and become entrepreneurs.
While many small units shut shop during the COVID-19 pandemic, some survived and revived the industry. TechKnow 2022 will recognise such companies, PSUs, women entrepreneurs and start-ups with the Visvesvaraya award. It also proposes to honour three persons who have been a motivation to others with ‘eminent role model awards’, said K.E. Ranganathan, chairman of the event’s organising committee.
