Prakash Javadekar to launch NITT's strategic plan

Minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar will unveil NIT, Tiruchirappalli's Strategic plan for the next five years, during a launch event on October 5th at NIT Tiruchirappalli.

NIT, Tiruchirappalli the erstwhile Regional Engineering College of Tiruchirappalli has been on a high growth trajectory in terms of research output, revenue from consultancy, academic and administrative reforms. It is ranked the best NIT in the country for the last three consecutive years as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India.

In a press meet held today in Chennai to announce the institute's plan for progress and on launch event, Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas, Director, NIT, Tiruchirappalli, said that NIT, Tiruchirappalli has found a place in the top 1000 Institutes of the world as per the Times Higher Education World ranking 2019. In order to improve the world ranking, the Strategic Planning Group of the Institute, chaired by her has scripted plan for the next five years which is to be unveiled by the Honorable Union Minister.

With the implementation of the strategic plan 2019-2024, Dr. Mini further added the Institute aims to be in the list of top 500 universities in the world.

Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas is very ambitious to make the Institute at par with global standards and find a place among the best Institutes of Technology in Asia. The plan is a result of a series of long brain storming sessions with experts within the Institute and outside.

It will guide the future steps towards academic excellence, research collaborations, innovation in sustainable development, and enhanced internal revenue generation. With India emerging as a global power in technologies-of-the-future, the strategic plan will help reset the governance framework in order to increase the international collaboration and internal revenue generation and thereby carve a niche in emerging areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, sustainable development including innovations in harnessing renewable energy.

The institute is gearing up to welcome more international students and faculty. The research scene will see the addition of new multi and inter-disciplinary laboratories which will be developed into Centres of Dynamic Excellence (CoDEs).

To kick start the ongoing efforts, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar will launch the first such CoDE that has been set up at the cost of Rs. 190 crores with Siemens as the technology-partner.

The centre is set-up at an estimated cost of Rs. 190 crores, in which 90% of the fund was received as a grant from Siemens in kind and 10% was funded by NIT, Tiruchirappalli.

Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas said that the new CoDE has been envisaged to provide 'Skill Excellence' for students, practicing professionals and Industries around its vicinity. This unique Centre could facilitate a multi-disciplinary learning environment across technology, engineering, science and management.

The primary focus of the Centre is to create a robust technical education eco-system through its experience in industrial products and services. This Centre is intended to bridge today's gap between industry requirements and technical education and provides a solution that makes technical institutes be more aligned with industry needs and make engineering graduate students industry ready.

Various learning tracks designed by Siemens are to be implemented jointly by Siemens and NIT, Tiruchirappalli for training engineering, polytechnic and ITI students of any Institute for knowledge enrichment leading to an enhanced opportunity for placement. Besides skill development courses, the Centre shall offer consultancy and R&D services to Industries in Design and Validation, Advanced Manufacturing, Test and Optimization, Automation, Electrical and Energy savings, Process Instrumentation, Mechatronics, CNC Machines, CNC Controller, Robotics, Rapid Prototyping and Internet of Things.

During his visit to the Institute, the HRD Minister will also launch the hardware hackathon competition of the NIT, Tiruchirappalli's flagship international technical festival Pragyan 2019. Pragyan is also an ISO9001 and 20121 certified techno-managerial organisation of NIT, Tiruchirappalli.

The event is designed to provide a unique platform to students for showcasing new and disruptive technological innovations to solve real-life problems.

Apart from being a springboard for ideas and digital technology innovations, the hackathon competition which spans over 5 months also aims to provide the participants with an opportunity to present their models across investors to get incubated.

"The Hardware Hackathon would provide a firm foundation to the students to solve real-time problems under particular themes by identifying, researching, analysing, prototyping and implementing a market-ready product. Sangam, the intra-collegiate technical exhibition and competition for the students of NIT, Tiruchirappalli, and Ingenium, the inter-collegiate technical exhibition and competition have been an integral part of Pragyan since its inception in 2005. The introduction of the Hardware Hackathon to the existing series will prove to be a stellar addition," opined Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas.