Only 25 percent graduates in India are employable, according to NASSCOM and other survey reports. With over 1.5 million engineering degrees and 1 million diploma seats, India produces over a million graduates who come out for jobs after college. The surveys stated that, about 7.5 lakh engineers go unemployed every year and the number is expected to rise to 35 lakhs in the next 5 years. This problem of unemployment in fresh graduates lead to the fact that colleges today don't focus on outcome based education. Institutions in the country are not willing to go beyond the traditional method and impart quality education, knowledge that stays a lifetime. "We plan curriculum set by the university and work backwards once an outcome has been decided upon. Determining what knowledge and skills will be required to reach the outcome is what we focus on next and with a clear sense of what needs to be accomplished, instructors and faculty structure their lessons around the student's needs," says Prof Prithviraj YJ, Deputy Director, Ballari Institute of Technology and Management.
With a vision to recognize the diversity among students by using various teaching and assessment techniques, the Ballari Institute of technology and management was established in the year 1997. Today, at 18 years old the college is making its presence felt among some top notch companies that hire from them. With a placement record of 75 percent, the institution has been placing its students at a minimum of 3 lakhs in household names like, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, L&T Technology Services, Aricent, Mind Tree, Torry Harris Business Solution, SLK Software, Xsysys Software Technologies, Mphasis, JSW steels limited, Novel and TCS.
How have they been able to do so?
That is the question raised by many due to its short existence. The institution has been able to place its students at a fairly good rate because of their adoption of the outcome based education system rather than the traditional system. BITM focuses on combining soft skills, technical knowledge and understand the industry related problems and constantly keep providing solutions. Students have carried out projects guided & certified by the industry such as the Wipro Mission 10X Technology Centre; this has been the key major difference which has played a huge part in setting them apart, in the last one decade or more. The college also has a strong faculty team, each with a minimum of 8 years in experience, either in the industry or teaching department. With a firm faculty background, it makes it easier for the institute to focus a lot more on the outcome of every course they offer. The institute also ensures that faculty, management, students closely work together throughout the course for sound technical knowledge good placement to follow, once done. College has also sponsored the students to carry out an innovative project for which our students have constructed the Karting car at the college lab, developed & showcased project namely "AGROBOT" in Texas Innovation Contest & anti-collision vehicle project demonstrated in SPARKLE innovation contest held at KPIT Pune.
Following their impressive run at producing quality graduates some top IT companies have already set up their own laboratories inside the college campus for research and other purposes. Today, the college boasts of its laboratories set up by the likes of Infosys and Wipro. These setups have recently helped the institute to come up with more lab programs other than the ones offered by the university. These extra programs are industry certified which further adds to the degree of students. To further push their methods the college also encourages programs which are interdisciplinary, where students from different fields are brought together to work on same projects. This process enables students to get basic working ideas of other fields and, helps in opening their minds to much more than their specific course of study. Infosys has lately taken an interest on the same and have now set up a program called Infosys soft skills program to make students from all courses perform better once they graduate.
Budding Entrepreneurs
Equally focusing on the management side of it, the institute applies the same theory to that of its technical part. "In order to create an entrepreneurship mindset we have set up an advisory board which specifically consists of industry experts from various industries. These people give us an insight of what the industries are like and keep the education more practical for the students," says Prithviraj. The college also has a mandatory program for students where at least 3 top entrepreneurs come and give guest lectures and organize workshops for management students. The institution also ensures the governing body has a direct touch with students, where they are encouraged to talk directly to the management to maintain a close relationship and build a better student teacher understanding. "We work as a team. We listen to faculty, industry, parents and students and reach to the best possible outcome for our students," says, Prithviraj. Today, the institution is NBA accredited, ISO 9001:2008 Certified and Crisil rated, which puts them among some of the top branded names in the higher education market to alter the course of the upcoming students.
Prof Prithviraj YJ.
He is a BE in Computer Science & Engineering at MIT & Masters from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Melbourne. He has also worked with Infosys Ltd as a Software Architect & Engineer. Under his vision BITM has collaborated with several industries for placements and set ups of technology learning centers within the campus. His vision is to build a strong group of Institutions with quality and care under the group.
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