The Higher Education Review

The significance of keeping up with the updated market trend is paramount to the success of any working professional. Numerous examples can be seen in yesteryear's technology becoming redundant today. Emphasising this fact is ITM University in Gurgaon, which was established in 1996 and has risen rapidly since then to become one of the premier engineering institutions in India. Brig. SK Sharma, Pro Vice-Chancellor of ITM University in Gurgaon, explains, "We have established our reputation purely on academics with a special emphasis on updating the course curriculum every year." The university's inviolable curriculum is interlaced with key collaborations and tie-ups with several renowned academic institutions across the world. Some of them are Michigan University, University of Warwick and ITB, Ireland. This results in the sharing of information and knowledge regarding the courses and the other requirements frequently.

The training which is imparted to the students place special prominence on practical-oriented applications. As Sharma alludes, "Our strength is being able to execute the Lecture Training Practical (LTP) model successfully, which is biased towards practical training. Compulsory practical training is imparted alongside the regular lectures of the different subjects under purview." As a result, students become well versed in the intricacies surrounding the

functioning of different industries. Enabling this procedure is the presence of highly qualified professors and technical assistants. Many of the faculty have prior experience of working in the industry and therefore can delve into the details about the operations of various companies. Faculty members are duly recognized for publishing research papers in reputed international magazines and conferences.

"Seeing the gleam in the students' eyes when they are graduating with multiple job offers in hand makes me and all the faculty members happy and satisfied"

Versatility achieved through In-depth ResearchThe students who are enrolled in the ITM University, Gurgaon, are given in-depth industry related training through mandatory internships. Thus, each and every individual receives priceless experience on how the industry works. These internships are not restricted to any one particular field. The students are given the choice of industry that they want to work with and the university ensures that the required arrangements are done, thereby enabling them to cut across multiple types of industry. Sharma assures that adequate preparation is given by means of workshops and laboratory sessions that are regularly conducted as part of the course. Hence, the students are updated with the most recent technological innovations and trained to access them resourcefully.

Due to the pro-active nature of the courses, the students become adaptive in nature with respect to research and training. Numerous far-reaching projects are undertaken by the students with the assistance of the professors and the university.Sharma elucidates that in order to aid holistic learning; a great deal of stress is shown on sponsoring academic research projects at the undergraduate level.

A major project undertaken by the students of ITM University relates to the construction and working of Suraksha which is an effective security system, particularly intended and developed for women to help them during emergency situations. The system can be operated either by a switch or even by throwing the device which transmits distress signals to the police and to a phone number of a friend registered with the device. The program uses techniques based on GPS, GSM, Piezoelectric sensors and voice recognition. It can potentially play a key role in some upcoming projects such as CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System) which assists the police department to digitize records throughout the country.

By virtue of all the efforts that the university and its faculty have put in, the placement record is definitely enviable. The engineering graduates on the verge of completing B.Tech have a placement percentage of almost 95 percent and over 90 percentage of the MBA degree holders from ITM University are recruited by various top multi-national companies such as Accenture, Ericsson and Tata Consultancy Services. The candidates are usually prone to select the obvious companies by only looking at the salary package and not the appropriateness of the job with relevance to their skills. Hence, personal counselling sessions are provided to the students in order to make them realise their career dreams. As an effect, ITM University focuses on assisting the students to realise their true potential.

Brig. Sharma has seen many such memorable moments in his career as the Vice- Chancellor of this university. As he remembers, "Seeing the gleam in the students' eyes when they are graduating with multiple job offers in hand makes me and all the faculty members happy and satisfied."