Every year, the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) organizes 'Anveshan,' a National Student Research Conventions for the aspiring researchers throughout the country with a view to inculcate a research culture in the higher educational institutions. Five teams from B.S. Abdur Rahman University participated in the South Zone Contest of Anveshan last year and bagged first and third place in the Engineering and Technology category. The winners of the south zone teams of B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University had a tougher competition in the national level contest of Anveshan, as they had to battle against 70 teams across the country. But, the students of this 33-year-old institution from Chennai was ready to give the best brains of India a run for their money. They continued the performance that they had shown in the south zone contest and won the first and third prize in the national level.
"As envisaged in the university's vision statement, crescent university strives to be 'Research Intensive University' rather than a teaching university. The research infrastructure in terms of equipment, software and incentives is in place, to promote the same," says Dr. R. Raja Prabu, Director - Accreditation, Ranking and International Affairs, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University. Ever since B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Engineering College has been upgraded as "Deemed to be University" by UGC and MHRD, under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, there was a clear shift in its focus. Unlike other institutes, Crescent University strives to be a "Research Intensive University" through various quality enhancements and sustainable measures. These measures have brought in changes in the overall culture of this University, where students, parents, faculty, supporting staff, employer are the major stakeholders. The University is also working with various industries for the promotion of research, which has changed the overall outlook of the university and public perception by the external world.
The placement record of the institution has been remarkable and most students chart their careers well before their graduation.
"Out of 375 highly qualified faculty members, more than 140 are PhD qualified and all the remaining faculty members are pursuing PhD currently. In fact, some of these faculty members have done their Post Doctoral Fellowship at various premier institutes both in India and abroad," claims Dr. Prabhu. As every faculty member of the university is pursuing research in one way or the other, the teaching fraternity of the university is clearly aware of the latest developments in their domain. "In addition, there is an exclusive 'Faculty Training Academy' in place, which takes care of the 'Induction Training Programme' of newly joined faculty members, 'Periodical Refresher Programmes' for the existing faculty members and so on," adds Dr. Prabhu.
At B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University, the course teacher has complete freedom in choosing the pedagogy to suit the student's aptitude and the nature of the course. Because of the academic freedom available, the university updates its curriculum is periodically and improves the course contents to suit the modern day requirements. Many a time, the course teachers practice 'Flipped Classroom,' through which the course materials are sent to students in advance, for an effective discussion in the classroom, after wards. "Because of these initiatives, like Flipped classroom, project based learning and active research, understanding the essence and concepts of the course are improved to a greater extent and this benefit our students, makes them to perform much better in the globally competitive world," opines Dr. Prabhu.
The placement record of the institution has been remarkable and most students chart their careers well before their graduation. All the graduates from its portals either occupy prestigious positions in multinational companies or join institutions of higher learning in India and abroad. Some of the graduates turn entrepreneurs with the guidance of Entrepreneurship Development Cell and the Industry-Institute Partnership Cell. "As our university focuses on the overall personality development of the individuals, including higher degree of subject knowledge, our university students have a lion's share in the employment market. During the campus selection process, the turnaround ratio of the crescent students is much higher compared to several other institutes," says Dr. Prabhu. The ever-increasing placements year-to-year has seen more than two hundred recruiters coming to the campus of the B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University. Few of them include Ford, Mahindra, Webco. TVS (India Ltd.), Sundaram-Clayton, L&T, Renault Nissan, DSM, TCE, Apollo, Samsung, Rane, Daikin, Honeywell, Wipro, Aircel, Bosch and ETA.
Today, the university considers industry as one of its major stakeholders and ensures the participation of industry in every aspect of the system. For example, the industrial experts represent in all committees, starting from Board of Management, Board of Studies, Academic Council, Placement & Monitoring Board, Research Advisory Committee, IQAC and many more. Through these forums, the industrial developments and updates are regularly discussed and suitable measures are taken to integrate into the curriculum level so that the students are really benefited. (APJ) Innovation Centre and Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) are also in place to duplicate the various industrial scenarios and make it available at the student's level. "There is a clear road map to strengthen and industrial internship in terms of consultancy, testing, training, partial delivery of course, industrial internship for students and faculty," concludes Dr. Prabhu.
Dr. R. Raja Prabu, Director -Accreditation, Ranking & International Affairs
He is currently serving B. S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University as Director (Accreditation, Ranking & International Affairs) & Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He has earlier served as Dean (Academic Research) for 7 years, Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering for 9 years, Professor in-charge of Library for 5 years, Professor in-charge for Campus Electrical Maintenance for 7 years. He has published more than 80 Research Articles in Journals and Conferences, Completed three funded projects, organized several workshops and conferences.
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