The Higher Education Review

Dr. N. Mathan Karthick

He is the Vice Chairman at Excel Group of Institutions. After obtaining his MBBS degree from Ramachandra Medical College, he went on pursue his Master in Health Science in Diabetology. From the year 2010, he has been an active member of the Excel Group of Institutions. He believes, "We must guide our students to pursue their interests and become professionals who are able to perform well around the globe."

Nivedha Manoharan, despite facing hardships her entire life due to the poor financial status of her family, has worked very hard to be where she is today. Presently an employee at Trimble, who has also won the 'Best Performer Award 2013,' Nivedha says, "Students should not undermine their talent and must try everything, such as becoming an expert in their field, and learning an entirely new language so they can overcome their fears. Excel Group of Institutions guided me to become an expert in my field and given an insatiable hunger to learn more and be better."

With the rising importance of tying up with the industry to provide industry ready engineering graduates, the management of The Excel Group of Institutions has taken several steps to ensure an encouraging environment to develop the intellectual capacity, critical thinking, creativity and problem solving abilities for students. "By increasing our tie-ups with the industry, we are trying to fill the vast gap that exists between the academia and the industry," says Dr. N. Mathan Karthick, Vice-Chairman, Excel Group of Institutions.

Possessing Additional Skills is a given requirement

Anna University has been known for setting up a vast syllabus with the hope to provide industry ready graduates. Aside from the

prescribed syllabus, the Group ensures to provide extra courses which will sharpen the knowledge and skills of the engineering students. "The Management began offering special courses on Java, C, C++, StaadPro, CATIA and others to improve our knowledge base. Due to such initiatives I have been able to reach the position where I am today," says Nivedha.

The group in collaboration with the French company Dassault Systems provides CATIA training to the students pursuing their degrees in Mechanical, Aeronautical and Civil Engineering and similar training is provided to Electrical engineering students in STAAD Pro. "They have the opportunity to attend additional courses with which they can become employable instantaneously," says Dr. Karthick.

Recognizing the problem that most of their students had studied in schools where Tamil was the medium of instruction, the management provided the students with the space and time to learn improve their bearing on the language and has allocated 40 to 60 hours per semester to communication and soft skills. "Throughout my school life, I did not possess any professional communication skills and was weak in English. However, I realized its importance and worked hard towards understanding and learning the language which has positively impacted my professional life," says Nivedha.

Filling the void with Research

To bridge the gap quicker, Excel group of Institutions has decided to take steps towards research and development which will provide unique solutions which will reduce the vast array of problems that constantly erupt in the ever growing and changing industry. Despite being less than a decade old, the management of the group has realized the importance of research and thus encourages its faculty members and students to pursue more research work. "When students are not busy with their studies, they devote a significant time to research and build innovations which are able to help the people in the society," says Dr. Karthick. Students of the mechanical stream have conducted research

and built Motor vehicles which will help folks who earn their livelihood in agriculture. Witnessing the determination of students, the industry has begun recruiting a lot of students from the group. Although the institution has not been able to achieve 100 percent placements, majority of the companies that are recruiting its students are well known. Some of the companies are IVTL INFOVIEW, TENNECO, L&T Infotech, Maveric Systems, Tech Mahindra, Quest Global, Reliance, VEPL, HDFC, Poornam Infovision, Hexaware Technologies and others. The Excel group of institutions hopes to gain the NBA and NAAC accreditations soon which will allow the institutions to get more funding for research and therefore will raise the quality of professionals that will solve the problems that the industry faces.

Covering Aerospace

The Indian aerospace industry, both military and civil, stands uniquely poised today, on the threshold of catapulting itself into the global arena. Due to the overwhelming support and involvement of the government in the demand and supply of defense and civil aerospace products, the industry has set itself on the firm path towards a transformational change. "Keeping the scope of Aerospace industry in India, our Aeronautical department has been provided with all sorts of jet and turbo engines, all accessories apart from MIG 21, 23, Cessna flights in the large hangers. Our students with the guidance of highly experienced faculty assembled all these flights purchased from the Indian Army and USA. The aeronautical students get hands on experience in assembling and designing the aircrafts. The Air force and DRDO scientists visit our aero lab frequently to update our students' knowledge," adds Dr. Mathan.

Creating the creators

Five year Bachelor of Architecture is a rare course offered in this region. Excel Group has established wonderful facilities and employed highly qualified full time and visiting faculties to create the creators of modern structures. It is also approved as a NATA exam centre.