The Higher Education Review

Dr. Mariazeena Johnson

She is currently the Director at Sathyabama University. She has gained a doctorate from the University of Madras for her research on Recent Developments in Women Entrepreneurship. She is a patron of around 30 renowned foundations & trusts. Dr. Mariazeena along with her husband is constantly working towards the betterment of the poor and backward classes of the society.

Being aware of the importance of research to confront scientific and technical challenges in a global scenario, SATHYABAMA University conducts research activities to mobilize the knowledge resources available for research and to come up with innovative solutions. "Fostering research has always been a priority at Sathyabama University and thus it has established an International research centre to translate innovations to product and technology development," says Dr. Mariazeena Johnson, Director, Sathyabama University.

The University has established 16 centers which are actively involved in Collaborative Research. Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Ocean research, Space technology, Waste Management, Energy Research, Drug discovery and development, Climate Change Studies are some of the centers of research along with the IBM Center of Excellence and Village Resource Center. These centers of research have been setup in association with Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

To further improve it the Sathyabama University has tied up with renowned

universities like University of Central Florida, University of Rostock, University of IIIinois, USA, Rice University, USA, University of Alaska, USA, University of Montana, USA, Georgetown University, USA, New Mexico Tech, USA, Bradley University, and University of Craiova, Multimedia University, Malaysia. "These tie-ups with various national and global research organizations are providing tremendous opportunities to enhance the research done by the faculty and students of our university," says Dr. Johnson.

Along with the faculty, students are constantly encouraged to develop prototype/scientific models to be presented in various project exhibitions organized both at in-house and external institutions/organizations in order to result in research outputs. An example of this is Jasleen Josan, a final year aeronautical department student who was awarded the second position out of five students working for a NASA project and has been called to the United States for 10 days training in NASA.

Faculty Expertise

Sathyabama University possesses some of the best faculty members in the nation who are regularly pursuing their interest in research. While the University has 200 PhD holders and 400 Post Graduates pursuing PhD, it also has the credit of recruiting well experienced Engineers and Scientists from Industries and Research Organizations to share their vast experience through teaching the young minds and helping them come out as excellent graduates suitable for employment. "While we are proud of the number of researchers that are constantly pursuing their research activities at Sathyabama University, we have ensured that we have top research members as faculty members who pass on this crucial knowledge to students," says Dr. Johnson.

These faculty members have published more than 3000 articles in various indexed journals and also have filed for patents for the products and technologies developed by them. "Possessing such esteemed faculty members has tremendously helped our students gain a lot of knowledge which is extremely

practical in nature and easy to understand," says Dr. Johnson.

Industry Interaction is equally important

While Sathyabama University is moving at a rapid pace in the area of research, it is also focusing on the employability of the graduates. It has realized that despite being strong in the fundamental education, a large segment of the existing talent pool is found unsuitable for employment due to skill gap and poor communicating ability. As soft skills and social skills are identified to be the most critical in the current global job market, the university has increased its interactions with the industry to guide the students to acquire these skills. Apart from this, the Institution Industry Collaboration is also bridging the gap in curriculum. The University has formed a Board of Studies consisting of members from the industry and academia who are guiding them in designing new courses and curriculum.

The University has tie ups with Industrial partners like Wipro Technologies, Infosys, Flsmidth, CTS, Aricent, Accenture, Virtusa and many more. They have also set up laboratories sponsored by Industrial partners like the Mobile Application Development Lab with Virtusa, Advanced Electronics Testing Instruments Lab with QMAX and Networking Lab with CISCO. "The certificate program with IBM, Microsoft and Oracle has guided our students tremendously allowing them to gain knowledge which can be implemented practically," says Dr. Johnson.

They are striving to produce competent students in par and excellence with graduates from the various IITs across the country. The University also hopes to improve the existing research leading to technology/product/entrepreneur development paving way to acquire the first rank status among all Universities spread across the nation and achieves their chancellor's vision of "Entry is not important; Exit is important."