Survey of Industry-linked Engineering Institutes - Rajarambapu ...

Case Study
Developing market-relevant and
consistently- updated curriculum
Bannari Amman Institute of Technology
A strong curriculum has both theoretical
and practical elements that ensure that
the students are not only academically
qualified but also trained in practical
skills relevant to the market. From an
input perspective, some of the factors that
determine the relevance of a curriculum
include the number of courses that
received amendments from industry
experts, the number of guest seminars and
lectures that are conducted on campus and
the number of industry members actively
contributing to the functioning of the
institute’s committees and the board of
governors.
At the Bannari Amman Institute of
Technology (BIT), for each of the five
course disciplines offered, there are two
members from the industry represented
on each of its committees, including
the Governance Council, Board of
Studies, Academic Council and Standing
Committee of the Academic Council. In
addition to these industry experts, selected
members from among the college’s alumni
pool are invited to be a part of its Board of
Studies. The college also organises guest
lectures by industry experts. In 2011-12,
the college organised about 83 guest
lectures—the most among the top seven
colleges surveyed. The Academic Council
of the college makes the necessary changes
to the curricula based on inputs from all
these sources.
In the academic year 2011-12, as many as
42 courses were amended. Of these, 18
received additional content, namely new
chapters, more practical assignments and
mandatory industry visits. Furthermore,
the content of 24 courses was changed
to make them more industry-friendly.
The college also added three new courses
to its electronics and communications
engineering discipline, including System
Design with FPGA, Automotive Electronics
and Embedded systems, as well as three
new courses to its computers and IT
discipline on mobile operating systems
and embedded systems to meet the
growing requirement of these skills in
the industry. BIT also offers value-added
courses such as Embedded Systems,
Illumination Engineering, Computers
Networking Virtual Instrumentation,
CISCO CCNA, Macromedia Flash, PL/SQL
Programming, Multimedia and Animation,
Java Certification, CISCO Certification,
Web Design and Analysis, and Personality
and Soft Skills Development.
Part of the credit for BIT’s steadily
increasing placement rates goes to the
change in curriculum. From 338 job offers
made on campus during the academic year
2009-10, the numbers increased to 670
offers after the changes in the curriculum
came into effect during the academic
year 2011-12. Moreover, these changes
also ensure that students who wish to
continue with their education are also
better prepared to appear for the Graduate
Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and
Graduate Record Examinations (GRE).
16
PwC