COIMBATORE: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), in a 44-page report, has listed the best practices of 30 institutions for the benefit of others. Four of these are from Tamil Nadu -- KSR Institute for Engineering and Technology in Tiruchengode, Namakkal, Loyola -- ICAM College of Engineering and Technology (LICET) in Chennai, PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore and RMK Engineering College in Thiruvallur.
To bridge the industry-institution gap and to familiarise students with the latest trends in industry, the PSG College of Technology has introduced courses with a 1 credit, which are taught by industry experts. A student who completes three such 1-credit courses - for which exams are held - successfully, is exempted
from one 3-credit elective course. The best way to bridge the gap between the curriculum and industry’s needs is for institutions to collaborate with industry and involve in the teaching-learning process. The RMK Engineering College is trying achieve this by setting up centres of excellence in specialised areas suggested by leading industries, the report said.
The Reformed Teaching Learning (RTL) process at the KSR Institute of Engineering and Technology, where the classroom has been made student-centric, has considerably increased interaction among students
as well as between students and teachers. The activity-based learning there, which includes role play, gives
students more space for such interaction.
In the ‘System Discovery’ followed at LICET, students dismantle and reassemble systems to study the components and functions. Among the devices studied this year were laptop, photocopier, fax machine, CRO monitor, fan, CPU, wiper motor, hydraulic jack and MCB.In System Analysis, teams of students analyse the construction and functioning of a system and come up with new ideas along similar lines. This year, second-year students analysed starter motor, mosquito bat, centrifugal pump with peripheral impeller, etc. Recently, the college received engines from Ford and two Duster cars from Renault for system analysis.
The LICET also organises summer coaching camps for marginalised school students, where they learn the basics of Engineering Drawing, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science and Mathematics. Attention
is also paid to personality development, leadership skills, communicative English and team building at the
camps. Equal importance is given to extracurricular activities too. Experts from industry train them to meet their requirements. Also, inspirational talks are held to boost the students’ morale, the AICTE report said.