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This story is from September 24, 2019

More women in IITs will bring gender balance in the Indian tech ecosystem: IIT-Tirupati director

Newly-appointed director of IIT Tirupati KN Satyanarayana on 17% female enrolment at the institute that is highest among 23 IITs
More women in IITs will bring gender balance in the Indian tech ecosystem: IIT-Tirupati director
Newly-appointed director of IIT Tirupati KN Satyanarayana.
Newly-appointed director of IIT Tirupati KN Satyanarayana on 17% female enrolment at the institute that is highest among 23 IITs
Most new IITs have introduced innovative courses. How do you plan to take this forward?
As in most fields, education is also bound to go through disruption. The rate with which knowledge generation is taking place is high. In some areas, the industry is progressing at a faster rate than academia and research is becoming inter-disciplinary.
The skillsets that the industry is demanding are also changing. We need to set up curriculum that is flexible and adaptive to the new demands.
Since IIT Tirupati is known to have enrolled a decent number of female candidates this year, how will this change the technology ecosystem?
Among all the 23 IITs, IIT Tirupati consistently had the highest percentage of female enrolment at 17% in BTech compared to 8% across the IIT system. The IITs have created supernumerary seats to increase the percentage to 20% by the 2020 admissions. This will have a positive effect as it will bring a gender balance in the technology ecosystem.
What will be the USP of IIT Tirupati in the coming time - effective education or research?

We have identified a few thrust areas for interdisciplinary research taking into consideration the national need, international trends and our geographic location. These areas include smart infrastructure, food technologies and precision agriculture, materials and manufacturing, energy, educational technologies, and design. While we will have a global outlook in undertaking cutting-edge research, we will also ensure national and local relevance in developing and implementing the technologies.
You have been the chairperson of the Implementation Committee of IIT Madras Research Park. Do you have plans to initiate something similar in IIT Tirupati?
The Tirupati campus is coming up on a 530-acre land, which is in two parcels of 511 acres on one side of the highway and 19 acres on the other side. The 19 acres parcel has been set aside for developing a Research Park. This will be taken up once the stage one buildings of our campus are completed. In the meantime, we have initiated incubation and industry collaboration activities at our Institute.
How important is it for an institute to find a presence in world rankings. Do you have a strategy to find a place in the international ranking list?
The international rankings give recognition to the institute for attracting good students, faculty, and research grants. I feel you need to give an institute at least 10 years to get well established, before seriously being considered for ranking.
As the professor of Building Tech and Civil Engineering, how do you see this sector transform as the world shifts towards automation?
The construction industry, the world over, has been slow in adopting new technologies. Having said that, there are many new trends that are moving towards greater mechanisation and automation.
The industry in India has traditionally been labour intensive, as it was easily available and cheap. However, this has changed over the last decade. Most construction sites in India are finding it difficult to mobilise the required labour, which mostly consists of migrant workers with inadequate skills. There is no other option but to automate if projects have to be delivered on time, on budget and to the required quality.
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