College Growth - Jithu Speaks

As Kamal Hassan says “ I was brought up in Sivaji Ganesan’s lap .. so It is no surprise if I act well .. It would be a surprise If I *don’t* act well “. Same way after being with Kaushik , Mani , Sudharshun   etc.. for more than 4 years , It is no surprise if I write and  It would be a surprise If I dont write some thing .. So let me start !

College growth is the function of four parameters / people

1)      College head / principal / dean / board members

2)      Current Students

3)      Professors / Lecturers

4)      Alumni

All four together should help in the growth of the college and if even one lacks, it will reduce the intensity of the institution’s success. Of course, success is subjective and according to me success of a college is to reach the top position with respect to education , facilities , students , lecturers , placement , research etc ...

College Head and Students Interaction

Though I like numbers, in this case, the human factor plays a pivotal role. As we know, when we meet many people it is very difficult to remember all. For example, the Principal can remember more than 80 % of first batch , 75 % of second batch , 70 % of third batch etc.. and of course it is applicable to all lecturers .. It leads to lesser interaction between the students and the head of the college after a few years. So students slowly begin to think they are tangential to the college and their job is to study, get a job or further studies - that’s all! We cannot insist that the princi remember and show affection to all students! So we need to make students realize the importance of the head of the college in order to inject the MSEC Patriotism! Secondly, students should be proud of the college.

College Head and Lecturers / Professors

Here we cannot do anything. The Principal is already helping the lecturers in their higher education, so it would not be a problem and it is not in our scope.

Current Student and Alumni

It should be bi-directional. Leave about first half-a-dozen batch passed outs. Our home is MSEC. In future when some alumni wants to provide help for the college what would be the incentive for those people? Think about this. Create a framework such a way that when an alumnus helps college growth and current students, his help should help him either directly or indirectly. For example, if an alumnus starts a new company, the current students should be in the position to help him by testing beta version, giving ideas etc. - this would bind the student-alumni relationship.

Professors / Lecturers and Alumni

Involve some lecturers in our alumni group so that we can update what is going on in the outside world/industry/Master (MS/M.Tech/M.E) Institutions so they can at least realize the importance of fundae and education. For example I was asked in interview “What is significance of Eigen value and Vector , Whats the difference among Fourier , Laplace and Z - transforms ”. We need to update lecturers that applied mathematics is important. This would help circuit branch lecturers learn themselves and help students in applying mathematics in their subjects.

Current students and Professors / Lecturers

If the previous category becomes successful this one will definitely be successful because lecturers will start thinking about papers, challenging projects, pragmatic assignments etc. So good students will be glued to them.

College Head and Alumni

This will not be problem. Still Its our duty to insist principal on some gray areas such as appointing PhD professors at least one per department, Pretty good labs etc. Since she likes taking suggestions we can convey this.

I think relationships among 4 parameter (4c2 combination = 6 is over)

I conclude that the growth of the college depends on the relationship among these 4 groups of people. I request we should concentrate on this bit more.

Thanks

Jithu