With this changing business scene and the disturbance brought about by headways in innovation, students must be outfitted with the right abilities that set them up to be future-prepared. Students must know and master abilities that will help them in their areas of interest and instill a strong sense of self-awareness. Perhaps, this is the reason why liberal training centers around the world and especially India are showing abilities that will permit them to be gifted forever, pushing students to conquer vulnerabilities. Thereby, talking about one such entity that portrays itself as a focused university for upskilling, striving on the lines of experience based teaching and practice-based learning – Centurion University of Technology and Management, progresses each day on this very pursuit, giving back to society, capable leaders of tomorrow.
Known for being a hub of flexible learning, the curriculum followed on Centurion campus integrates skills into higher education, focused on hands-on experiences via internships, seminars and so on. Having always been consistent in standing out from its competitors through its pioneering initiatives/ experiments in the area of skills integration in higher education linked to employability and entrepreneurship, the state of the art industry integrated labs and many other amenities and facilities, enable smooth learning opportunities for all. The university also motivates students to apply their classroom learning in real-life situations through innovative projects and, at the same time, engage in activities linked to entrepreneurship. Thus, initiatives like Skills for Success (SFS), National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned job role based core courses, dedicated Domain based specialization, in Science, Engineering and Management with scope to avail both major and minor specialization, come as welcome opportunities for students to showcase their real scientific vigour.
The journey of Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM) began when a group of ambitious academics with aspirations to provide high quality education both nationally and internationally, came together for a societal cause. Working together to revive an ailing engineering institute – Jagannath Institute for Technology and Management (JITM), based in an extremist area, JITM was eventually transformed into Centurion University of Technology and Management, through an act of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, making it the First Multi-Sector State Private University in Odisha.
Aiding a Smooth Transition into the Industry
By connecting academic learning to community problem solving, CUTM has been quite instrumental in fostering the Choice based credit system (CBCS) linked to the basket structure of curriculum and has influenced a lot of diversity and flexibility to offer to students to opt and complete the credits at their own pace. The cutting edge research centers available on campus focus on the product development, playing a crucial role in promotion of ventures in partnership with faculty and students. In the case of Management Education, specialisations in Finance, Agri-Business Management, Data Analytics, Pharmaceutical Management, Rural and Urban Development Management provide cutting edge opportunities to students as well. And as a result of the contribution the university has made towards the society in recognition of the work undertaken in the area of skills, the Government of India has notified Centurion University as the Center of Excellence in the field of Skilling Ecosystem in the country in November 2019 and has given CUTM the status of Institute for the Training of Trainers (ITOT). Furthermore, being a NAAC ‘A’ grade, accredited university, it’s MS Swaminathan School of Agriculture and the Agriculture program offered by the school was accredited by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); while the on-campus School of Paramedics and Allied Health Sciences (SoPAHS) received recognition for Allied Medical Science Courses from the Government of Odisha’s State Council of Allied Medical Sciences.
“Centurion University sets the highest standards in recruitment of faculty, and to meet the demand of the highly dynamic ecosystem, candidates have to be updated about the new developments in various disciplines, have a multidisciplinary orientation and be familiar with disruptive technologies”, shares Dr. Supriya Pattanayak, the Vice Chancellor of CUTM. Adding to her above statement, she stated – “All our faculty members need to be focused on research, be able to translate their research into cutting edge curriculum, and be highly passionate and self-motivated to learn”.
Offering courses that are multidisciplinary in nature, aiming towards boosting a holistic experience, all the courses are designed and packaged by a highly experienced team to meet the demands of the future workforce and society, as a whole. Along with giving the best of core subject knowledge, additional skill sets are also promoted through specific (compulsory) courses (e.g.; on entrepreneurship development, gender, human rights and ethics, community problem solving, culture-sports-responsibility (CSR)). From a technical point of view, the cross disciplinary courses offered through Skills For Success (SFS) initiative prepares students to think and connect to the world of problem solving beyond the boundaries of disciplines. Moreover, the technology based courses (on Industry 4.0, IoT, Machine learning, AI, AR-VR, Digital Manufacturing, 3D Printing, Data Analysis) with a purpose to prepare for the tech-driven workforce of the future irrespective of disciplines, eventually, guide all the students towards an advantage-filled life in this ever competitive job market.
Apart from imparting promising career opportunities to all despite the challenge thrown by the pandemic, CUTM leveraged itself to be more self-sustainable, all thanks to the hurdles COVID got along with it. Slowly having progressed towards creating its own learning management platform for delivery of online classes supported by practice on virtual labs, CUTM through its bold and coordinated efforts gained the trust of students and guardians due to the uninterrupted flow of academics. The pandemic further established technology as an essential tool of communication in everyone’s life, and thus, considering the future lies in tech-driven approaches of problem solving, Centurion is prepared to lead the way. And lastly, due to the impressive placement record and quality of education offered at an affordable cost, students from varied socio-economic classes will find it as the best place for admission, to pursue their respective educational endeavours.
Dr. Supriya Pattanayak, Vice Chancellor
The VC at Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, Dr. Supriya has her qualifications from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (MA) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (MPhil), India and RMIT University, Australia (PhD). She has extensive teaching, research and policy experience and her research interest is in the field of gender and development issues, and social work pedagogy in different contexts. She has several publications to her credit, the latest being a book she edited along with Dr. Margaret Kumar entitled ‘Positioning Research: Shifting paradigms, interdisciplinarity and indigeneity’ (Sage Publications, India, 2018). She has worked with NGOs, multilateral and bilateral agencies, federal and state Governments and Universities in India and Australia. In her role as State Representative (Odisha), Department for International Development India (British High Commission), she worked closely with the State Government of Odisha for the implementation of several development projects and collaborated with various development partners in pursuance of harmonization of development efforts and achievement of MDGs. She is also an Industry Liaison Person with RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and Research Fellow at the St Petersburg State University, Russia.
