Engineering education in India over the last few decades had a very impressive growth. In the 1980s, Engineering along with Medicine was the most sought-after career, where engineers demonstrated equal responsibility towards nation building, as that of doctors. What was needed back then remains the same, as renowned engineering colleges across the country are embarking on a journey of giving back to society – capable engineers of tomorrow. Thus, emphasizing on one such tech hotspot – Ramco Institute of Technology (RIT), emerges as a private and self-financed educational institution facilitating a strong technical culture of change.
Evolving Tech-Hub of International Repute
An ISO 9001:2015 certified Institution, RIT is supported by one of the most reputed business houses in India known as the Ramco Group, and is governed by the generous funding from Raja Charity Trust under the same group. Ramco Institute of Technology functions with the vision of offering high quality technical education, research and extension programmes to create knowledgeable, professionally competent and skilled Engineers and Technologists capable of working in a multi-disciplinary environment to cater to societal needs.
Known to host a strong academic culture supported with ample co-curricular, extracurricular, placement and extension activities for the overall development of the younger generation, all the programmes offered in the college, including the newly launched Artificial Intelligence and Data Science are well in-sync with the industrial demands and developments. Also, Ramco Institute of Technology has been accredited with NAAC and CSE, EEE, ECE and Mechanical Engineering courses have been accredited with NBA. RIT got 4 star rating in the Institute Innovation Council, IIC 3.0, awarded by MoE-Higher Education Institutions and established Entrepreneur Development Cell (EDC) under National Innovation And Startup Policy (NISP). It has been recognized as “PROMISING” under the category “Colleges/Institutes (Private / Self Financed) by Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) – 2020-21. It has also been recognized with ‘Green Award’ by Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board for its contribution in green development.
Far reaching mission of academic brilliance
“A hotspot of outcome based education (OBE), all the teachers at our institute are encouraged and sponsored to enrich their knowledge through online courses offered by the reputed institutes such as MIT through EDX, Coursera and NPTEL”, shared – Dr. L. Ganesan, the principal of the institute. Adding to his above statement on how the onboard faculty members are given equal importance and emphasis at RIT, he stated – “Faculty members undergo various industrial training through their collaboration with partnering industries and perform research and consultancy activities”. Taking time out of his busy schedule of heading one of the upcoming engineering colleges of India, Dr. Ganesan helped us and our readers understand what the institute really stands for and stated nothing but clear facts and figures.
Through the conversation with the Principal, we also learnt that RIT is one of the partnering institutes of IIT Madras through their IITM PALS (Pan IIT Alumni Leadership Series) which trains both the students and faculty members to be ready for the Industries. Stating a point on this new initiative undertaken at RIT, Dr. Ganesan shares – “Student Centric teaching methods are widely practiced by our teachers to enhance the innovative learning in students. A few of the examples are Flipped Classroom, Think – Pair – Share, Jigsaw Puzzle, one-minute paper and so on”.
Into the industry-verse
Operating as an insightful knowledge-haven for the students through its resourceful academic culture, Ramco Institute of Technology goes above and beyond to help its students with its special programmes in the form of advancement courses, value added courses, online courses, GATE coaching classes, foreign language training, and many more. A wide variety of industries are visited by the students during the four years of their academic course, and they actively participate in the Internship Training offered in various industries like Makolet Private Limited, AICL, Entuple Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Tessolve Semiconductor Pvt Ltd., Rane Engine Valve Limited, Rajapalayam Mills Limited, The Ramco Cements, Zoho Corporation etc.,
The impressive industry-academia relationships at RIT have led to about 22 companies offering paid internships to the students and a minimum of 15% of students have gone for paid internships in the academic year 2021-22. Students have participated in various project presentations like innoWAHǃ – Innovation Challenge Competition, IITM-PALS InnoWAH Virtual Exhibition, IITM PALS NEXTGEN 3D and Hackathon. And, have excelled in various programmes such as seminars/webinars are periodically conducted by Career Guidance Cell (CGC) of the college to create awareness on Job markets, its trends and higher education to the student community.
There is also a dedicated Training and Placement Center that makes every effort to network with all segments of industries ranging from Manufacturing to Software. Fruitful relationships with industries are being nourished with utmost care for mutual benefit. Partnerships with reputed national and multinational companies are also initiated for adding values in the competence development process of students. TPC also provides the Students guidance on higher studies, preparing and writing various entrance examinations like CAT, GATE, GMAT, BEC, GRE, TOEFL to pursue higher education in Engineering, Technology and Management streams.
Additionally, several Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are being signed continuously at Ramco Institute of Technology with prominent industries for both the learning and placement opportunities. A few of the renowned industries are Harita Techserv Ltd, Chennai, Ramco Group of Industries, TVS training and services, Chennai, Tessolve Semiconductor Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, NI Systems Private Limited, Bangalore, Great Learning, IIT Bombay. All these strong associations are directed towards bettering the already existing research and development activities and facilities, curriculum design, skill training, internships, placement opportunities, vocational training, project works, faculty development, guest lectures, seminars and Industrial Visits.
Catering to one n all
Not only is an excellent placement record – year after year a norm at Ramco Institute of Technology, but emphasis laid on entrepreneurship is also equal. Thereby, in order to encourage entrepreneurship, Ramco Institute of Technology – Entrepreneurship Development Cell was developed with the vision of creating ethical entrepreneurs, technopreneurs and sociopreneurs with an intention to cater the societal needs. Awareness and Skill Development programs are being periodically conducted with the special invitee who have established themselves as entrepreneurs. Potential students are identified and trained to file patents and develop new products. Beyond these programmes, the students are motivated to participate in events like Business plan (B-plan) preparation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Business quiz, taking off business, etc. organized by other institutions and organizations. Recently, Ramco Institute of Technology has been sanctioned with Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Incubation Cell. And, projects were already presented to both faculty members and budding entrepreneurs. The evaluation is under process under this program. Around 52 patents have been filed so far and 6 were granted.
Coming to the part where Ramco Institute of Technology operates as a philanthropic place meant for all, merit scholarships are provided to the students every year. Cut Off based scholarships are provided to the students who get admission in the first year. Similarly, various scholarships are available under Government Quota, Sport Quota etc., and scholarships will be continued for succeeding years, if the students score required CGPA (more than 7) in the university examination. Scholarships are also awarded for the students who scored Top 3 CGPA in each class (Rs. 20,000/- each) every year. Students from low-income families have benefited significantly from these scholarships since they have allowed them to continue their education at an affordable cost, always ensuring that quality tech-education at all costs is provided to the students, converting today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.
Dr. L Ganesan – Principal
A Ph.D from IIT, Kharagpur. Dr. L. Ganesan as the current principal of RIT tries his best always to be in the forefront of encouraging researchers, who are engaged in path breaking research, that will have a telling positive impact in the lives of people. He is an avid researcher and a teacher, having an experience of more than 30 years. He himself has published over 100 research articles in international journals and conferences. He is also a Fellow member of Institution of Engineers, Calcutta, and Life member of Indian Society for Technical Education, New Delhi. He has visited top-ranked technical universities in the UK as part of his TEQIP activities during 2009-10.
