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| Saturday, June 28, 2008
Mannar Jawahar takes over as new Anna University V-C
He looks forward to signing more memoranda of understanding
with corporates
Chennai: From research collaborations and incubation centres
to improving employability and placement, the relationship between
academia and industry plays a significant role in the plans
that Anna University-Chennai’s new Vice Chancellor P.
Mannar Jawahar is laying out for his tenure.
On Friday, Dr. Jawahar was appointed Vice-Chancellor by Governor
and University Chancellor Surjit Singh Barnala, who reminded
him of his “very big responsibility” in setting
the agenda for the university’s four constituent colleges
as well as its 108 affiliated colleges for the next three years.
Dr. Jawahar takes over from D. Viswanathan, whose term ended
on Thursday.
In implementing his industry-oriented plans, Dr. Jawahar will
be able to draw from the experience and contacts gained in his
former position as director of the institution’s Centre
for University Industry Collaboration, responsible for placements
and training.
He looks forward to signing more memoranda of understanding
with corporates, and promised that all existing and future agreements
would be carried through to fruitful partnerships.
“More collaborative research projects are needed...Tamil
Nadu has a concentration on two sectors, IT (information technology)
and auto, both of which hire a lot of manpower from our colleges.
An incubation centre is especially needed for these sectors,”
he said, in a meeting with reporters soon after taking charge.
An incubation centre will help students and faculty to do industry-relevant
research that could result in actual patents and work on projects
with industry applications, he said. The university would also
consider launching new post-graduate courses in the cutting
edge techniques used in international industry, he said, naming
M.E. degrees in Auto Electronics and Embedded Systems engineering
as possible new courses.
Dr. Jawahar’s other main thrust area will involve improving
the employability and placement of the university’s graduates,
especially those from less known self-financing colleges. “If
students are given quality education, the placement record will
be satisfactory. The most important thing is to improve faculty
strength and faculty quality. We will take also steps to improve
infrastructure,” he said.
Faculty training, tele-education, EDUSAT programmes and regular
checks on the quality of teaching and facilities will be some
of the tools toward this goal. “If they [affiliated colleges]
do not meet the requirements, we will give them a warning and
if they still do not meet expectations, then we will de-affiliate
them,” he warned.
With 30-odd new engineering colleges likely to open their doors
in the State this year despite 10,000 seats going vacant last
year, Dr. Jawahar emphasised the need for maintaining quality
in order to continue attracting new students. “Intake
depends on output quality...It’s a cyclical process,”
he said.
Disciplinary rules
Dr. Viswanathan had introduced several disciplinary rules for
students, imposing a dress code and banning cell phones.
Dr. Jawahar wants the dress code to continue, but is relaxing
the cell phone ban to a certain extent — while students
may bring phones onto campus, they must keep them switched off
during working hours.
“If a cell phone is not switched off in the classroom,
we will take very severe action.”
Dr. Jawahar was a student on the university’s campus himself,
obtaining his B.E. in Automobile Engineering at the Madras Institute
of Technology, before going on to complete an M.E. from the
PSG College of Technology and a Ph.D. from IIT-Delhi.
He has taught at Anna University since 1978.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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