Domain Specific Training for Enhancing Placements
Objectives of the Practice:
To train the students on specific domain as per the industry vertical and make them industry ready. The students thus trained need not undergo training after recruitment and will be able to get inducted in to the project with shorter training.
The context:
The requirement of industries have changed, earlier industries recruit fresher as trainees and provide training in the specific technology as per the requirement for a period of 3 to 6 months in the industry premises. After the training they are inducted in the project. But in the recent days the recruitment model has changed. The industries rely on domain specific hiring. They hire the students with skills in specific domain and induct them in the project without any major training. Thus industries cut down the expenses incurred in training on technologies. As the hired students have domain specific skills, they are billable from day one.
The Practice:
KIOT has good industry linkages. Suggestions and inputs are obtained from the industry personnel to identify the thrust areas. The training is accordingly planned.
Industrial hiring has taken a drift from mass hiring to bucket hiring. To adopt to the changes in industry recruitment process, KIOT has evolved the practice of training the students in niche areas/technologies on various domains of different branch. Centre of Excellence(CoE) on technologies with demand are created with industry linkages. Students are trained during the 6th and 7th semesters on specific technologies through the COEs.
The students trained through COEs enhance their skill in the particular technology domain. This helps them in getting placed in different industries looking for such domain specific skill sets. Industries come for recruitment to KIOT to recruit such students for their specific domains.
The following are few COE based industry training given to the students
- Composite Research Centre for product design, digital manufacturing and Technical Documentation was established in association with Harita Techser Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore, to train the students on Solid Modeling and Analysis
- Centre of Excellence on Data Science was established in association with Virtusa, Chennai to train the students on Big data and Data analytics
- Centre of Excellence for Industrial Automation in association with GENN automation, Coimbatore to train the students on Industrial Drives
- Centre for Sustainable Building Research in association with USGBC to train the students to get LEED certification
- Centre of Excellence on Embedded systems in association with STEPS knowledge services Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore to train the students on embedded systems
- Centre for Japanese Language training
Students are encouraged to learn foreign language especially Japanese through the center for foreign language. Since 2017 students are trained on Japanese language in association with ABK-AOTS ERODE CHAPTER. Dedicated trainers are available in the campus to train the students. A native Japanese trainer gives training to the students for advanced level certification.
Evidence of success:
The training given to the students through the COE have earned job offers from various industries.
The following are the details of impact of the domain specific training
- Around 60 – 80 Mechanical Engineering students are trained every year in “Modeling and analysis” through Composite Research Centre for product design, digital manufacturing and Technical Documentation in association with Harita Techser Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore. Among the trained students 80% of them are placed in Harita Techser Pvt. Ltd. and other Industries
- Every year 30 to 40 students are trained on “Data Science” through the COE in association with Virtusa, Chennai. Among the trained students around 25 students gets employment in Virtusa.
- Training on “Embedded systems” is provided to around 30 students every year through the COE on Industrial Automation in association with GENN automation, Coimbatore. The trained students got placement offers in core industries like VVDN Technologies, Tata Communications etc.,
- Every year 20 students are trained in Centre for Sustainable Building Research (LEED) in association with USGBC to get LEED certification. The certified students got placement offers from Innowell Pvt. Ltd.
- STEPS knowledge services Pvt. Ltd, Coimbatore, train around 40 students every year on “Embedded Technologies and IoT” through the COE at KIOT. Among the trained students 25 to 30 got placed in industries like G.G.Tronics Pvt Ltd., Robert Bosch, Jasmine Infotech, Yamaha Motor Electronics India Pvt, Ltd., etc.,
Every year Japanese trained students appear for JLPT (Level N5-N3) and get certification. The students with N5 and higher certifications are recruited by HCL, TCS, CTS and Japanese companies. Around 35 students gets placement only through the Japanese language certification.
Problem Encountered and Resources Required:
The following are the major problems encountered during execution
- Students find it difficult to balance regular academics and industry specific training
- Faculty members are loaded with additional workload
- Few of the trained faculty resign due to various reasons, creating the non-availability of trainers
- Sometimes, if the demand in the industry are low, the students could not get job in trained domain
- Availability of industry resource persons to train the students
- Changes in policy of the industries, to support such COEs
Linked Industry Labs : CIVIL CSE ECE EEE MECH
Experiential Learning (Make A Product) Leading to Contest Participation And Placements
Objectives of the Practice:
- To make the students apply the learning to solve problems and show case their ability to provide solutions in common forum
- To execute the innovative ideas of students in modern era as projects/products
- To enrich their professional skills to become real world industry ready engineers
The context:
Producing skilled and employable engineers is a fundamental requirement of any institution to satisfy the current industrial needs. At the same time, there is a gap existing between curriculum and industry needs. The students learn the prescribed syllabus but do not apply it in solving the real world problems.
The Practice:
KIOT has the practice of making the students learn by doing. Technical clubs are created in every branch to facilitate the students to get trained on such domains using academic and industry linked labs, students carryout MAP.
Make A Product (MAP) is the practice in which the students as a team create applications for a specific problem. Second and third year students submit the idea to the Faculty mentors. They guide the students to implement the idea and show case it during the exhibitions and project contests.
The students as a team create products and exhibit it in contests at national level. Contest participation brings an exposure to the students with knowledge sharing among the peer contestants from various states and from various institutions. The ideas and suggestions given by the evaluators provide a platform for the students to commercialize/patent their products.
Government of India organizes “Smart India Hackathon” for students to exhibit their technical ability to provide solutions for the problems given. Many industries follow contest based hiring for their recruitment process. Google codejam, TCS CodeVita, TCS Ninja, ZOHO Cliq Trix, UiPath RPA Challenge, Virtusa Neural Hack, Quest Global Ingenium, etc., are some of the contests in which KIOT students have participated and won awards and placement offers.
Evidence of success:
Problem Encountered and Resources Required:
Experiential learning, Make A Product requires students involvement, support from the industry and financial support.