ABES Engineering College Professor and Head of Department: Dr Hemant Ahuja Interview

Dr Hemant Ahuja is the Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad. He is also actively coordinating the Internal Quality Assurance Cell at this college. He has over 20 years of rich and extensive experience in academics and Industry. He received his B. Tech with honours in Electrical Engineering and did M.Tech. in Energy and Environmental Management with Gold Medal from Indian institute of Technology Delhi. He has also completed his Ph.D. in 2013 from the same Institution. His area of expertise includes Electrical Machines, Power Electronics and Wind energy conversion systems. He has seven patents published to his credit and completed two research projects funded under TEQIP-III. 

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Provide the academic leadership and develop strategies to provide excellence in academics”

My major responsibility towards students is to ensure their holistic development. It majorly includes the enhancement of knowledge in their domain of study, technical skills and soft skills. The idea is to provide the best possible experience to students by carving the three-domain of their development viz. cognitive, psychomotor and affective domain. Creating a dynamic and innovative learning environment for students and promoting integrity and ethics in all endeavours is among my major roles as the head of the department.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students?

“Goal identification and providing the necessary infrastructure for success”

We believe in the clear identification of students’ goals and interests, right at the time of entry to the engineering department. The department offers value-added courses to students according to their interest and strengths. Additionally, the institute has a dedicated team that works on the development of soft skills and IT skills needed for placements. The department encourages and supports students in participating and achieving in extra-curricular activities.

What are the challenges you are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department?

“Few courses lack the industry connect and contemporary industry needs”

• The department faces challenges while adopting any new curriculum or training program because it has limited rights to upgrade the existing syllabus. The department offers value added courses to cater this challenge. 
• Not all students have well equipped IT-enabled infrastructure at home hence getting the excellent outcome from online classes is a challenge. 
• 85% admission is taken through the government entrance exam which follows minimum percentage criteria as decided by AICTE. This limits the right to select quality students. We have a dedicated team of hardworking faculty members who mentors each and every student to make them compete with the outer World.
• Diversity and medium of education is yet another challenge that the departments face.

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How does the curriculum of your department ensure the best practice of the industry?

“Identifying the gap in the curriculum and making industry-oriented changes accordingly” 

• The gaps are identified by taking expert advice from Academia and Industry professionals through various surveys, Alumni Interaction and regular feedback during placement drives. 
• We do involve the industry in designing the curriculum of our value-added and industry-oriented programs.
• We have also developed specialized labs (Centre of Excellence) for the students to provide them with hands-on experience. These labs are established in collaboration with the industries like Rockwell Automation, National Instruments and SMC Pneumatics.

How does the department enhance the skills of the faculty?

“A strong platform for research, innovation, and professional development offered”

The department encourages the faculty members to establish linkages with industry and academia. MoUs and their related activities are a common practice in the department. The department promotes a platform for faculty members to innovate and create new products. The faculty members are engaged in consultancy projects with Industry. They are promoted to pursue research and publish their work in refereed journals, and in National and international conferences. Faculty members are provided with travel grants and registration fees for attending conferences and programs for self-development. 

What are the interventions you bring in apart from the curriculum to train the students?

“Value-added courses, technical trainings, industry internships and live student projects”

The gaps in curriculum and the actual trends of the industry are bridged through the additional courses offered to the students. These additional courses include specialized training on the recent trends in the industry. The department provides knowledge beyond the curricular domain, as per the latest industrial inclinations. The quality of student projects and industrial training and internship is also ensured by a well-placed mechanism. Further, the students are engaged in consultancy projects based on real-time industrial problems through our dedicated department for industrial consultancy.

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What do you see as the department’s greatest strengths?

“A well established, outcome-based teaching and learning system exists in the department”

• The department has a strong infrastructure to run all the courses in curriculum as well as beyond curriculum.
• The department is accredited by NBA for its adherence to high standards of academic quality and infrastructure. 
• The department has a robust industry-academia interface which helps to run detailed training programs and project-based learning.
• Anytime, Anywhere learning: ICT enabled infrastructure at the department is well placed to provide flexibility and comfort in teaching and learning.
• Transparent HR policies and operations to promote equality, research, innovation and to reduce ambiguity. 

What valuable advice would you like to the students for a prosperous career ahead?

“To believe in ‘Learning by doing’ and implementing it in daily life”

I wish to convey that in today’s world, only theoretical knowledge will not sustain. The students need to learn relevant skills and develop the right attitude. Being the core engineer, I see a great future in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Our students should strive to develop a strong foundation with a prime focus on attaining lifelong learning.