BBSBEC Fatehgarh

Major General (Dr.) Gurcharan Singh Lamba, VSM (Veteran) is the Principal at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College. A resourceful and innovative professional with 39 years of rich and diverse experience in the Indian Army. Proactively upgraded formal qualifications in both technical and managerial fields continuously at various stages of the career. Have an extremely strong background with excellent performance in Management of Academic Institutions of Army at higher and middle level. Read his interview here.

What is your philosophy of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

“It is essential to have a participative approach of leadership”

Participative and Consultative approach with senior colleagues and senior educationists in the environment. Have organized the process in two steps- Firstly a Higher Forum comprising all Heads and Deans and Secondly an Extended forum comprising all other faculty members in specific departments under respective Heads. Any suggestions and feedback coming from the Extended Forum through concerned Head / Dean in the Higher Forum becomes a valuable input for any decisions to be taken. Policy development and Policy changes are discussed, feedback and suggestions of extended forum evaluated and incorporated before finalizing the same.

How does the curriculum of Your College ensure the best practice of industry?

“We ensure that industry voids are filled through various technical seminars and Industry led Workshops”

The College is affiliated to IKG Punjab Technical University and has to follow the university curriculum. However, the Industry-Academia gap is well identified and addressed through various Seminars, expert lectures, industry visits, and an “Industry Week” is organized every semester. The college has maintained an excellent relationship with industry and has 37 standing MoUs across various verticals. Industry experts interact with pre-final and final year students and apprise them of industry-specific requirements. They help students in technical and communication skills requirements.

Check Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College Courses & Fees

Any insights into how your institute could be more welcoming to students of different races or economic backgrounds?

“We serve the rural population to uplift their economic status”

  • The college is mainly serving Rural India. BBSBEC creates awareness among the aspiring students to select the right course. It makes special efforts by conducting technical workshops at Schools and Polytechnics to provide awareness and conduct school-level technical competitions. Merit-based scholarships are also offered to deserving candidates.
  • The college is a Sikh minority institute. 50% of seats are reserved for students belonging to the Sikh community. Those seats are filled based on a Sikh Religion Exam (SRE) conducted every year.
  • The management also offers special scholarships to fatherless/parentless and low-income group students irrespective of caste and creed.

What do you think should be your institute’s top priority over the next 10 years?

“The College continues to improve its image by enhancing the quality of the teaching-learning environment and quality placements”

Our institute programs have been accredited by the NBA four times, and we have already fielded ourselves for NAAC. Due to COVID-19, the NAAC visit is pending. Also, special efforts are made to close the Industry-Academia gap by organizing Industry expert’s interaction, Internship in Industry with a stipend, Special Industry week every semester, and campus placement mela. We also give students option to gain unique training capsules at Centres of Excellence in Campus of RedHat, Microsoft, Oracle, Pearson, National Cyber Security Authority, and IIT Bombay (Spoken Tutorials). We wish to become an Autonomous College within the next five years.

When you first came to this college, what was your vision for the university? Has it evolved over time, and how far along in implementing that vision are you?

“Being an SGPC institute, the college is quite different from any other private college”

On joining, my Vision was to give a fillip to the institute's image by making the students better Industry fit engineers and instituting a responsible and transparent feedback system with all stakeholders. To this end, the following actions have been taken

  • Accreditations: BBSBEC was the first institute in its category in Punjab to get NBA accreditation in 2005 and 2008. However, with lapse of time the quality had deteriorated. There was an urgent need to enhance the same and field the college for NBA and NAAC accreditations. Accordingly, the college was prepared and got the NBA accreditation in 2016 and now in 2020. Also the college has already fielded itself for NAAC in 2019-20. 
  • Personality Enhancement Program (PEP): Special PEP has been instituted, which has shown very positive results and the quality and quantity of placements have increased multi-fold.
  • Industry Interaction: It was realized that structured interaction with various Industry verticals for different departments was needed. Special drive to involve industry and industry experts is regularly being conducted, and as a result, 37 standing MoUs now exist with the industry.
  • Research and Innovation Centre (RIC): An RIC has been established to provide a structured system to innovating minds and assist in registering patents. Fourteen patents have been filed since then, and two patents have already been granted. The budding entrepreneurs are encouraged and connected with guidance and hand-holding supporters from our alumni.
  • Formal Mentoring System: A mentoring system was introduced in 2014. Each student for his complete period of stay is assigned to a faculty member, a single point contact between parents and the college, who acts as a counsellor on all matters.
  • Alumni Connect: The College has more than 10,000 alumni, which are well placed and willing to help budding engineers from their Alma-mater. Unique Alumnus Society has been created by Alumni to provide structured guidance and assistance to the pre-final and final year students.

Click here Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College Placement

What would you like people to know about your College they may not know?

“Our experiential learning environment proves to be mettle for our institute”

The college has a vast pollution free campus of 75 acres with world-class infrastructure. A large number of highly experienced and qualified faculties with rich research avenues are available. The indoor and outdoor sports facilities and creative activity (co-curricular) clubs of all hues are active. Every student is encouraged to become part of one professional society, one sport and one creativity club for their all-round personality development. The college is a ‘Cat A’ training centre for ‘PMKVY’ and has introduced extra B. Voc courses in addition to BTech, MTech, MBA, BBA, and BCA programs.