Mr. Dr. K. Apparao has been working as the Principal of Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering, Krishna, Andhra Pradesh. He has more than 25 years of academic experience. He started his teaching career in 1998 as an Assistant Professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering itself. He has done B. Tech from Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Masters and Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from JNTU, Anantapur. He has published 27 research papers in various reputed National and International journals, besides a couple of patents to his credit. As a testament to his prolific research work, he has bagged funded projects worth 14 Lakhs from the UGC and AICTE. He is a member of various professional bodies including ISTE & IE(I) FIE and at present, he is supervising one Doctoral scholar.

Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

"Uncountable chances I get to interact to interact with young minds and experts being in the education sector has kept me associated here"

I firmly believe in the dictum ‘Education is for life’. And during my long professional career as an educator and administrator, I have always focused on staying connected with students and the issues that are critical to their all round development. Also, we maintain a close interface with the industry by nominating industry leaders into our highest decision making bodies like Governing and Academic Councils. In the whole process, it gives me immense chances to gain insights into industry needs and the skill scenario for timely reflection in our curriculum. Also, I regularly interact with fellow academicians in IITs, NITs and other eminent institutes to explore best academic practices for adoption.

Being the Principal of Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering, what is your philosophy of leadership?

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other and same philosophy I follow"

I truly believe that leaders are at best good learners and every leader irrespective of the domain that he or she represents should have a clear vision about the goals to be achieved. Hence being the Principal of this amazing institute, I look for sufficient delegation of responsibilities among my immediate team of educators and administrators like the Deans and HoDs and other senior personnel. In the academic ecosystem, our primary focus remains on empowering young minds through freedom of thinking, innovation and a sincere push for excellence in learning. I believe one attains ultimate success when talent is supported well by discipline and values. 

How do you strategize the key programs for the marketing and administration of your college?

"By making use of our social media handles and website to promote our college activities and achievements"

At LBRCE, strategic planning and decision making for administration and marketing of our institute takes place at different levels and after due deliberations, key programs and plans are structured and executed in a decentralized manner. Also, we make active use of digital print, electronic and social media and our college to highlight our college activities and achievements. And we have also subscribed to promotional activities in various newspapers, television channels and education fairs. In addition to this, our college billboards dot every vantage position in major places within Krishna District and we believe that our social service activities bring us much goodwill from the general population. These all factors together have kept me associated with the education sector for so long.

In your experience, what benefits students can gain from studying here in your college?

"Students will receive best education and amenities in our college"

Our education system is adopting global systems and standards very fastly and we are more than willing to consider Engineering education as a global phenomenon. And students after enrolling themselves with us to pursue their dream courses would receive amazing education, unmatchable learning and industrial exposure along with hands-on experience on latest technologies and lots of freedom in academic activities. Also we have given flexibility to our students in terms of courses, grades, specializations including minor/major degrees and exit options.

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How does the curriculum of your college ensure the best practices of industry?

"It is developed after rigorous consultation with industry experts and academicians"

We maintain continuous and engaging partnership with industry bodies and agencies to provide the best possible curriculum to the students so that they have the right skill sets, attitude and professional conduct before joining the corporate and government sectors. And we include all our stakeholders including faculty members, industry leaders, eminent academicians, students and parents in the whole process of curriculum development so that we can include their valuable inputs and suggestions in the form of amazing courses and training programs. And we update it every 2 years to ensure that we stay updated with the best practices of industry and we offer various certification courses like CCNA, AWS, Redhat, RPA, Salesforce, Microsoft Technologies, Autonomic Systems Anywhere and Service Now to our students. We have collaborated with the German Centre for Engineering and Management Studies & European Centre for Mechatronics APS GmbH, Aachen, Germany for advanced training of students in Robotics and also to make them industry ready. 

How is your institute more welcoming to students of different races or economic backgrounds?

"We offer scholarships to eligible and needy students from time to time"

Our honorable Chief Minister Sri. Jagan Mohan Reddy firmly believes that no child should be deprived of higher education due to any kind of financial constraints of the family. And students admitted through the AP state counseling process in our college can easily receive Government sponsored scholarships along with benefits of various social schemes. Also students belonging to socially and economically weaker sections of society are offered total fee waiver and other benefits as sanctioned by the AP State and Govt. of India followed by significant fee concessions to academically bright students. Our Chairman, Sri. Lakireddy Prasad Reddy has instituted a merit-cum-means scholarships worth 25 lakhs per annum in loving memory of his mother, which is presented every year to academic toppers.

What are your roles and responsibilities for the college and students?

"I am responsible for the complete management and supervision of college activities and education system"

As the principal, I am responsible to supervise and monitor all the academic and administrative activities of our college in compliance with standards set by AICTE, UGC, JNTUK University and Government of Andhra Pradesh. Also, being the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, I appoint the Faculty and Staff members, monitor admission process of our college, review curriculum and organize placement specific activities. In addition to this, supervising industry-institute interaction, college R&D activities and managing discipline and professionalism among students, faculty members and staff also comes under the scope of my responsibilities. Last but not the least, l am accountable to lead the various accreditation and assessment activities, including NBA and NAAC and I also serve as the Member Secretary of the college Trust and Governing Body and the chairman of the Academic council and the college Advisory Board. 

What do you think should be the Institute's top priority over the next 10 years?

"We should focus on developing our education quality, processes and R&D facilities"

I firmly believe that we should focus on improving our educational quality standards and processes so that we can register ourselves in the top 100 institutions in the NIRF ranking list. In addition to this, we should emphasize on enhancing our relationship and collaborations with reputed industries, research bodies and foreign universities for academic advancement and students skill enhancement. We also aspire to become a hub for R & D in emerging technologies like Blue Prism, Visual Augmentation, Cyber Security, Data science, Robotics, Hybrid Vehicle Technologies with more sanctioned projects and would like to see at least 50% of our students get actively engaged in research work, and place them in good companies with amazing packages. Lastly, we would like to see our alumni make a real impact in society and nation growth.

When you joined this college as an Assistant Professor, what was your vision for the college?

"Developing a dynamic academic system and making our college one of the top institute was my aim"

My association with the college is really long and my vision for it has evolved accordingly. So initially when I joined this institute as a faculty, my goal was to create a dynamic academic system for students where learning remains intellectually stimulating, creative and fun. I also wanted our college to be recognised by esteemed ranking agencies like NIRF, NBA and NAAC. Hence we are rigorously working as a team to enhance the overall learning, employability, entrepreneurship and research facilities in our college as our ultimate mission is to make our Institute one of the top institutes of India.

What would you like people to know about your college?

"Students will receive best education, job oriented skills and amazing industrial exposure here"

Our college is fairly popular among people of all regions of the state, yet we aspire to be recognized as an autonomous and independent institution at the national level. Hence, I would like to tell people that we provide quality education to young students and also offer them equal and fair opportunities to enhance their technical and employability skills irrespective of their financial or social status. In addition to this, customized training programs are provided to students and we have given academic flexibility to them through major and minor Degrees and a large number of electives, mostly interdisciplinary courses. Lastly, our clubs, career guidance division, associations, advanced labs, sports and yoga facilities help students to gain a holistic learning experience.

What do you see as your college's greatest strengths?

"Our college vision, faculty members and staff and college infrastructure makes us strong"

Our management’s vision and steadfast commitment to transform the socio-economic landscape of the region is our greatest strength. Apart from this, our highly qualified and experienced faculty members and staff, amazing physical and digital college infrastructure, advanced labs, industrial partners, dynamic teaching-learning system and robust R&D ecosystem are also our greatest assets which all makes us strong and resilient at the same time. 

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What are some of the biggest challenges you see for higher education in general?

"Gap between students skills and industrial requirements along with making students industry ready are real hurdles"

The biggest challenge which the higher education sector is facing currently is the lack of required skills in students as per industrial demands and Covid without any doubt has clearly made things much worse. Also making students capable enough so that they can visualize the social, economical and environmental problems and leverage technologies to find sustainable solutions for the future. In addition to this, developing a perfect curriculum in line with the sweeping changes caused by disruptive technologies at the global level is also a major hurdle which needs to be addressed at an earliest basis. Hence, we have to make learning stimulating and attractive for students in spite of the clear distractions and challenges surrounding it. 

Any suggestions which you would like to give to the current youth and aspiring students?

"Keep your technical concepts clear and have faith in yourself and your skills"

I would like to reassure the current youth that they must consider themselves as a blessed generation. And there are tremendous opportunities for them in every domain be it regular jobs, business, entrepreneurship, research, sports or wealth generation. So I would like to advise them to believe in themselves, stay dedicated towards their goals and also to develop social skills. Because conceptual clarity, proficiency in both Engineering and Human tools usage and a disciplined lifestyle will give them maximum success and happiness in life. 

What are some plans that you are currently designing for students?

"We are planning to admit foreign students once we will be granted University status"

As of now, we are not allowed to admit international students in our college. But hopefully, once we receive University status, we will be able to accept applications from overseas students and specifically from students belonging from SAARC nations, Middle East and East Asian countries.

How do you establish a healthy relationship and environment in your institute?

"By ensuring a transparent communication environment and focusing on students holistic development"

Our institute is focused on maintaining a healthy and stimulating environment for both its students and faculty. And we promote trustworthy and transparent communication between students and faculty through various committees like student council, academic committees, clubs, event organizing committees etc. In addition to this, we all work dedicatedly for the holistic development of students' personality by organizing different kinds of games, sports activities, yoga and career guidance sessions.