ICFAI University, Co-ordinator Faculty of Science & Technology: Dr. Manoranjan Dash Interview

Dr. Manoranjan Dash is presently serving as Co-ordinator Faculty of Science & Technology at ICFAI University, Raipur. He has a total experience of 9+ years in teaching and his research areas include Signal Processing, Biomedical Image Processing and Machine Learning. In addition, he has authored 9 International research publications and has completed a minor project by the Chhattisgarh Council of Science & Technology (CCOST) for 2016–2018. 

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Offering best professional support”

My role is to provide the necessary guidance and support to the students with regards to academic and other planned activities at our University. Also to facilitate the various developments in technology as well as a teaching methodology for the maximum benefit of students. I feel it is my responsibility to make the students understand the goals and objectives of our University so that when they pass out from here, they should be well established in society. I maintain an equal correlation with students as well as fellow faculty. An interface among the faculties and students is essential to thrive and to gain success.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects?

“Introducing industry relevant curriculum and projects”

At ICFAI University, we have designed the curriculum in such a way that all the courses are industry-oriented. Along with the curriculum-based academic delivery, our focus is to emphasize the recent advancements in that course in the classroom. Also, we focus on how a student can implement the same in practice at the industry level. We update the courses regularly so that when the students are up to date and comfortable with the modern technology being used in the industry. Apart from the curriculum teaching, we provide various case studies to the students to improve their thought processes as well.

What best practices do you offer that help students gain necessary skills? 

“Inculcating value-added course lines and related practices”

Apart from the technical or core field courses, we offer various other basic elementary courses such as the English language, Environmental study, Economics, Statistics, etc. These courses are very much essential with regards to social usability. We focus on the application part of the theory a lot, we discuss with the students how things that we are studying can be put into practice in the real world. In addition, we focus on the literature survey i.e. what exactly is going on in the market with regards to the technology front. After analyzing those techniques, we modify our teaching methodology so that students can meet the requirements of the industry.

How do you strategize the curriculum to make it befitting for the students?

“Expert advisory from industry and professionals”

The main agenda of our course curriculum design is to bridge the gap between academia and industry. So, to achieve that before the start of every semester we used to take the concern of external experts from academic as well as industrial fields. Those experts include people from NITs, IITs as well. Based on their views and opinions, we modify our course structure through the Board of Studies. We only approve a certain course once the Board gives the final approval. This way we are able to deliver the best courses to the students in our University.

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How do you prepare students for higher education and placements? 

“Guiding and grooming required knowledge and skills”

The first step is to identify the interest of a student before providing him or her the necessary guidance and support. If a student wants to opt for higher studies, then, we focus more on core technical preparation, and if a student chooses for placement, then we provide all kinds of support at our end to place the student. We take a lot of classes for competitive exams preparation as well so that our students can crack any exam. As far as the placement part is concerned, we are imparting courses that focus on the soft skills of the students so that they do not face any challenge in the communication part when they go into the industry. We groom and upgrade them properly for placements through mock interviews, training, etc. 

How do you help your student to cope up with the highly competitive scenario?

“Motivation and encouragement through various events”

Practice and one’s own interest are crucial to meet any kind of competition. So we conduct various competitive skill-based activities at the university level to groom the students so that they can engage with the outside world. We conduct a survey on the exams of the last 2-3 years and strategize accordingly so that we can prepare our students for the hard competition. We organize different kinds of academic as well as non-academic activities during the session as well. Academic activities such as techfest and robotics are done frequently to boost the morale of student’s interest. Also, we encourage the students to take part in non-technical events like cultural fests, inter and intra University competitions so that they can improve their personality and confidence.

How does the University prepare the faculty according to the industry standards?

“Enhancing skills through various programs”

To enhance the skill of faculties, we organize various faculty development programs at our premises based on diverse topics and disciplines. Also, we encourage them to participate in the developmental programs, workshops and seminars organized in nearby places and institutes. So every time they attend such programs they get an upgrade in their skill set which helps us to improve the standard of education in our University. 

What do you see as the ICFAI University’s greatest strengths?

“Strong ethics and guiding alumni”

We follow all the guidelines provided by UGC and the State Government. We strictly adhere to the 75% attendance guidelines, we do not allow such students to sit in exams who do not meet the minimum attendance mark. As a group, we are having more than 80000 alumni which benefits us to connect our students for placement. They are all placed in good companies so they also provide us with the inputs on what skill set the industry wants from the students. 

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What valuable advice would you like to give to the students?

“Development of a student is a two-directional effort”

My sincere advice to the students is that they should follow all the instructions, guidelines, and paths of faculty during their stay on the campus. They should learn and grasp all the things that are taught to them. Because without the interest and support of a student, faculty alone cannot bring the change. It has to be done at both ends.