Interview by Yash Panchal

Dr. Amit Kumar Aditya, SKFGI

Prof. (Dr.) Amit Kumar Aditya is currently working as the Director at SKFGI. His educational qualifications include B.E.Tel.E, M.Tech, and Ph.D. He holds an experience of 30 years in teaching and 3 years in research. His research papers have been published in 6 international journals, and in 4 national and 2 international conferences.

Dr. Aditya is a Fellow member of Institute of Engineers, Member of IEEE (USA) and Life Member of India Society for Technical Education. He has guided 25 projects at UG level, 1 project at PG level and 2 at a Ph.D. level to his credit.

Dr. Aditya’s experience in the education industry

Prior to joining this industry, I was associated with the tea industry. After that, I joined the education industry and I found that there is a place where you grow and share your knowledge which also increases by sharing. So, this is an area where I found it very interesting as to how things work together in a holistic fashion. For instance, when you impart some knowledge to the students and the students impart it among themselves when they discuss or ponder on the topic, they get to learn new things apart from the knowledge they got from their teacher. So, in a way, there is no bound to the extent of knowledge you can learn in this industry.

Difference between the quality of education in India with that of the other countries

In India, the quality of education in the education system itself is very exam oriented, students end up spending most of their time preparing for exams. Real learning and knowledge assimilation are not being done, the innovativeness is much less in our system of education. Now, the Government and other education boards are trying to bring in that but I don't know how long will it take to implement the idea for a better learning curriculum. Unless there is no innovativeness or creativeness like education in America or other developed countries, there won’t be any advancement. Students here are very much burdened with the pressure of just preparing for exams and tests.

Significant challenges faced by Dr. Aditya as the Director of SKFGI

The most challenging thing in SKFGI is the students because being a new college, the quality of students that we get is not up to the mark where we envision SKFGI to be as. Moreover, we cater to students with not that much strong financial background and yet they are looking for quality education. We believe with our dedication and proper nurturing; we would be advancing along with students to a quality of education that would be known throughout.

SKFGI

Growth of students through placement opportunities available at SKFGI

We are giving them a lot of opportunities for the placement but yet the success rate is not up to the mark as per our expectations. What we are doing is that now we are concentrating more on preparing the students for the placements rather concentrating only on the placements. So, we are to bring in a lot of changes in the system in terms of Vocational training and how they present themselves for the placement.  At the same time, these training courses are being embedded in the college curriculum as well so that the students not only study about the course they are studying, but they also are prepared to face the challenges that world brings after their college.

SKFGI

Read more about SKFGI Placements

Dr. Aditya on how to build a positive culture or climate among the students

We ensure that by holding a lot of cultural activities in the college, we have different sports activities as well through which we make sure we build the spirit of teamwork and nurture friendships among them.

Curriculum of SFKGI

Our curriculum is based on the MACAUT curriculum but instead of that, we allow things beyond the curriculum. We invite successful people from the relevant industry so that we bring that inspiration for innovativeness and creativity they require. We also make sure that they are updated with the current ongoings in the industry as well.

Read more about SKFGI Faculty

Dr. Aditya on establishing a relation with the students being the Director of the College and his availability for them

From the first year, I meet all the students once or twice a semester in our seminar hall and deliver a motivational lecture to them, bring in some clarity about how their objectives should be and how they can make the most of their time in SKF. Also, I incline them towards their major priorities like their responsibility as a student, son or daughter and more importantly, being a student of SKF.

And also I make sure I’m always available, I move around the campus welcoming any query or conversation they come along with. Whenever I find a good gathering of students, I do ask them questions about their well-being on the campus and how are they feeling!

Goals in mind for the college for the next few years

The first goal which I have is to bring our students to the quality we expect them to be through our curriculum. Apart from Engineering, we are starting some out of the boxes courses which are in the process right now. We are moving towards more research grants and welcoming more research work that we get. Our teachers need to be more motivated to ensure a better education. These are just short-term plans, to be honest, but I expect the long-term goals to bring changes to a great extent.

Suggestions for the current youth

I want my students to become responsible citizens first, they shouldn't run only after jobs and preparing for them, they should also pursue their passion and become a responsible person and a better human being.