‘We hope to admit students from outside Kerala’: CET Trivandrum principal

NEW DELHI: The College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) recently garnered national attention as seven of its alumni were revealed to be among the mission directors of Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Chandrayaan 3. JS Savier, principal of CET, spoke to Careers360 about the legacy of CET, its alumni, the challenges it faces in terms of national reputation, and its plans for the upcoming years. Edited excerpts below.

Q. How do you reflect on the legacy of College of Engineering Trivandrum?

CET was established in 1939 when it had only three branches – electrical, mechanical, and civil. There were only 21 students in each branch. It has since grown into an institution with over 5,000 students.

Currently, we have eight undergraduate, 31 postgraduate, and PhD programmes. Not only in ISRO, but many of the leading research organisations are being led by our alumni. We also have alumni who have been founders of software companies, such as EST Global.

CET is the first preference of engineering aspirants in Kerala. There is Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Palakkad and National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut, but those are central institutions. Admission is through the Kerala Engineering, Architecture, and Medical Entrance Exam (KEAM) and the first preference is given to our institute.

Q. Does it have a similar reputation outside Kerala?

No. As per the Kerala government rules, we cannot admit students from outside the state. We have already brought this matter to the notice of the government and the government is considering it. We are hopeful that in the coming years, we will be able to admit students from outside Kerala and outside the country as well.

Q. How is this affecting the institution?

This is affecting the institution negatively, a little bit. We are getting enquiries from many states on admission here. If we get brilliant minds from other states also, that will improve how we are perceived.

We have the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme, so some students from Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states are being admitted as Government of India special nominees to BTech courses. The problem is that engineering admissions are based on Class 12 marks and KEAM, which is conducted by Kerala.

For MTech courses, there is no issue of admitting students from outside Kerala. There is a very limited number of students from outside the state in these courses.

Q. What are the popular courses at CET?

For undergraduate students, the first preference is the computer science course of CET among all the engineering courses in the state. Second, it is generally electronics and communications. Then, it may be mechanical and electrical.

For MTech programmes, it varies. Structural engineering is the most popular in civil engineering. Based on demand, we are adding one more batch in this coming year. Also, we have cyber security, artificial intelligence, robotics – all being preferred by MTech students.

Q. Are you introducing any new courses?

In the coming year, we are adding a new BTech course on electrical and computer engineering. This is considering the importance of computer engineering and that many of the students of electrical background are going for software jobs. We have already received the AICTE approval for this. It is now under the consideration of the government.

We are discussing creating MTech courses in specific areas such as electric vehicles and robotics with the industries.

Q. The institute was ranked at 71 in NIRF 2019 and now it has fallen to the 150-200 bracket. What happened?

We are considering this as a priority over the last two years. This is mainly due to the COVID-19 scenario due to which budget utilisation was very minimal. Even though the rankings are declining, our scores are similar. We are losing marks on research and perception. We are making an effort to see that we get into the top 100 soon.

Also, we are trying to make sure that the data is accurate. Earlier, the mechanism to communicate this was limited. Now, we are doing this through the proper channel. We feel that the university should be placed between 60-70. Again, the ranking system also has a defect. It is considering the number of PhD students in an institution. That is definitely the wrong way. We are in the process of making a representation to the ministry and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for correcting anomalies in the ranking system.

Q. What’s happening with research? And how is it affecting the rankings?

We cannot compare the number of students in an IIT with CET. We have 225 research scholars while IIT Madras has over 2,000. So, definitely the output from IIT Madras will be higher. The majority of our scholars are also part-time.

In three years, we are planning to have 50 patents per year. We are planning to have 300 research papers per year in addition to this.

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Q. Are you getting enough funds?

We are, but there may be some delays. For instance, if we want to construct a hostel, it may take two years. We have to get all the approvals from the government which takes a lot of time. As of now, we are getting whatever we are asking under different schemes.

We have consultancy work and we generated internal revenue of almost Rs 6 crore in the last year. Also we are the approved testing centre for many electrical and electronic devices. Here also we are generating some revenue.

In addition to this, we are in the process of tapping into our alumni strength. We have 50,000-plus alumni. We are in the process of initiating constant support from them. An alumnus has also donated Rs 25 lakh for the construction of two floors in the campus.

Q. What are the future objectives of the institute?

In five years, our prime target is to be in the top 50 in NIRF rankings. We are working towards increasing the publications, patents and improving perception. We are also planning to introduce courses in collaboration with industries. We are in discussion with industries for offering joint MTech courses. We are exploring areas of robotics, space technology, and intelligent transportation systems for new courses at the undergraduate level.

Also, there is a scheme from the Directorate of Technical Education, which allows industries to be set up on the campus. We are in discussion with several industries. This will result in collaborations and our students can be given internships. ‘Earn while you learn’ schemes can also be implemented.

Q. What challenges are you facing?

The major challenge is that we are an affiliated system and we come directly under the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. We are not able to change the syllabus directly since we are affiliated. We have already approached the government for academic autonomy and it is being considered. Once that is there, we will be able to start short-term and online courses.

Q. What about placements?

We are having good placements in Kerala. Some students are getting offers up to Rs 35 lakh per year. Companies like Texas Instruments were offering around Rs 25 lakh. The core companies are software based firms and there, the average salary may be of the order of Rs 7 lakh. BOSCH recruited more than 150 students last year.