Objectives
The institution was started in this rural belt with the sole aim of educating the underprivileged rural mass thereby uplifting the standard of their life. Since its inception, the institution has been continuously putting in great efforts relentlessly towards improving the quality of education imparted. With this end in mind, the infrastructure is upgraded every year and new courses are introduced year by year. To empower the students to get employment opportunities, many Value-added courses were introduced. Placement Training Cell is strengthened to such an extent that the number of placed students is on the increase every year.
Today’s world is becoming more and more competitive and hence students need to be highly competitive to become a success in life. To empower the students to crack the various competitive examinations conducted by state as well as central governments, banks etc., Mahendra Training Centre for Competitive Examinations (MTraCE) was established in the year 2017 joining hands with SAI IAS Academy, Chennai. Regular coaching has been given to students throughout the year by professionally qualified trainers. To begin with there was massive awareness among the students about competitive examinations. Students were able to get a clear picture of these examinations. Three students were selected for Tamilnadu Uniformed Services by Clearing Tamilnadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board(TNUSRB).
The Context
The primary aim of higher educational institutions is to produce responsible citizens who can take up the nation to the next level through education. Our institution provides ample opportunities to the students to look into their hidden potential and tap them towards excellence. The non-stop activities like Seminars, Workshops, Symposiums and Conferences on one side and various cultural activities on the other side go a long way to help the students explore their talents and groom them. As a result, the students are equipped with the necessary skills, both subject and communication, to face any kind of challenging situation in the future. The variety of programs that are offered both at the minors and majors are highly relevant and contemporary.
Practice
Most of the students admitted in to the institution are from the rural pockets of Salem and Namakkal districts. They are not exposed to English Communication, as they did their schooling in Tamil medium schools. It’s a marathon task that the faculty has to face and they put Himalayan efforts to teach them communication skills. It posed as an insurmountable challenge to teach them communicative skills in English, as they have to start from the fundamentals of English language.
Because it is a kind of transition for the first-year students coming to college from school for the first time, there needs to be an orientation program to make them acquainted with the new environment. The first years are facilitated with a week or ten-day-long orientation called “Bridge Course”.
The main objective of the course is to bridge the gap between subjects studied at school level and subjects they would be studying at Graduation. The purpose of a Bridge Course is to help students make an easy transition from high school to college by developing their academic skills and knowledge in languages, Mathematics and Science subjects.
Challenges Faced
As most of our students are hailing from rural areas and their medium of instruction happened to be only their mother tongue, it posed as an insurmountable challenge to teach them communicative skills in English right from the very fundamentals. Initially, the students too were a bit reluctant to attend the placement training sessions due to a lack of awareness and confidence. Subsequently, on seeing the improvement in the number of placed students, they came forward on their own. A few students were scared about losing their proficiency in the subject, in case they attended the placement training. However, in the course of time they were able to manage their time as such they stopped considering the training an obstacle for their subject preparation.
Value-added courses aim to provide additional learner-centric graded skill-oriented technical training with the primary objective of improving the employability skills of the students and also to provide an opportunity to the students to develop interdisciplinary skills.It is important for higher education institutions to supplement the curriculum to make students better prepared to meet industry demands as well as develop their own interests and aptitudes.
The students are facilitated with many value-added courses offered by different departments- Web Design and DTP by Computer Science, Mobile Phone Service and Trouble shooting for Electrical Appliances by Physics, Entrepreneurship in Chemistry by Chemistry, Quantitative Aptitude by Maths, e-Marketing by Commerce CA, Tally with GST by Commerce, Entrepreneurial skills by BBA, Enhanced Communicative skills by English, Mass Media by JMC, Statistical Package for Crucial Sciences by Statistics and Competitive Exam coaching by Tamil. The main objective of all these value-added courses is to enhance the employability skills of the students.
Testimonials for the Success of the programmes
‘Seeing is Believing’ goes the proverb. We can see discernable increase in the number of students getting placed in the on campus drives. There is improvement in the quantity and quality in the sense, that not only the number of placements went upbut also many flagship companies conducted their interview in the campus. Several Companies like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Service, Cognizant Technology Solutions. WIPRO, Accenture, Capgemini, Sutherland, Nokia Siemens Networks, Infoview, HGS, Tech Mahindra , HCL Etc. Visited our college and selected many students in the campus drive. While 63% of the outgone students got placed in the academic year 2016-17, the following academic years saw 66.5 %. The next academic year showed a steep increase in placement with 78%. Due to the advent of the Pandemic, the placement percentage plummeted in the following years.