Dr. V.V.A.S. Lakshmi is an accomplished academician with a proven track record of 21 years in teaching. As the Head of the Department, she has made significant contributions to the field of education and demonstrated exemplary leadership. With over 40 published research papers in renowned national and international journals, Dr. Lakshmi showcases her expertise and deep understanding in her area of specialisation. Her guidance as a co-guide to Mr. D. Murli Krishna Reddy, a research scholar at Annamalai University, further attests to her commitment to fostering research excellence.

Dr. Lakshmi possesses a clear vision and excellent interpersonal skills to effectively engage with faculty and students across diverse academic levels. She emphasises the development of each student’s creative potential and prioritises their overall welfare. Additionally, she provides valuable guidance to the faculty, ensuring the department’s and institution’s objectives are met. As the Head of the Department, Dr. V.V.A.S. Lakshmi’s exceptional leadership, passion, and dedication to academic excellence inspire both faculty and students. Her remarkable impact on the institution underscores her outstanding contributions and commitment to education.

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Narasaraopeta Engineering College

Being a head of department of college, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

As the Head of the Department, my primary responsibilities are to create a healthy environment to support student development. I have to support and encourage the students to participate in various types of events. It is also my responsibility to manage the departmental resources efficiently and on par with institutional policies. Overall, I need to be an efficient leader who ensures the department is functioning smoothly.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

Building healthy relationships with the students and fellow faculty takes time but it helps a lot in the development of the department. For this, I follow some strategies, like encouraging the students and faculty to come up with their queries, answering their queries with patience, communicating with them very transparently and clearly, collecting feedback regularly, and encouraging teamwork.

How do you try to bring in practical approach towards subjects and make it industry oriented?

Before designing and finalising the curriculum, we gather feedback from students, faculty and industry personnel. Based on their feedback, incorporating the required practical subjects into the curriculum is a major thing. Another thing is to enrich the knowledge of students and faculty. We planned to conduct one workshop for students and one faculty development program for faculty related to advanced technology each semester. We encourage the students to pursue internships as well.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students which help them gain necessary skills?

Some of the best practises offered by our department that help to gain the necessary skills are; our enriched curriculum that is up to date with industry trends. We offer continuous support, guidance and encouragement to the students to participate in various activities. Our faculty members also take part in mentoring to counsel and guide our students. There are also mandatory internships, workshops, seminars and guest lectures, along with campus recruitment training, for the benefit of the students.

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How do you strategize the curriculum and how often it gets updated to make it befitting for the students? 

Our curriculum gets updated regularly, i.e., at least once every three years. Before doing these updates, we gather feedback and opinions from existing students, industry professionals, the department advisory board, and eminent professors from IITs, NITs, and universities. We understand how our curriculum and subjects are lacking and will include those changes.

What are your views upon the placements and higher education about the students from your department or how does your department prepare students for higher education?

In my view, both higher education and placements have equal importance. To support both of these, we undertake numerous activities. For placements, our college starts campus recruitment training from the second year onward. Beyond that, we also have special training for advanced learners, which starts from the first year onwards. For higher education, we conduct various career counselling programs.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world? 

To empower our students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to excel in the competitive world, we support them through mentoring and career counselling. We also encourage them to participate in various events offered by other institutions. By networking with alumni engagement and by offering resources to become entrepreneurs, we try to ensure our students are ready to tackle the job world.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to the real-world challenges?

As the Head of Department, I always encourage conducting extracurricular activities and programs aimed at enhancing the skills of students and exposing them to real-world challenges. These extracurricular initiatives can complement the academic curriculum and provide valuable opportunities for personal and professional growth. Some examples of such activities and programs are conducting workshops, scheduling guest lectures, scheduling seminars, conducting technical events and encouraging students to complete NPTEL and other online certifications.

How does the curriculum of your department/college ensures the best practice of the industry? 

Apart from the university nominee, we include eminent personalities from IITs, NITS, and the software industry in the BoS. We incorporate the technologies into the curriculum based on the suggestions of the members. As industry personnel are also on the board of studies, based on their feedback, we will fulfil the needs of the industry by including the related contents in the curriculum.

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How does the department/ college/University enhance the skills of the faculty and prepares them according to the industry standards?

As a part of enhancing the skills of faculty and preparing them as per industry standards, our department takes various initiatives. Every faculty member should complete at least one NPTEL in a year. We also attend and organise FDPs. Financial support is offered for attending workshops, seminars, FDPs and paper publications. These initiatives ultimately benefit both faculty members and students by ensuring a high-quality and industry-relevant educational experience.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to train/teach the students? 

In addition to the curriculum, our department employs a variety of interventions and approaches to train and educate the students effectively. We have peer learning where students help each other study and grow together. We have a flipped classroom system and offer an experiential learning system. Moreover, we offer numerous cross-disciplinary electives. For financially weaker students and to encourage meritorious students, we have financial support for professional body memberships. We also have extracurricular and co-curricular activities for dynamic growth.

What do you see the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

Our qualified, experienced, and committed faculty add on to our strengths as without them our students would not be able to succeed. We use strategic planning to plan curriculum upgrades and activities. We offer professional development for the students before they start working. Our innovative curriculum with state-of-the-art laboratories assists the students with their learning. We also maintain transparency and communication among all stakeholders.

What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead? 

I would advise students to set clear goals. Be disciplined and maintain punctuality. Continuous learning is important to stay competitive. More concentration is necessary for practical learning.

Participate in extra and co-curricular activities and spend time building a professional network. However, also try to maintain good relationships within this network.