Dr. D. Gunasekaran is the Registrar at GITAM Visakhapatnam. He has served at IIT Kharagpur for twenty years and has worked as a Registrar at two central universities, including IIT Bhubaneswar. Dr. Gunasekaran also served as a member of an administrative reforms committee appointed by the Government of West Bengal to recommend changes in the system of administration. Before joining GITAM, he worked as a Registrar at a private university for three years.

GITAM Visakhapatnam

You have worked in IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bhubaneshwar, and various prestigious institutes. What is something about GITAM that excited you to come along with the institution on the journey?

I worked through various government organizations and systems. What I like about GITAM is the freedom we have to try out new things. GITAM provides enough freedom to bring in best practices. Unless you are given freedom, you will not be in a position to identify the best practices that are suitable for the organization's implementation. We are also given the freedom to experiment and discover new things.

GITAM has a goal of becoming one of the top 200 institutions internationally, by 2040. What kind of strategies you are implementing from your side as a registrar towards the 2040 Goal?

In order to achieve the goal of being in the top 200, we need to work as a team. We have to develop our organisation in many different ways. We have a large spectrum of activities in the university system, both on the academic side and in the administration portion. We have identified what we should do in the next one to two years as a short-term goal but we also have plans for the next ten years. We will keep adding programs and improvements that will be done according to requirements. To enable us to move without any friction, we have done a lot of homework.

What kind of care is taken care of the needs of various stakeholders from the administration department side to provide a smooth experience within the organization?

We believe that the administrative portion of our college should have more transparency in its processes. We must also have clear administrative support and services. Although we have processes and policies in place to meet these services, there will be grey areas. We should aim for a policy and process-driven system in the university. Whenever a policy is formed, the old policies can be revisited. We can introspect and figure out what changes are required. We also need to make sure we are meeting the requirements of our internal bodies and external organizations such as the Bar Council, UGC, National Medical Commission, etc.

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What are the aspects that GITAM is focusing on, in terms of enhancing its culture and environment within the university?

There are several by-products that need to be focused on to achieve a better status globally. We need to have good faculty, students, non-teaching staff, and a good ecosystem, we need to have all the ingredients required for quality education. Tomorrow, our students should not feel like fish out of water. They should be aware of the global environment. In a global university, students come from different states and learn from each other, they learn more from the environment, In the hostels, in the playgrounds, and in the library. Just technical knowledge alone will not make students eligible to work in the industry and live in society. There have to be other attributes, all of which are created in the environment.

What kind of various career growth support systems is GITAM providing to its students, in terms of assistance and guidance?

Not only do we have a good placement department, but we also go beyond placements. We help our students get admission to good universities abroad for higher education. We also provide a lot of support for people who want to become entrepreneurs. We have something called the VDC - Venture Development Centre, where we have partnered with Northeastern University, Boston and we are providing an entrepreneurship program to all the students who join GITAM.

Can you mention a few unique factors that you can quote about GITAM?

GITAM provides scope for the students to think new, think big, and think outside the box. We encourage our students to experiment instead of being afraid of the results. We cultivate a risk-taking attitude, and it is a big attempt to motivate innovators and great thinkers to come forward with new ideas. We are working with VDC towards that goal.

To meet these things, we have implemented several branches of research, improved our teaching-learning process, and done a massive restructuring of the curriculum. We see what the industry needs in India and globally, think ahead, and plan our curriculum. We want all our students to not become outdated and unwanted. We invite industry experts to our campus to discuss real-time problems, and their requirements and to give advice to students. We also have collaborations with Indian, foreign, and international industries and institutions where we learn from and benefit from each other.

Can you explain us about prominence GITAM gives in developing and improving it’s infrastructure?

In the last two to three years, the university has given special emphasis on its infrastructure, especially our teaching-learning infrastructure. We have undergone a massive overhaul where we put in modern equipment to do research, both by the students and the faculty. This year, we have received more than 50 crores exclusively for high-end equipment. One-third of our classrooms have been converted into smart classrooms as well. For international and out-of-station students, we have hostels with nutritious home-cooked food.