Hot land turns hot spot

Vellore: Vellore in Tamil Nadu is synonymous for the famed Christian Medical College (CMC) hospital and the fort. The town is also known for its jail and hot climate. In fact, the name Vellore has its origins in Veialur — the land of hot sun.

Today, the sweltering town is emerging as a centre for technical education, thanks to the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), a deemed university that offers engineering, management and arts courses.

Very soon, the 240-acre VIT campus (blessed with a good green canopy) will be full of 'hot spots' — the areas under which one can get connected to the Internet with just a laptop. The university is also planning to introduce smart cards for its students for use in the bookshop and canteen, located in the sprawling campus.

Recently VIT joined the select club of Indian universities that have promoted an entrepreneur incubation centre: Technology Business Incubator (TBI).

TBI will occupy 12,000 sq ft in the Rs 18-crore 3-lakh sq ft multi-storied VIT Technology Tower that is nearing completion. VIT is partnering with the Department of Science and Technology in the venture. The latter is funding the venture in two components: Rs 1.75 crore towards the creation of infrastructure and Rs 10-lakh grant per year for five years.

"Our focus is to incubate entrepreneurs coming up with ideas and products that are useful for the industries located in the Chennai-Ranipet-Vellore-Katpadi-Bangalore belt. Hence we have zeroed in on sectors like biotechnology, automotive, medical equipment and IT," says G V Selvam, pro-chancellor. As the projects are linked to the requirements of user industries located in and around Vellore, Selvam says viable projects will succeed.

According to him, most of the leather units in Tamil Nadu are located in the Ranipet-Vellore belt and are facing pollution problems. "Our endeavour is to find a biotech solution for the pollution issue."

TBI has received three proposals for nurturing. And the two projects came from within — one is from a faculty member (to improve zinc batteries) and the other is a railway station-monitoring software developed by a third-year engineering student. The university is also working with the leather industry in developing a biotech product to eliminate the pollutants in their effluents.

According to Selvam, equipment for rapid prototyping have been bought for TBI. The Technology Tower will also have conference and meeting halls for the entrepreneurs. The other facilities that will be available for them are secretarial, communication and product testing.

TBI is open for different payment and revenue sharing models like rental and paid services, royalty payment, equity partnership, deferred payment, technology rights ownership sharing, and a combination of the above.

"TBI is one of our industry-institute interaction initiatives," says Dr P Radhakrishnan, vice-chancellor, VIT. "The university curriculum is set only in consultation with the industry officials so that the students are equipped with relevant skill sets and knowledge that could be applied in their workplace. We have regular guest lectures by industry captains and also hold technical seminars."

According to him, different departments of VIT are active in undertaking industrial projects. "We have done projects for corporates like Bharat Heavy Electricals (engineering related), SRP Tools (development of enterprise resource planning software package), Defence Research and Development Organisation, Aeronautical Research and Development Board and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

VIT's mechanical engineering department is now working on a CAD/CAM project and an auto component cost reduction project, details of which the officials are reluctant to share owing to a non-disclosure pact signed with an auto component manufacturer.

According to the vice-chancellor, each department is expected to earn at least 20 per cent of their annual budget through consulting assignments. Presently the mechanical engineering department earns around Rs 1 lakh per annum while the civil engineering wing brings in Rs 12 lakh.

Like corporates, VIT took its officials to Yercaud to have a brainstorming session on the ways and means to develop VIT as India's premier educational institution. Shouldn't VIT identify certain subjects or areas and specialise on it? Says Radhakrishnan: "That job has been assigned to the department heads. They will finalise the areas and benchmark it with the world's best institutions. The exercise is already on."

Another unique aspect of VIT is its faculty appraisal system, with the students appraising their teachers. "We don't have a 360-degree appraisal system as we haven't introduced the peer review system," says the vice-chancellor.

But a different peer review system does exist. Around 15 students are assigned to each faculty member. "The professor will discuss with the students allotted to him, and their problems. The views of the students and their expectations are later conveyed to their teachers."

"VIT figures in the campus recruitment map of corporates like Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Technologies, Satyam Computers, Ashok Leyland, and the TVS group," says Dr Anand A Samuel, principal, College of Engineering.

VIT today has around 6,000 students — all streams put together. A sizeable number of engineering students is from other states and VIT also attracts good number of foreign students. "We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rwanda government to set up a similar institution there," says Selvam.

As a measure of contributing to the society VIT has adopted a nearby village and is installing the mandated rainwater harvest system in each of the 600 houses. The university has also adopted a primary healthcare centre there.

In its attempt to improve the overall educational standards in and around Vellore, VIT also trains high-school teachers and donates its old computers to the schools. "Our target is to have school students from Vellore to figure in the top 10 in the state every year," sums up Selvam.