K.K. Wagh Institute of Engineering Education and Research: Pioneers of Productive Learning

HER Team
Holding the pride of being the first engineering institute in Nasik, Maharashtra in the year 1984, K.K. Wagh Institute of Engineering Education and Research (KKWIEER) initiated itself with a concept of productive learning. "Today, it is this philosophy that has made K. K. Wagh one of the brand names in the field of education. Being a part of the K. K. Wagh Education Society started in the year 1970, our institute is known for the moral values, ethics and contributing a lot for the overall uplifting of the society," Balasaheb D. Wagh, President, K.K. Wagh Education Society.

"We have a department offering Master of Computer Applications (MCA) degree. This is a three year program affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune. Here we use this opportunity to break the conventional mode of computing and give birth to a new breed of computer specialists," states Prof. (Dr.) Keshav N. Nandurkar, Principal, KKWIEER. These specialists are capable of giving required solutions prospectively and not retrospectively. "In a span of three years, we groom them to the level where they are convinced that the industry waiting outside does not respect tradition but only respects innovations," adds Dr. Nandurkar.

The department has a well qualified, experienced and enthusiastic faculty members and technical staff. The faculty members play a dual role both as teacher to impart technical knowledge to students as well as a counsellor to guide them for their overall development. "We take full ownership to holistically develop the students' lives outside the classroom by encouraging them to participate in out-of-class activities and events such as Orientation Programs, Weekly Expert lectures, Internships, Workshops, Industrial Visits, Competitions enriching their educational experience," claims Dr. Nandurkar.

Department actively seeks to create opportunities outside the curriculum for students to develop their professional skills through various certification programmes like IBM DB2, RAD 6.0 , Adobe Flex and RFT(Rational Function Testing). Video Conferencing Unit for face to face interaction with remotely located domain specific professionals, Interview Simulator, e.g. ESPOIR for simulating mock interviews are added highlights of KKWIEER. The institute has GATE Exam Simulator for preparing the students for higher studies. An academic student-centric ERP monitors various critical activities starting from admission till course exit. The academic employee centric ERP monitors various critical activities starting from attendance till pay slip generation. The ORELL software for improving Business Communication Skill of future professionals and the software like MATLAB, ANSYS, STAAD-PRO, PRO-E and MASTERCAM further adds on to the technological advancements of the college.

The fraternity of MCA department has evolved a teaching-learning process whose efficacy is time-tested. It has helped them in attaining unique identity since 2007. We have 'Six Steps Internal Preparation' before actual delivery takes place and a 'Ten Steps of Teaching- Learning Methodologies' and the judicious mixture of them is made at the time of delivery. Finally the students are assessed on 'Six Parameters', adds Dr. Nandurkar. The ABACUS club, association of students is vibrant in organizing various events such as expert lectures, seminars, workshops, project competition and industrial visits on a regular basis. "Many of our students are rank holders at a university level and are placed at multinational organizations and secured important positions," says Dr. Nandurkar.

Dr. Nandurkar claims, "Recently, two alumni meets were held in USA metro cities like Washington DC and San Jose. The Department always takes efforts to improve Alumni-faculty interaction by enhancing alumni participation in various events organized by the departments such as seminars, expert talks and workshops." The association greets the alumni members on various occasions and congratulates them for various achievements in their career. The Newsletter of the institute is sent to the alumni by email to make them aware of the development and ongoing programs of the institute.

During alumni meets, alumni feedback is collected and suggestions given by the alumni are analyzed and suitably implemented. These suggestions help the institute for improvement in teaching learning process and curriculum development. Alumni plays various roles in institutional development by providing placement assistance to students by conducting campus interviews, sponsorship for various events organized by the institute, helping students to get projects and internship, providing expert talk, conducting seminars and career guidance to the students. Sometimes, the guidance and the support of the alumni have also resulted in 'startups'.

"We have a strong advisory board which bridges the gap between industry and academics," pinpoints Dr. Nandurkar .This helps every stake holder of the institute in getting exposure in terms of new technology, skills used in the worldwide market and current trends of global education system with 360 degree pedagogy.

The institute has signed around 56 MoUs with reputed industries such as TCS, KPIT Technologies and FIN IQ for academic projects, industrial visits, in plant training, placement, consultancy and knowledge enrichment. "We take relevant measures to induct computer application expertise into graduates in order to make them appropriate to cope up with contemporary technical challenges. We do believe that it's the efficient training that has helped in a good rate of campus placements," opines Dr. Nandurkar. Students have been placed in very reputed companies like TCS, Wipro Technologies, Persistent Systems, L&T InfoTech, IBM, KPIT Technologies, HSBC and many more.

The training and placement cell also assists in facilitating the students of the institution to get competitive placements for the students. "Around hundred reputed companies visit the institute regularly for recruitment process and the institute is having a fully dedicated infrastructure for conducting the training and placement activities of the institute," pinpoints Dr. Nandurkar. This dedicated infrastructure is named as 'Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Career Development Centre' which is having separate group discussion and interview rooms. "The variety of programs on soft skills, technical training and the seminars and workshops on technological advancements and research areas make our students aware about skill expectations from industry and for developing a mechanism for bridging the skill gap," adds Dr. Nandurkar.

The institute is not a space for making employable graduates; instead, the emphasis is equally laid on the recreation as well. "A playground with area 20,000m2 is developed on the campus for playing outdoor games such as cricket, football, hockey and so on. A six lane athletic track, two volleyball

Current Issue

TheHigherEducationReview Tv