With India producing the world's largest number of engineers every year, the fact that only 3 percent of them are actually skilled enough to match the industry requirements also cannot be ignored. There is a recognizable thrust in the industry for industry-ready engineering graduates. Understanding this by witnessing the lack of proper training for engineers in universities, colleges and numerous training centres, who mainly stresses upon the theoretical part; Mr Himansu Sekhar Panda and his friend, Mr Nihar Ranjan Panda, had decided upon coming up with a skill training centre which will primarily focus upon the skill development of the engineering students by introducing industry oriented practical training programs. "Initially we started with organizing workshops in various colleges limited to aero-modelling & automotive training. The idea was to fill the gap between the industry and academia. The responses were quite positive from the participants who allowed us to complete almost 450 workshops and 100+ batches of skill training program across India by the end of the 4th year," shares Himansu.

"Being a Skill Training Institute for Engineering Students, Sri Ensures Each of its Students to Get Access to Well-Designed, Industry-Oriented and Updated Curriculums"

Gaining commendable acknowledgements from the students and the different stakeholders of the education field, they started their first advanced skill training centre at Bhubaneswar Odisha as 'Sky Rider Automotive' in 2015, which later in 2018 became 'Skyy Rider Institutions (SRI)' by expanding the training domains for all the branches of Engineering.

Recognized by Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, Start-up India, and Start-up Odisha, the institute is partnered with Skill India, Centurion University, NSDC, MTRTC and so on. In order to reach out and benefit maximum students, SRI conducts a range of short-term, long-term, vocational, summer and winter training in arrays of fields like Industrial Robotics & IOT, Advanced Robotics, Embedded Systems, Aerospace, Augmented reality and Virtual reality, Game development, Advanced Automotive, Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning, Product Designing, Aero-modelling, Vehicle Designing & Manufacturing, IT/ CS courses, Transformer Overhauling and maintenance, Renewable energy, Electric vehicle, Construction engineering training program just to name a few. In addition, the trainers of SRI provide short-term (3-5 days) practical (Skill based) workshops on all the fields of engineering according to the demand and convenience of the students. Being a skill training institute for engineering students, SRI ensures each of its students to get access to well-designed, industry-oriented and updated curriculums.

Himansu pinpoints, "Individual attention and one-to-one interaction with our students are the two main factors that we strongly vouch at SRI. We keep the class-strength limited to only 35-40 students every batch, enabling the students to earn a personalized training." Given the quality of training, SRI today have earned much popularity and hosts students from Pan India, who aspires to land up successful careers in engineering domain. "80 percent of our training consists of practical (hands-on) and this is what we believe captivates the attention of the students from different corners of the country. The USP of SRI lies in encouraging the students to perform practical before learning the theory, letting them gain an explicit understanding of every topic," adds Himansu. This unique approach of the institute towards training enables it to stand out.

Expanding Knowledge Horizons

Trained over 20,000 students since its inception, SRI fulfils its promise for an industry-based training through its robust collaboration with 30+ industries. In fact, the institutes' state-of-the-art 60 acres campus is equipped with training labs of companies such as Tata Motors, Mahindra, Yahama, Ashok Leyland, Eicher, Hyundai and so on. The automotive and other advanced labs are one of its kind and students experience an industry environment throughout the training. "In these labs, the students get an overall idea of the industry they are planning to work with. From expert advice to real-time learning, here they are groomed for a wholesome growth," opines Himansu. Moreover, as SRI takes up consultancy projects of varied industry, the students get the opportunity to indulge in live projects and gain experience before even entering into the industry. At SRI, the students are encouraged to learn by doing under the guidance of the trainers who themselves hold extensive industry experience.

Himansu proudly says, "We emphasize on handing over lifelong knowledge to our students, instead of forcing them for rote-based learning. Here at SRI, from planning to execution, everything is performed by the students with the support of trainers." Not only in-house trainers, but also industrial professionals also teach the SRI students. For instance, recently, the institute conducted a workshop on robotics where experts from Robert Bosch and Toshiba were invited for delivering industrial training to students and enlighten them on the insights of industry. The institute also organizes a skill summit on a large scale where various HRs, college faculties, industry professionals and students are invited for meaningful interactions on a single platform. With an exemplary 98 percent placement rate, the institute also puts an effort to place its students in top-notch companies. The institute boasts on many success stories including students getting placed in their respective university placement drive after receiving summer/winter training at SRI and students handling essential roles in big companies today who once hardly could speak English.

Such track record of success and milestones achieved by the institute compels more students to obtain their training at SRI, letting the institute receive applications of students 5 times more every year. "Students, particularly those who dream for higher studies in abroad, comes to us for profile building, where we assist them with training that strengthens their profile. Till date, around 60+ students have gone abroad for higher studies after successful completion of our training program," adds Himansu. Presently offering training for the only engineering sector, SRI in near future wants to widen its offerings by introducing training in diverse sectors and strives to make all the training modules online. "Upholding the dream of seeing India as the hub of skilled manpower, we endeavour to create an empowering environment for our students and foray into the ultimate goal of emerging into a Skill University," concludes Himansu.

Himansu Sekhar Panda, CEO

Completed his B.Tech (graduation) on Mechanical Engineering from Centurion University of Technology and Management and M.Tech (Post-Graduation) on Automotive Engineering & Technology from Birla Institute of Technolgy and Science, Pilani. Presently, Himansu handles the chair of CEO at Skyy Rider Institution. He has also served as Senior Engineer at Triveni Turbine Limited, Bangalore.