We Focus on Employability says, Professor & Dean, School of Civil Engineering, KIIT University

In a conversation with Shiksha, Dr Sanjib Moulick is currently working as a Professor & Dean, at the School of Civil Engineering, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He talks about various methods adopted by KIIT University faculty members to make students industry ready. 

Dr Sanjib Moulick received his PhD degree in the year 2002 from IIT Kharagpur. Dr Moulick works in the field of Environmental Engineering. He was the Coordinator for the research team from KIIT University involved in the research project entitled “Performance evaluation of Basuaghai Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant” funded by Ernst & Young LLP from 2020 to 2022 as a part of “Swachha Odisha Sustha Odisha” initiative.

Q1. What are the three things that B.Tech In (Civil Engineering) KIIT University is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from competition?

B.Tech In (Civil Engineering) at KIIT University, established in the year 1997, is one of the oldest schools of engineering. The Programme is accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET). The USPs of the program are:

• Highly reputed faculty members with educational qualifications from IITs/NITs/Institutes of national repute, State-of-the-art laboratories and library facilities, the GATE Preparedness program and Periodic Guest Lectures prepare the students for academic excellence.
• Industry-academia collaboration through Industry collaborated laboratories (BIM Lab, Scaffolding & Formwork Lab), a unique skill-based programme (Graduate Talent Development Programme) to enhance employability, the introduction of Industry elective courses, engagement in consultancy activities for real field exposure to the faculty members and students
• Periodic Study Tours for real field exposure, Stipend based internship/ training in different government/private sectors, training programs on state-of-the-art Software like AUTOCAD, STAAD Pro, CIVIL 3D, REVIT, PRIMAVERA, MS PROJECT, TEKLA, Arc GIS etc. with emphasis on construction and management aspects of infrastructure projects and industry collaborated workshops to make students job ready.

Q2. What are the top three initiatives undertaken by you that are helping your students become more industry ready?

1. Industry Collaborated laboratories Like Scaffolding & Formwork Laboratory in collaboration with DOKA and Building Information Modeling in collaboration with AUTODESK
2. Paid internships and site visits by collaborating with various Govt. Organizations like the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Council of Cement & Building Materials (NCCBM)
3. Graduate Talent Development Programs in collaboration with various industries like Simplex Infrastructure, Global Archer, Seageo survey, and GR Infra.

Q3. What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to:

1. Qualify for your institution: Students have to qualify for KIITEE and score a minimum of 60% in Std. 12^th.
2. Get top grades in your institution: Students should attend all classes, Students should complete all assignments/activities within the stipulated time and Students should participate in different academic enrichment programs like Guest Lectures, Industry collaborated workshops, Conferences, technical competitions etc.

Q4. Which course/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this course?

KIIT offers a variety of courses across all disciplines of engineering, humanities, social sciences, commerce, law, management, medicine etc.

• School of Civil Engineering is unique in the sense that it is strongly connected with the industries and offers various placement-oriented courses in collaboration with industries. Many faculty members are engaged in consultancy projects namely in the following four sectors: (i) Highway (Design and DPR Preparation, Proof Consultancy, Landslide Protection & Diversion, Preparation of Traffic Study Report), (ii) Building (Third Party Quality Checking, Design Consultant, Material Testing, Vetting of Structural Drawings) (iii) Sanitation (Planning, Execution & Performance evaluation of Faecal Sludge Treatment plants, Greywater management), (iv) Ground improvement (Review and Recommendation of Tank & Ancillary Building Foundation Work, Water Management during construction)
• The school also has Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-wise research groups mapping to SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption & Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). We have published more than 350 indexed journal articles and have many sponsored projects funded by DST, ICSSR, MCIT etc.

Q5. (a) What are you doing to improve/drive better campus placements for your current students and alumni?

Campus placement is accomplished by solid corporate relationships. We do the research and analysis on the industry need. Apart from conventional placement, we have corporate collaborations in a variety of methods. This allows us to collaborate more closely with industry demands.

We include students and graduates in industry-based capstone project work, sponsored projects, and faculty-led projects - both internal and external. We notify alumni when there is a demand for lateral talent in a particular organization. We conduct Graduate Talent Development Programs in collaboration with various industries like Simplex Infrastructure, Global Archer, Seageo survey, and GR Infra. A special education school "The Kareer School" at KIIT-DU is designed to prepare students for careers in their sector. This school begins operations in semester five and becomes quite intense in the seventh and eighth semesters. We offer specialized classes in Aptitude, Communication Skills, Reasoning, Group Discussion, Programming Skills, Domain, and Career Counseling.

Q5. (b) What kind of jobs routinely come to campus?

HighRadius Technologies, Autodesk (Civil), Amazon NonTech, Merkle Sokrati, Cognizant GenC, Capgemini, Accenture, Wipro, Codeyoung, Infosys, Ashiana Housing, Vconstruct, PowerMech, MAIA, Amazon NonTech, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd., Johnson Tiles, Holcim Group. Voltas Ltd., Adani Group ARK Infra, JMC Projects (India) Ltd, NCC, ITD Cementation, UltraTech, JSW Energy, JSW projects, Tata Technologies, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, KPMG, Sobha, Samsung Prism, Abhipsa Construction Ltd.

Q5. (c) What would you say are the key recruitment trends for your university/college (observed over the past five years at KIIT University?

The recruitment trends observed at our school in the last five years mainly are based on (i) Core Civil Engineering jobs – Site supervision, design consultancy, quality control, sales and marketing, business development and (ii) IT jobs.