We provide soft skills and aptitude trainings as a part of the academics, says Chairman RCET

In an exclusive interaction with Shiksha.com, Chairman Rungta College of Engineering and Technology Santosh Rungta talks at length about the curriculum and the pedagogy of the institute that aims at helping students become industry-ready. The institute clearly understands the fact that students' performance can be evaluated on the basis of exam results, class performance, projects and assignments but an institute’s performance can only be evaluated based on quality placements opportunities it brings to its students. And, Rungta College of  Engineering and Technology has been justifying its performance for years now by reporting 100 per cent placements. 

Read the complete interview below

Q: What are the three things that your institute is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from the competition?

A: I believe that the curriculum and its delivery are the only two crucial factors that differentiate an educational institution from its competition. Apart from that, placements is also a factor that helps people evaluate the performance of the institute.

1. Remaining well ahead of time and competition in terms of implementing futuristic academic delivery modes that ensure the development of future-ready and Industry ready students, has become a trademark at Rungta. Overall grooming & development with impetus on exposure to the national and international arena of competition acts as a very distinct differentiator
2. All efforts at Rungta are directed towards ensuring ‘Successful Passouts’. Rungta defines ‘Successful Passout’ as a yardstick wherein every student is able to achieve their dream career objective after successful completion of the course. So, be it dream placements, be it an entrepreneurial dream or be it higher studies in India or abroad, Rungta students have been attaining their goals successfully year after year
3. Despite located in Chhattisgarh, Rungta Group has been successful in maintaining a very strong Industry connect with almost all leading MNC’s in India. This connect ensures that not just the faculty but students also remain well informed and trained in terms of the technological advancements in Industry and get ample opportunity to interact with Industry via various platforms, including, but not limited to Internships, FDP’s, HR meets, Industrial Visits, Vocational Trainings, etc.

Remaining well ahead of time and competition in terms of implementing futuristic academic delivery modes that ensure the development of future-ready and Industry ready students, has become a trademark at Rungta

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

A: To attain industry-readiness is an utmost important skill for every student, and we at Rungta College of Engineering and Technology have been practising this for long. This helps students in securing quality placements and helps us as an institute to strengthen our corporate relationships because of the quality of students that we provide to corporates

1. At Rungta Campus, students get to hear about industry expectations from the Horse’s Mouth, so to say, due to continuous interaction sessions with industry professionals. Students get excited about the futuristic technologies that would hit the market in the coming three to five years.
2. Rungta Campus organises specialised technical training/ workshops on such technologies by stalwarts of the industry, hence students don’t need to look out for any kind of support.
3. Soft skills and aptitude trainings are part of the academics now at Rungta as a minimum 48 hours of specialised training are targeted towards these within every semester plan.

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to qualify for the institution and perform better in the curriculum?

A: To qualify for the admissions at Rungta College of Engineering and Technology, the students must

• Have the zeal to learn and achieve their goals
• Be Self-driven to excel as the courses offered at the college are exciting yet intense. They should remain focused to succeed in attaining their career goals
• Be an active participant in co-curricular activities. This helps in boosting students’ confidence and make them smart and sharp to fully exploit all opportunities coming their way

To perform better in the curriculum, we expect students to be regular, punctual, attentive and interactive during the classroom sessions. All the support a student might need during the entire duration of their chosen course is available within the campus, be it remedial classes, doubt clearing classes, a special one to one sessions for challenged students, it is all their part of academic administration system. A student has to be sincere to avail all these facilities and remain focused all through the program.

Additionally, they should keep participating in regular co-curricular activities that are being conducted in parallel. While evaluating the results, the students’ overall performance is taken into consideration.

All the support a student might need during the entire duration of their chosen course is available within the campus, be it remedial classes, doubt clearing classes, a special one to one sessions for challenged students, it is all their part of academic administration system. 

Q: Which programme/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this programme?

A: Although, over a while, some programmes do develop their own speciality and get associated with the Brand. The same is true even at Rungta Group. From the management point of view, all our programmes are extraordinary, but with time Rungta Brand has developed certain brands within the Brand!

Computer Science & IT is definitely one of them, Pharmacy and Management programmes are other top brands at Rungta. The key differentiator for all such sub-brands within Rungta is the driving force – our strong faculty contributions, extraordinary research activities, and engrossing programme delivery mechanism by these departments that ensure the best ratio of our yardstick – ‘Successful Pass outs’.

Q: What are you doing to improve/drive better campus placements for your current students and alumni? What kind of jobs routinely come to campus? What would you say are the key recruitment trends for your college (observed over the past five years)?

A: Campus placements had always been a forte of Rungta Group, and we strongly maintain that placements had been a key factor in our rapid rate of growth.

Campus placements is a yearlong, full-time engagement for a very strong dedicated Training and Placement Department. It is the final outcome of a lot of precursor activities that are followed during the entire course duration. Rungta is so successful in campus placements, simply because of its focus on keeping the student well prepared for success in campus placement.

As far as routine jobs coming to Rungta is concerned, every programme has its own set of companies that routinely visit for campus placements, be it Amazon, TCS, Capgemini, Cognizant, Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, etc.

Key Recruitment Trends:

• Today, Rungta Group very proudly boasts of having a 100 per cent placement record of all interested and eligible students in their Dream Companies
• Although, nowadays, apart from reputed MNC campus placements, a lot of students have started looking out for start-up companies that offer more challenging and rewarding career opportunities
• Placements via the internship route have also increased over these recent years. The student undertakes six-month to one-year internships and then they are offered a PPO at the end of Internship. Amazon, SAP, Kony Labs are a few of the examples who have offered PPO to our students
• Entrepreneurial zeal is also on the rise with, opening up of a lot of sectors for Start-ups by the government, a sizable number of promising students are now taking a plunge into entrepreneurship and starting their own ventures