Dr Nilkanth Chopade is a Deputy Director, Professor in Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering (PCCOE), Pune India. He has completed Bachelor and Master of Engineering from Government College of Engineering, Amravati and pursued Doctoral degree in Electronics Engineering, from Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University in the year 2009. He has a total of 27 years of Teaching/Research experience. Prof. Nilkanth Chopade has been appointed as Deputy Director of PCCOE since October 2020. He holds various administrative positions at PCCOE including, Officiating Director, Incharge Principal, Dean Academics, Head of the Department etc.

PCCOE Pune

You have held key positions at education institutes throughout your professional career. What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

By profession I am an academician, I did my masters and then PhD in Electronics Engineering, and being a passionate teacher, I am always inclined towards a teaching profession. And I am really enjoying the teaching. As a professor of electronics telecommunication engineering, our students are very much satisfied with the teaching, and the learning practices. So, from what we have adopted in the institute, it has made our stakeholders, students and parents happy, which in turn has made me also very happy.

Being the Deputy Director of Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, what is your philosophy of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

As the Deputy Director of Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, for the philosophy of leadership, I have always believed in the participative management type of leadership. So, delivering the responsibilities to the different levels of management, definitely has made the teaching, learning process to be more efficient and effective. So that has held the institute to cater to the needs of the faculties and the students as well. We have the department advisory boards, wherein the relevant industry persons are representing.

Being the Deputy Director of Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, how do you strategize about the key programs and plans for the marketing and administration of your school?

See, we have defined our vision, that is to be amongst the top NIRF institutes of our nation. And to be in the top list, obviously we have prepared our mindset and our infrastructure requirements, including the human resources requirements and the physical infrastructure. Like classrooms, and then laboratory infrastructure etc. So, in order to cater to the needs of the top and other students, across the state of Maharashtra, as well as across nations and few international students as well, we have made our system i.e., the infrastructure and human resources that much capable.

Check Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering Courses & Fees

Any insights into how your college could be more welcoming to students of different races or economic backgrounds?

The state of Maharashtra has defined the centralized admission process, and as we being the autonomous institute, we are following it. Apart from the guidelines of this, the foreign national and other students are also getting admitted. And we are supporting all kinds of students. And I am happy to share that 100% students are getting admitted in the engineering as well as the management programme of the institute. And as far as the outcome is concerned, In the university merit list, more than 50% share is from our institute.

What do you think your roles and responsibilities to the college and the students are?

So basically, we believe in the discipline, and not only that, our institute is known for the academic discipline in the entire state of Maharashtra. And we believe in the fact that when a person is self- disciplined, then only he or she will be able to do the work. So, with this thought, we have a very well-planned academic structure, very well-planned infrastructure, and the faculty as well as students, they are inclined to follow the same.

What do you think should be the college’s top priority over the next 10 years?

We want to serve the global level, so in order to satisfy the students from the globe, obviously we want to shape and prepare our faculty upgradation. So, we are specifically focusing on the faculties and the policies that are related to the faculty empowerment, and student empowerment. And we are very happy that our management is very well supportive for all these initiatives and that the faculties are reputed for pursuing the post-doctoral research at national level as well as abroad.

When you first came to Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, what was your vision for the college? Has it evolved over time, and how far along in implementing that vision are you?

I joined Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering 10 years ago, and when I joined the institute, I had a very clear vision that I want to expand this institute horizontally and vertically, qualitatively. And apart from the undergraduate programme we had started in 6 engineering disciplines, and PhD research centers in 3 engineering disciplines, I am very happy to share that our engineering graduates, undergraduates as well as postgraduates and post PhDs are very well recognised in the society.

What would you like people to know about your college they may not know?

I would like to inform those who are really aspiring for the engineering and the management field, that we have a very well-maintained atmosphere for overall student development, and right from the 1st year we are following various excellent academic practices like thinking out of box, creative thinking, critical thinking etc. And these are our regular features, activities and project-based learnings. And every year we organize competitions, and industry people come to the institute to evaluate the projects.

Click Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering Placements

What do you see as Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering’s greatest strengths?

What I believe to be the Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering’s greatest strengths include discipline, academics, well maintained environment, and overall development of the students. Also, flexible curriculum design with the help of industry persons and the industry driven courses in academics. And the support for critical thinking, out of box thinking, and the ideas generated by the students to nurture them further, and the policies are some of the few strengths of our institute, apart from many.

Any suggestions you would like to give to the current youth and the aspiring students?

Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering is the best institute for those students who want to develop and shift their careers, we have every good engineering discipline like the computer science, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering etc, and we have the p.g. programmes in the relevant disciplines as well. So, for the aspiring engineers, I would like to inform you that all the accreditations, certifications that our institute has, will reflect that all the processes, all the executions that we have set up are at par with those that are recognised in the global level. With all these features I will definitely appeal to all the parents as well as the students to take the benefit from this and get your students to be admitted to this college for their better and bright future. All the best.