Dr. M Srinivasa Sesha Sai is a distinguished academician and able administrator with more than 20 years of experience. He obtained his Ph.D. from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur and master's degree from St.Ann’s College of Engineering & Technology, Chirala. He has grown from the ranks right here in the institute, starting his teaching career as a Lecturer in the year 2003. He has published 16 research papers in various reputed National and International journals, besides a couple of patents to his credit. In his impressive teaching and administrative career, He has consistently promoted innovative teaching practices and imaginative thinking.

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KKR

Being the HOD, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

My first role and responsibility is to inculcate good knowledge among the students about information technology, The students who graduate in this area should be placed in a respectable position in society that includes good job placements, higher education and good responsible positions. So the primary motive is to make students accustomed to data structures in information technology right? In my personal opinion, if the student is disciplined definitely they will reach the concerned targets. So basically our department focuses on two factors, one is academics and the second one is discipline.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty? 

See I proudly say that our department has a very good healthy environment among the students and faculty members. So here for students we are going to organize so many activities like hackathons, idea thons, boot camp programs and so many cultural activities and traditional activities. When I catch up with the activities Ganesh and they are very actively participating in Sankranti Samaralu. We are encouraging student-based activities. Also for the faculty, we are having frequent post-lunch gatherings and monthly get-togethers. 

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry-oriented?

For our IT branch, almost all four subjects are associated with laboratories. So if you are considering a subject, definitely there will be one associated lab inculcated in the curriculum. So obviously the students are familiar with those hands-on experiences of the concern theory subjects. So that is one practical approach we are following and we have a Board of studies. In the Board of Studies, industry experts are the key members and they finalize the board of our curriculum and syllabus that comprises skill-oriented courses.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students that help them gain the necessary skills? 

The first thing is we are offering a choice-based credit system so students can easily opt the elective subjects and they can learn as you as they wish. We have good practices like each and every student should participate in one NPTEL course/ nukes course or online course. So it shows that they are gaining the necessary skills towards their placements and we are providing some CRT trainings. We have a separate CRT team that is always there to monitor student's skills. If the team feels that the student is lacking skills, they will organize workshops guided by industry experts. 

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often does it get updated to make it befitting for the students? 

Being an autonomous college, we are regularly conducting BOS (Board Of Studies) at regular intervals. Initially, we conducted BYS for every two years. Every two years, we gather the industry people and finalize the syllabus that fits the curriculum based on the latest requirements of the curriculum. 

What are your views on the placements and higher education about the students from your department or How does your department prepare students for Higher education?

Our college comprises of excellent and strong placement team. The placement team tries to inculcate soft skills considering it as one of the most important subjects. We are also conducting CRT classes and teaching students subjects like CRT, arithmetic, reasoning, soft skills and all.

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How do you help your student to cope with the competition being so high on the outside world? 

We are continuously monitoring the industry trends and the outside world. We are open to adopting new technologies that come into the picture immediately. We are conducting hackathons to inculcate students' innovations and entrepreneurship skills. It is mandatory for our students to attend at least one-half ton in the entire 4th year of studies. 

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real-world challenges?

We are encouraging students to organize any type of event. We are going to organize one national-level face towards academics and extracurricular activities and sports So in that program, we are organizing many technical events like post-presentation project expos, quizzes and spot games that offer cultural activities and singing, dancing and sports activities. So here basically the beauty of the entire program is everything will be organized by students, faculty and management. We are at the advisory show for the real execution of the entire programme.

What are the challenges you faced/ are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department? 

For the last two years, we have been facing a challenge for the students coming from Tan Inter those who have completed their education during the coronavirus pandemic. Education was a bit slow during the pandemic and the instructions were not delivered properly. The government declared passing for all the students. So, these students are directly admitted to B.Tech without facing any hardships. They lack basic knowledge and are facing real-life challenges. To overcome this challenge we have been facing, we are providing regular counselling to such students. 

How does the department/ college/University enhance the skills of the faculty and prepare them according to the industry standards? 

The college has great tie-ups with the industry. We are bringing in the latest techniques and software to educate the faculty. Our college is providing Amazon Web Services. It is offered by Amazon. Our college has a very good MOU with EDU skills. We have well-qualified and well-trained faculty with Edu skills with various technologies like Paul Alto, AWS and Cloud Essentials

What do you see as the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

Our main strength lies in our discipline. We are in a top position where our team is continuously mentoring the students and putting them on the right track. We believe in innovations and our college is placed amongst the top 10 or 15 institutions when it comes to innovations. Our college is ranked a 5-star rating at MHRD and our student's projects have also been selected in MHRD exhibitions. 

What valuable advice would you like to the students so they have a prosperous career ahead? 

See, my suggestion is not only academics, the students can flourish in any interested area. Society is huge and if a person is talented in any area, he/she can definitely master that particular field. At our institution, we provide a great academic record, good placement opportunities and entrepreneurship. Our students have also pursued their careers in startups after graduation.