Mr. T Vijaypal Reddy has been working as the Secretary & Correspondent of St Peter's Engineering College, Hyderabad, Telangana.

He is an outstanding educationalist in Telangana and holds a rich 14 years of work experience in the education sector. Apart from this, he has been an indispensable asset in the development of the Shantha Educational Society. He has astutely sculpted SPEC into an impactful teaching and research institution with world-class infrastructure and best faculty.

St. Peter’s Engineering College

How do you envision your role of a Secretary and Correspondent for St Peter's?

As the name itself is self explanatory, the prime role of a Secretary is to manage and supervise the affairs of a society. On the other hand, a correspondent in an educational institution is responsible for establishing infrastructure facilities, recruiting highly educated and experienced faculty members and supervising overall smooth functioning of the college. And at St Peter's also, I am accountable for the same. In other terms, I need to look after if we have the latest technologies integrated with the curriculum and equipment in laboratories. Overall, the role of a Correspondent is very crucial to keep students, faculty and the principal in sync and make them feel safe, comfortable and valuable while being on campus.

What strategies have you employed to maintain a positive teaching-learning environment in your college?

For the purpose of ensuring a vibrant and inclusive teaching-learning ambiance in campus, the first which I have ensured is that the right people are appointed for designated profiles. Also, I have made sure that the Principal of our college stays updated with the latest trends and developments of the outer world, be it academics or corporate, so that he can implement the rules and regulations of AICTE and UGC in the best way possible and can recruit right person for the post of Examination Comptroller, because it is the second most important position for an autonomous institution. Overall, I have empowered everyone to the best of my capacity so that they can drive their respective departments efficiently. 

Which Engineering specializations your college is offering at present?

Our college is offering a 4-years B.Tech and 2-years M.Tech course in numerous specializations such as Computer Science and Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering along with Information Technology and Computer Science and Design. Also, to reduce confusion with too many branches introduced by AICTE recently, we have merged a few specializations together including CSE in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning followed by Artificial Intelligence and Data Science and Cybersecurity.

How does your institute enhance the faculty skills and train them as per industry standards?

As per the AICTE and Government norms, every faculty in an Engineering College should be a Postgraduate with qualifications like MA, M.Sc, MA or PhD depending on their expertise areas.

And if I talk about our college, then most of our professors have either a M.Tech or PhD Degree, which is also a bare minimum requirement for a technical post. Also, all of them are highly qualified professionals, but to keep pace with changing technologies and corporate world demands, they also need to update their skills from time to time. Therefore whenever a new program is introduced in St. Peter's curriculum, faculty development programs and other essential training sessions are arranged by us.

What measures are taken by St. Peter's to train and strengthen the concepts of weak students?

I strongly believe that academic progress of a student depends on two factors, first is the teacher's way of delivering knowledge and second being the students participation in the teaching-learning process and unless these two do not stay in sync, no youth can progress and perform to the best of their abilities. 

Hence, we make sure that both teachers as well as their respective students take equal responsibility for their actions and decisions to move ahead and even the weakest students can deliver amazing academic results. And for all this to happen seamlessly, we have categorized our students into two sections, namely academically high performing and low performing students, so whosoever falls into the second category are regularly provided extra classes to strengthen their subject understanding.

What initiatives has your institution implemented to enhance student learning and engagement?

Usually what happens in every other college is that timings are fixed for each and every activity, which I believe somewhere becomes a hindrance also, because students are not allowed on campus after classes to stay and explore. But we at St. Peter's has provided much more flexibility to our young minds for everything and they are free to use the laboratories to carry out experiments and the library to study even after the college hours. In addition to this, Technical Knowledge Enhancement Programs are conducted after classes for 1.5-2 hours throughout the year and we encourage our students to not only take part in these sessions but also enjoy co-curricular activities and events.

Check St. Peter’s Engineering College Courses & Fees

How does St. Peter's promote the culture of research and innovation within the campus?

It's a well known fact that research plays an important role in every field, be it technical or non-technical and work is less at Graduate level as compared to Masters or Doctorate. Hence to foster the culture of research and innovation on campus, we regularly motivate our students to be part of all the research activities that are carried out either by their teachers, peers or seniors.

Other than this, credits as well as monetary benefits in terms of funds or grants are provided to those students who are either part of any Hackathons or work on some innovative ideas so that they can bring it to reality.

Apart from this, whenever students travel to any location for any competition or collaborative research projects, our college funds the whole expense right from their travel to stay.

Which facilities are being provided by your college to the young and ambitious students?

Our St. Peter's Engineering College is known for its infrastructure as we have established much more as compared to AICTE and UGC recommendations. 

And if we talk about the basic and advanced facilities of our college, then we have Hi-Tech and fully furnished Classrooms where lectures are conducted, an industry oriented and dynamic curriculum to train students, Locker Facility for them to keep their cell phones and other valuable assets, modern Laboratories and Computer Labs with amenities like power backup and air-conditioning.

And what makes us different is that we have both, a normal digital Library with reading room and a Research Library. Other than this, we have provided a separate chamber to each faculty so that they can properly guide students and focus on enhancing their teaching methodologies. Last but not the least, we have a separate Library for staff, Transform Facility for pickup and drop of students, nicely built canteen to serve delicious food to everyone at an affordable price, lawns for students to relax and rejuvenate themselves during lunch break and post classes followed by hostel with hygienic food and air-conditioned dormitories to give a home-like environment to students away from their home 

What kind of plans your institution is going to implement in upcoming years?

At present, we have all the required facilities to fulfill academic and non-academic requirements of our teachers, students and staff members. But yes, when the field of education itself is so dynamic, changes are inevitable, hence we do renovating things and places as and when needed. And in upcoming years, our plan is to build more beautiful hostels for both girls and boys.

How do you maintain the continuous upgrade process of your college?

Being an educational institution, upgradation of facilities is a continuous process for St. Peter's. Because we believe that without the seamless execution of technical knowledge and efficient facilities, no college can progress. Hence we keep updating our classrooms and labs from time to time in order to deliver the best theoretical knowledge and practical exposure to our young and ambitious students.

What are some of the top priorities of your Institution in upcoming years?

Our college came into existence in 2007 and by 2011-12, the first batch graduated from here and we applied to get the autonomous status for our institution along with NBA and NAAC accreditation. And with everyone's support and sincere dedication, we finally achieved these goals. Also, from the time of inception, we have prioritized the quality over quantity 

Apart from this, we have achieved the 1000 seats to grant admission in our B.Tech and M.Tech Degree courses, so we want to make sure that when students pass their respective program, they go out with flying colors by getting good internships, job or Entrepreneurship opportunities. Also, since we have achieved a stellar record of 100% placement in the last 2 years, our next goal would be to help students get jobs with double the salary package as compared to present and empower those who wish to study further or establish a business of their own.