Dr. Debadatta Jena is the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from NIT Rourkela.

College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tamando

What are your primary responsibilities and how do you balance them with other aspects of your job?

My primary responsibility is to run the department in a proper manner and to maintain understanding between staff members and students. I also need to maintain the smooth conduct of the theory classes and laboratory classes. Besides regular classes, I also look over the conduct of extracurricular activities associated with the Civil Engineering department.

How do you approach decision-making in your role?

Decision-making is an important aspect and I rely on teamwork with my colleagues to make decisions. Whenever there is an issue in the department or a decision is to be taken, I sit along with my staff members, discuss it with them, and then we reach a decision together. For decisions that are to be taken at an institutional level, we sit with the principal and come to an endpoint with a proper decision.

What new initiatives and collaborations has the institution established with Industry Leaders to promote the Civil Engineering course? 

This is a professional course and students are taught in a way that will make them eligible for industry jobs. They get to know what skills and knowledge are necessary to work in the industry and to make them industry-ready. For this, we collaborated with different industry giants like ACC cement industry, Ultratech, Ramco, and steel manufacturing industries. In accordance with these collaborations, we send our students for internships to acquire the right knowledge and attend workshops, seminars and conferences. The mentors from different industries also come to our college for the seminars and give guidance to the students.

What are the different facilities available for students at KMBB for the Civil Engineering course?

For Civil Engineering courses, students go for computer-based drawing designs and new technologies that are joined with constructions like buildings, bridges, and highways. Those technical parts are added to the syllabus and we provide this knowledge to the students. We also focus on training the students with the technical skills that the industry demands from them.

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What are the benefits and career options after pursuing the Civil courses in KMBB?

The ultimate goal of an engineering student is to get placed with a good company. One of the major things is that students who are studying civil engineering courses can sit for software companies and pursue higher studies in an interdisciplinary subject within the civil engineering course. We provide all of the facilities and infrastructure for the students to succeed and it is up to the students to utilise them for their greater good.

What are the types of projects that the students are working on through this program?

In this professional course, after the second year, the students undergo a summer internship program where they join a company for two months and train to become industry-ready. In the seventh and eighth semesters, the students undergo two projects that are minor and major. Some of the students go for numerical methods projects, some of them go for experimental projects and some do both and they are guided properly to solve the problems.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing higher education today, and how do you think your institution is addressing those challenges?

The biggest challenge is that the students opt for this professional course in engineering to get a job immediately. In my teaching career, I have observed that around 75% to 80% of students start working immediately after graduation, and 10% to 15% go for higher studies. So, the challenge for the students is to know how to get a job after completing the course, and for this, our institution taught the students some job-oriented subjects and training sessions for interviews.

Do you have any advice for the youth?

I would like to tell the students that there is no shortcut to success. You have to work hard and experience the losses and wins. Learn how to utilise your time properly. Have a structure when studying so that you can make time both for your studies and to relax. Adopt a mentality of learning so that you can stay ahead of the curve and stay competitive.