Mr. Nageswar Rao is a HOD at the Seicom Group of Institutions. He is a distinguished academician and able administrator with more than 11 years of experience. He has grown from the ranks right here in the institute, starting his teaching career as a Lecturer in 2012. Mr. Rao obtained his masters degree from SV University and has published eight 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. He has endeared himself to his students and colleagues alike through his affable nature and empathetic leadership style.

Seicom Group of Institutions

Being a Head Of Department of Seicom Group Of Institutions, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

My roles and responsibilities concentrate on providing academic quality and departmental vitality through the oversight, recruitment, and retention of faculty, staff, and students. It is also my duty to ensure the smooth daily operation of the department's faculty, staff, and physical facilities and schedules. I also work on coordinating the department's schedule of course offerings.

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

Having healthy relationships among all stakeholders is important for us. We have conversations with each or a group of students about how they are progressing with the lessons and activities conducted. It helps to build a healthy channel of communication between the teacher and the student. Open feedback is important to grow personal and academic relationships.

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

To bring a practical approach to our teaching, we make use of case studies. We also use a teaching approach where teachers teach the students by combining theory and practical work experience to meet the industry's needs.

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

We have four best practices that our teachers are required to follow. These practices includes teaching a balanced curriculum, teaching an integrated curriculum, differentiating instruction to meet individual student needs and providing active learning opportunities for students to internalise learning. These will help the teachers give the students the right skills that are required from them for employment.

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

We offer personalised learning for each student and make it a point to make learning fun and interesting. We also encourage students to ask questions and explore new ideas while also connecting learning with real-world situations. We try to meet the individual needs of each student and allow them to choose what they want to learn.

Check Seicom Group of Institutions Coursse & Fees

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

We prepare our students to face campus interviews by imparting training in employable skills. We cover skills like aptitude skills, body language, resume writing, interview skills, and group discussions. We also have training sessions on overall personality development skills, viz., goal setting and being confident.

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

To help our students face competition, we are teaching them to deal with losses and to pick themselves up. We concentrate on improving their teamwork and collaboration while also encouraging students to ask for help and providing intrinsic motivation. Overall, our goal is for our students to have mental toughness.

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

Our students who participate in extracurricular activities get better grades. This is because of the skills they learn from participating in different activities. Students learn to manage their time, develop organisational skills and improve their self-confidence. They also learn to express themselves in a better way. We conduct several activities, like World Students Day, National Science Day, Spardha Competition and sports, for the betterment of students.

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

Our biggest challenge is having regular professional development programs for our teachers. We also lack the necessary resources to launch skill development programs for our students and teachers. We also need time and funds to organise competitions and maintain our college infrastructure as well.

When you came to the college, what was your vision and how are you trying to achieve the same? 

My vision is to strengthen the department by maintaining good PG admissions every academic year. I am trying to achieve this by providing more opportunities for the students. By giving my full attention and my best to my students, I can get the best job opportunity and package. This, in turn, will help us attract more new students.

Check Seicom Group of Institutions Placement

How does the curriculum of your department/college ensures the best practice of the industry?

A well-planned curriculum aids in preventing or eliminating gaps in learning and ensures optimum coverage of all domains within the curriculum. We deliver our curriculum using high-quality tools. We also have a robust feedback process and a secure evaluation process. We also laid out a process to identify slow learners and concentrate more time on them to help them catch up with the rest of the class.

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

To help our faculty members, we have faculty development programs. We also help prepare teachers with the latest teaching methods by inviting industry experts. These interventions help our teachers to update their skills and better deliver their knowledge in the classroom.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to train/teach the students?

To be able to better teach our students, we have classroom observation and focus on student goal setting. From feedback, we find out the issues we have and address the mistakes. We also adopt experiential learning along with cooperative learning. Along with feedback, we also provide pre-correction conversations.

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

Our college’s strength lies in our team of well-trained, research-oriented, experienced, dedicated and energetic teaching faculty. We also have a large supportive non-teaching and laboratory staff. Our excellent and well-maintained infrastructure in the form of the new building has helped the teaching process immensely, which has also contributed to a good teaching and learning environment supported by a prolific library. I also believe that emphasising discipline, patience, respectfulness, determination, dedication and honesty has helped us create generations of versatile students.

What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

For students, I would advise them to keep their skills up-to-date. Pursue your passion and work will not become a drag. Stay focused and remember to get an early start to be able to grab the best opportunities. Never stop the process of growing your skills and knowledge. It is also crucial to find a balance between work and your personal life to not get burned out.