Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Engineering (BVCoE) is gaining
ground among the top private engineering institutes in India, with over 25
years of experience. It has around 600 students graduating every year in 6
diversified streams. Dr. M. Z. Shaikh, a double Ph.D. holder, is leading the
institute as principal for over 4 years now. PaGaLGuY spoke at length with Dr
Shaikh, who was kind enough to give us an interview without any prior
appointment.

What has been your role in keeping the Institute ahead in the
competition with the other engineering colleges in the state?

Our Institute is currently ranked among the top 50 Private institutions
in India. I believe in giving students necessary facilities to create an
innovative atmosphere. I have laid emphasis on introducing innovative teaching
methods. This, in return, has given us better academic results and aided our
students in getting better placements. I aspire to create technocrats, I think
this is the one thing that has kept us going.

Being an engineer yourself, what is the one quality you want
your students to imbibe as engineers?

I believe that Engineering as an academic Discipline has not
updated much over the years. Having observed the field for over three decades
now, I feel students need to inculcate a quality of being Industry Ready, even if
one wants to become an entrepreneur or a researcher, as realising the need of
industry is very important.

Continuing the question, what steps have you taken to create
industry ready graduates?

 I believe in being in
touch with the key players in industry and getting their first hand experiences.
There is a need on two fronts: updating the teachers’ knowledge to keep them well-run
with the current academic needs; and giving industrial exposure to the
students.  

What has the institute done to update its faculty members,
and to bridge the gap between students and industry?

To update our faculty members, we regularly organise Teachers
training programmes which is an initiative by IIT Bombay’s Remote centre. The
response to this series of video conferencing lectures has been good. As it is
my experience that a student learns more from first hand experiences, we have
signed Memorandums of Understanding with companies like Siemens and Reliance.
We send our students for training during their vacation period, which helps
them be in touch with the current industrial trends.

Can you speak about innovative practices carried out in your
institute?

 We have always
motivated our students to take up research projects on a National level. A
recent glory for our institute is winning the 1st and the 2nd prize in the national
level competition organised by Chemtech Foundation. Realising the potential of
our institute, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has given us a grant of Rs 74
lakh,  to be utilised in making a
research project on Earthquake Alarm Systems.

In the recent past students have moved towards start-ups, how
has your institute adapted to this change?

We have established an Entrepreneur cell, which conducts
regular seminars for our final year students. We encourage them in building entrepreneurial
competencies by backing their ideas and working on them. The ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning) system in our institute has been prepared by our students.
Our students have also sold this ERP system to another Institute for around 2.5
lakh rupees. Apart from this, we are also using an android application called
“Hazeri” which is made by our third year students for college attendance purposes.
We have tied up with eleven Entrepreneurs who regularly visit our institute to
share their first hand experiences. We also conduct pre-placement training
through our placement cell.

How is discipline treated at your institute?

I believe students have to be addressed properly. I don’t
believe in imposing strict rules in curriculum. BVCoE is the only Engineering
institute in Navi Mumbai to have student uniforms, and the students don’t have
any problem with that. We have an Anti-ragging cell. The institute also has a
women’s grievance cell. This ensures a safe environment for our students.

Speaking about you, what are your hobbies?

I like to build institutes, that’s my hobby. I believe that building
institutes will build the Nation.