Interview: Dr. B. Sadashive Gowda, Principal of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Bangalore|Collegedunia

Interview by Bhawna Rawat

Dr. B. Sadashive Gowda is currently working as the Principal of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysore. VVCE is accredited by NAAC with A grade and 5 UG programs offered by VVCE are also accredited by NBA, New Delhi. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with distinction in 1986 from the University of Mysore. After a gap of three years in which he worked as a lecturer, he earned his Master of Engineering in Refrigeration and Air-conditioning specialization from Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. He holds a Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Gowda has served at RINAC India limited as the Product Development Manager for about 3 years where he successfully designed and developed precoolers and liquid carbon dioxide coolers. He has also been to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to serve as a faculty of Engineering in the American Degree Program of Taylor’s College (now Taylor’s University), later he held the position of Head of Engineering at the American Degree Program till 2007. He was honored with an Excellence Award in 2004 by Taylor’s College for his academic excellence. He taught at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering as the Professor of Mechanical Engineering in June 2007, and later he became the Head of Mechanical Engineering. He was promoted as Vice Principal in 2008 and Principal in May 2010.

Dr. Gowda has successfully organized the first International Conference on Current Trends in Engineering and Management in July 2012 at VVCE. He has published papers in conferences and International journals. He was appointed as a senate member of VTU in 2013 for a period of 3 years. He is a Fellow of Institute of Engineers, Executive Member of ISHRAE, Mysore Chapter and a life member of ISTE. His fields of interest are Refrigeration, Air conditioning, CFD, and food preservation.

Education sector provides people with the right skills to excel

The education sector is the key driver of any country’s growth. A dynamic and innovative approach in providing quality education is essential. An appropriate and relevant education not only imparts the right skills but makes people self-confident to solve the problems of the society.

A leadership style which makes people work together happily

I believe in participative and collective leadership. When everyone in the organization works willingly and happily, with free flow of ideas, the organization grows abundantly.

As the Principal, I must create an ambiance, where every good idea is transformed into action for the benefit of all the stakeholders.

Convincing students and faculty for introducing a new change is a challenging task

There are challenges, particularly while convincing the faculty and students when something new is introduced that is not there in the other institutes. However, when they realize its benefits, they accept them and implement them.

Add-on courses help the students to learn more about the industrial skills

The curriculum is updated once in four years to make it up-to-date and relevant. In addition, we offer many add-on courses to make students industry-ready.

Leading IT and Core companies visit the campus for recruitment

We have a dedicated Training and Placement Department which provides integrated training programs from the first semester to the final semester. Leading IT and Core companies visit our campus for campus recruitment. In addition, we have tie-ups with Sanria Engineering, Wuerth Elektronik and EDS Technologies to train students to meet the specific needs of the companies.

Within a year, we are certain to achieve 100% placements of the eligible students.

An open door policy is followed for solving students’ grievances

I believe in maintaining excellent rapport with students. I follow an open-door policy for my students. I meet the class representatives once in a month to listen to their grievances and address them immediately.

We encourage an ideal environment where there is a holistic development of the students

A school environment must encourage innovation, nurture every student to reach their potential, and value students’ feedback.

We have been providing that kind of environment in our institute, where we are concerned about the holistic growth of every student.

The desired qualities in Engineers

Passion, creativity, never give up attitude and team spirit are some of the desired key attributes in Engineers.

Our aim is to become an autonomous institute in the coming future

We want to be an autonomous institute within two years from now and we want to be exceptionally good at providing quality engineering and management education.