Dr. L. Karikalan has been working as the Head of Automobile Department at Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He has done BE, ME and PhD as part of his academics. He has an amazing 25 years of work experience with 14 years in the Automobile sector and 11 in the Teaching field at Vels University itself.

Vels University Chennai

Which latest program are you offering in your institute to help students outperform and stand apart from the crowd?

"We are offering Bachelor and Masters courses in the discipline of Automobile Engineering"

We at Vels University are offering a B. E regular/part-time course on the discipline of Automobile Engineering and also a Master in Automobile regular strain. 

Which factors make these programs the best for the students to opt?

"We do have highly qualified faculty members and amazing campus"

We have highly qualified and experienced faculty members, good non-teaching staff, modernized laboratory facilities and a wifi-enabled campus. We also provide NPTEL lectures to students to make their subject base strong and arrange internships for the 3rd and 4th year students and industrial visits for 1st and 2nd years students on a regular basis.

What would you say are the best practices of the courses your institute is offering to students?

"We keep upgrading our teaching methods and use different technologies to strengthen students Knowledge"

Some of the best practices of courses which we are offering to our students includes amalgamation of different teaching methodologies and mixed learning techniques. We also teach them using live courses, presentations and pre-recorded videos and encourage them to participate in seminars to remove public fear and instill confidence in them.

What are some valuable insights of your institute's programs?

"Students will get best knowledge and industrial exposure here in our college"

I firmly believe that students while pursuing Graduation and Post Graduation courses in the Automobile discipline will get good theoretical and practical knowledge about the working of Automobiles. In addition to this, they will receive full hands-on experience and training from the best experts of the Automobile field. 

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How does the program of your college ensure the future preparedness of students?

"We regularly assign mini-major projects to students and also offer suitable apprenticeship to them"

The main objective of our institute is to strengthen basic knowledge of students and hence we keep upgrading our educational practices and programs related to Automotive Industry from time to time. And we routinely assign mini and major projects to students to help them utilize their knowledge into real time scenarios. Lastly, events like workshops and conferences are conducted too as and when required to prepare students for the outside world.

How did you train yourself and faculties of your department to deliver this program to the students?

"We train ourselves via events like seminars, webinars and different knowledge sources"

To up-skill our subject knowledge and skills, all faculty of our college including me participate in events like Webinars, Seminars. In addition to this, to stay updated about outside world development and trends we use different knowledge sources such as Magazines and Journals. 

How do you build a connection between your institute courses and industry demands? 

"By collaborating with our industry partners to organize events and activities"

For the purpose of ensuring our students receive good industrial exposure and experiences, we have collaborated with many esteemed Automotive companies, Components based companies and Design companies. And with their support and guidance we regularly organize events and industrial visits for the benefit of our students and also to bridge the gap between students' skills and corporate requirements. 

What challenges are you facing while inculcating these programs in your curriculum?

"Finding good books, proper course material and designing new courses were some real issues"

Our college actually faces different kinds of challenges while including new programs in the curriculum and some of them include figuring out relevant study material for the course, designing unique courses to fit industrial and students requirements, and finding good textbooks. Hence the faculty of our college draft and regularly update the course material and also prepare notes to teach students using open sources as the cost of books are expensive including foreign authors.

On what kinds of projects your students are currently working on through these courses?

"Our students have created many designed prototypes on latest Automobile technologies"

Our students have developed many Design prototypes for a wide variety of products for the Automobile sector. And some of them have even made projects on Process Evaluation, Performance Analysis of Engine using various fuels followed by comparative studies in vehicles with the same specifications and best category.

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What career options would be available for students after pursuing courses from your college?

"A wide variety of opportunities are available for them in both public and private sectors"

A wide variety of career opportunities are present in the outside world as far as the Automobile industry is concerned. And students after successfully completing courses from our institute can work in the Automotive Manufacturer, Servicing, Automobile Marketing sector, Product Design, Quality and Maintenance sector. In addition to this, they can join R&D and the Public Sector.