IIIT Naya Raipur

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha is the founding Vice Chancellor & Director of International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Naya Raipur. Dr. Sinha is an educationist, researcher, scientist, inventor, and internationally acclaimed author of computer textbooks, with more than thirty-five years of professional experience. He has significantly contributed to the advancement of Science & Technology and Technical Education. He believes in continuous development through learning from various sources and encourages his students for the same. Read here what he has to say in his interview.

What would you like people to know about your Institute they may not know?

“The institute puts great emphasis on high ethical and academic standards”

There are three aspect that I would like to draw attention of people:

  1. IIIT-NR creates 21st Century Engineers who are good human beings at heart and great engineers by profession. They are trained to be kind at heart and groomed to solve contemporary and futuristic social problems with the latest technologies. 
  2. IIIT-NR makes its students achieve broader objectives and goals than the expectation with which they enter the institute or the anticipation with which their parents admit them to this institute. For this, the institute conducts several goal setting and goal pursuing exercises unique to this institute. 
  3. IIIT-NR has a world-class team of highly dedicated faculty and staff members and a fully residential, clean, and green campus with modern amenities for all-round development. Together with the students, the members live like a family and have proudly named it the IIIT-NR Family. 

What is your philosophy of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

“I believe in the magic formula of PMPH”

P: Stands for People. People means that I always treated the people of the institute (faculty, staff, and students) as its greatest asset. I invested my primary time and effort in my people and always involved them in vital administrative decisions.

M: Stands for Meritocracy. Meritocracy means that I always worked hard to select the best people to run the institute. I also made institute policies to reward meritocracy and discourage mediocrity.

P: Stands for Pragmatic. Pragmatic means that I always took the most practical and sensible approach to problem-solving (rather than theoretical considerations) while dealing with various situations and circumstances while building the institute.

H: Stands for Honesty. Honesty means that I always communicated in various forms (even leading by my examples) to my people in my different interactions. Everyone needs to play their respective roles with full dedication and honesty. 

I am proud that my leadership philosophy has given beautiful results, reflected in the institute's success stories.

How does the curriculum of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Naya Raipur ensure the best practice of industry?

“We offer valuable insights to the students to prepare them for industry standards”

  1. IIIT-NR follows a flexible academic curriculum with regular updates to match the changing industry requirements. It has world-class industry professionals in its Board and Senate, who keep guiding the faculty members on changing industry trends.
  2. The SFTLPI model of academics is unique to IIIT-NR, which stands for “Skill First, Theory Later, and Projects Integrated.” According to this model, during the four years of their B. Tech. program, the students do three minor projects and one major project. Most of these are industry-relevant projects, which teach them the best practices of the industry.
  3. Industry-Academia Meet (IAM), the flagship annual event of IIIT-NR, is judiciously designed to obtain valuable inputs from key people from the industry. We invite several technical heads from the industry to judge our student projects and guide our students and faculty members on the latest skills required in the industry. Their inputs are used to update our curriculum, design student projects, and establish state-of-the-art labs. 

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Any insight into how IIIT-Naya Raipur could be more welcoming to students of different races, religions, states and economic backgrounds?

“The 50-50 admission formula and the multicultural employee are well poised to attract students”

IIIT_NR admits 50% of students from all India and 50% of students from Chhattisgarh. All these students from a broad cultural and economic background must stay in the institute hostels on campus. It helps create a hybrid cultural environment conducive to the all-round development of the students. All India category students are admitted through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) process, and the rest are revealed through the institute’s admission process. 

The institute's faculty and staff team also have an excellent mixture of members from various states, religions, races, and economic backgrounds, who understand the students' requirements and difficulties from similar experiences.IIIT-NR also has a unique culture of senior students (including the alumni) voluntarily taking special sessions for junior students on a wide range of topics, including advanced technical skills, English language proficiency, communication skills, and cultural aspects.

What do you think your roles and responsibilities towards the Institute are?

“I follow the DSM principle to shoulder my responsibilities towards the institute effectively”

Direction: In consultation with its stakeholders, I define the right direction for the institute’s development and growth, in line with its vision to be a premier academic institute of the nation.

Speed: I firmly believe that both direction and speed are necessary to achieve any goal. Hence, I facilitate my team with the right resources to work with the required rate to achieve the institute’s stated objectives and goals. 

Motivate: I always strive hard to keep my team members highly motivated to work in the right direction at the right speed. For this, I periodically share the institute's goals and objectives with them and make every member realize that his/her role is vital for the stated purposes and goals of the institute.

What was your vision for the institute? Has it evolved over time, and how far along in implementing that vision are you?

“It is my vision to strenghten the institute in various dimensions”

IIIT-NR made its humble beginning in the year 2015, with only 5 faculty members, a batch of 80 students in two branches of engineering, an administrative building and two hostels. I started with a vision to quickly strengthen its academics with the right set of faculty and staff, state-of-the-art laboratories, a rich library, and a well-equipped modern campus. In the background, I was always thinking of a differential culture for the institute and high profile professional career for the students. Within a span of five years, we successfully implemented all these and achieved much more than what we originally planned.

 Today we have about 30 top class faculty and 60 highly capable staff members; three branches of engineering with total intake of 180 students; M. Tech. programs in four major disciplines; Ph. D. programs in Engineering, Science, Humanities and Management; state-of-the-art laboratories in cutting edge technology areas; a library with rich knowledge enhancement resources; wired and wireless high-speed communication network across the campus; four hostels with more than 1000 capacity, a 700 seat auditorium with latest audio-visual equipment, and many other facilities leading to a highly vibrant and stimulating academic environment. 

100% placements of our 1st and 2nd batch students in world class companies, in-spite-of the institute being new, is a testimony of our brisk progress made in this short period.

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What do you think should be the Institute’s top priority over the next 10 years?

“I firmly believe that both education and research are equally important”

Having achieved the goal of strengthening the institute's education component in the first five years, we recently prepared the IIIT-NR 2.0 vision document, which focuses on strengthening the research component of the institute. As per this document, the institute's priority over the next few years will be to transform the institute into "A Living Research Lab for Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development" by focusing on the application of ICET (Information, Communication and Electronics Technologies) for agriculture, forestry, and rural development. Being situated in Chhattisgarh, a state rich in agriculture and forestry and dominated by the rural population, we chose to focus on these areas to contribute to the state's development.

How do you strategize the key programs and plans for the marketing and administration of your institute?

“Our marketing policy focuses on our brand-building through our people, our greatest asset”

We focus on our students, faculty, and staff’s achievements and popularise their achievements through various media channels. IIIT-NR has a unique slogan, “Hamare Students, Hamari Aan Baan aur Shaan Hain”. 

This strategy is based on my firm belief in “Work Hard in Silence, and Let Success Make the Noise”. The plan has undoubtedly improved the institute’s visibility, which is evident from the year-on-year better ranking of admitted students, and several strategically important projects being awarded to our faculty members by various funding agencies.

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

“My passion and commitment to groom students keeps me connected to education”

The one most important factor is my passion for grooming the younger generation by sharing my knowledge and experience. I have been doing this from my early professional career through my authored computer textbooks worldwide. I moved to academics entirely in 2015 as the founding Vice-Chancellor & Director of IIIT-Naya Raipur to pursue this passion rigorously. My firm belief in “Education is a Major Pillar of a Nation and Educationists Play a Vital Role in Nation Building” has always motivated me to remain connected with the education sector.

Any suggestion you would like to give to the current youth and the aspiring students?

“Students should follow their passion and take their decisions independently”

Every nation's national goal is to ensure that most of its citizens perform to the best of their capabilities. An essential element to achieve this goal is to ensure that the maximum number of citizens pursue their passion as their profession, no matter which discipline they are. When a person works for something he/she is passionate about, he/she performs the job with utmost sincerity and dedication, contributing to his/her highest efficiency. Unfortunately, it has been observed that in the current Indian education system, most students pursue their higher (college) education and, subsequently, their professional career in an area which was not of their choice. It was the choice of their parents, relatives, friends, etc. As a result, most students pursue their higher studies and, subsequently, their professional career in an area in which they do not enjoy working and become mediocre for the rest of their life. It drastically affects the national output. So, my advice to the current youth and the aspiring students is to identify their passion as early as possible and pursue it as their profession (Pursue Your Passion as Your Profession).

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