FAST FACTS
Director: Dr. S D Awale
Approval/ Accreditation: AICTE approved, NBA accredited
Flagship programme: PGD in Industrial Management
Student intake: 137
Fees (full course): Rs. 200,000
Board & lodging (two years): Rs. 77,000
Admission test cut-off: CAT: 98.2
Full-time faculty: 51(Professors: 18; Associate Professors: 16; Asst Professors: 15)
Faculty with industry experience (over 10 years): 3
Average placement salary: Rs. 10.27 lakhs
Top recruiters: Atos Origin, Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch, HSBS, HUL
International Conference: GLOGIFT
Student activities: ARTH (NITIE’s mutual fund), Just Talk (consultants’ club for role plays, discussions), BT Acumen (national level quizzes, debates and case games)
Web site: www.nitie.edu
Other programmes: PGD in Industrial Safety and Environmental Management 24 months PGD in Information Technology Management 24 months Fellow Programme in Management 48 months
“NITIE is not only about industrial engineering,” says a student with a tone of finality. As an institution set in the early 1960s to teach industrial engineering, NITIE does offer a specialised programme in this subject.
But over the years, the industrial management programme has come to take over as the flagship status.
The two programmes have many common courses. But while the industrial engineering course takes students to GATE (Graduate Aptititude Test in Engineering) and focuses substantially on aspects like ergonomics, environment management, supply chain and simulation analysis, the industrial management course is more generic and similar to other MBA programmes.
In addition to summer internships, students spend four months, during the last term, working at an organisation, and work on a project that earns them academic credits. The experience is worthwhile, say students. It’s like having a safety net when you parachute down, another dramatises. In other words, even though you are working, you have a mentor, as well as a support group in the college.
“It’s all about collection, processing, production and distribution,” quips Prof. Awale, the genial Director of NITIE. Behind the philosophical façade lurks a keen mind with clear ideas on education. He would want his faculty to appreciate the integrity of educational process, wherein research, consulting, publishing, training and teaching all goes hand in hand.
Students appreciate the fruits of such thought process. With a certain pride, they reel off names of faculty who run great classes and have a tremendous reputation. What they are genuinely concerned about is that most of them will retire fast. The college needs bright young faculty and soon, says a student.
The batch size is slightly large, and the number of courses is on the rise. While new specialised courses like the one on environmental management add to student diversity, it also puts pressure on faculty and resources. “The college needs to put in more resources both intellectual and infrastructural,” says Dr. Sambandam, a senior faculty member.
Dr. Awale proudly points towards the construction of a brand new academic and library complex. It must solve some of the infrastructural bottlenecks.
The approach may be messy, but the campus, which is abutting the Virar Lake with undulating greens, is picturesque. “We don’t get time to enjoy it,” a student cribs. A demanding course work, he says, leaves with little or no time for extra curricular activities. Others counter the pessimistic view. Having a multi-faceted Director helps. “He’s a singer, who sometimes directs some of our plays,” says a student with pride.
While NITIE’s credibility is well established in certian specialisations the generic industrial management programme, they do not appear to have many differentiators. It is the general rigueur of the programme and an exceptionally bright student body that makes the institute sail through. It is in making the industrial management programme academically different , that the future challenge for the college lies.