The key to effective Technical Education is a good Engineering Curriculum, which is industry relevant and that which empowers students with a skill set that makes them readily employable. To deliberate and review the existing curriculum of Diploma in Automobile Engineering a one-day workshop was held at Agnel Polytechnic, Verna on 10th May 2024. A brainchild of the Director of Technical Education, Dr. Vivek B. Kamat, the idea was taken forward by the Principal of Agnel Polytechnic, Dr. Rickey T. P. Nunes through the H.O.D of Automobile Engineering, Mr. Niraj Pai Bhale with the assistance from Mr. Leonov Vasco Da Gama, the Training and Placement Officer of Agnel Polytechnic and the other Automobile department staff.
The workshop had in attendance Rev. Fr. Agnelo Gomes, Director, Agnel Technical Education Complex, Verna, Rev. Fr. Issac Fernandes, Asst. Director, Agnel Technical Education Complex, Verna, Dr. Vivek B. Kamat, Director of Technical Education, Porvorim Goa, Ms. Nita Naik, Assistant Secretary, Board of Technical Education, Porvorim Goa, and several Heads, Vice President, General Managers, Service Managers, H.R. Managers and Assistant Director of Transport.
The main objectives of the workshop included review of the existing curriculum, removal of obsolete topics, inclusion of new and relevant subjects and enhancement of Industry Institute interaction for effective curriculum delivery and teaching learning process so as to make the student industry ready.
The meet began by Dr. Rickey T. P. Nunes, Principal, Agnel Polytechnic, Verna welcoming the dignitaries to the Campus. Dr. Rickey Nunes also expressed happiness at the turnout from the Automobile Industry chieftains for the meet.
In his opening remarks Dr. Vivek B. Kamat, Director of Technical Education, emphasized on the importance of a healthy interaction between Industry and Institute and stressed on the fact that Institutes should cater to the ever-growing manpower needs of the industry by training the students to be industry ready.
The Automobile Engineering course at Agnel Polytechnic Verna is the only one of its kind in Goa, uniquely structured with two semesters of inplant training that gives students a great leverage in their academics. The existing automobile engineering curriculum that was developed in 2019 in consultation with the industry stake holders was taken up for review as several changes and advancements have taken place in the automobile sector and the Polytechnic desired to keep abreast with these changes.The current curriculum has a balance of core courses and allied subjects with some electives currently offered and the focus of the current curriculum has been on conventional combustion vehicles.
While the current curriculum was well appreciated by the industry experts, suggestions came forth to introduce topics that would offer greater skill training to the students in emerging areas such as sensors and embedded systems to meet with the job profile demands of the automobile industry. The two semesters of inplant training was also appreciated and endorsed by the industry. Strong suggestions were made to structure the inplant training and align it with the curriculum so that the training at the industry would be more effective and relevant to the students, institute, industry and be beneficial to all.
Further deliberations on the curriculum had the industry experts opining that green technologies related to electric vehicles be introduced as the government and auto industry are going green with high promotion of electric vehicles.
To encourage entrepreneurship among the pass outs Dr. Vivek B. Kamat, Director of Technical Education suggested to further strengthen training in automotive air conditioning as it had sufficient scope.
Mrs. Sheshali Kesarkar, Corporate Manager, HR, Caculo Group along with several others strongly expressed the need to introduce courses related to soft skills. The current course “Organisational Behaviour” offered by the automobile engineering curriculum was well appreciated and the same was endorsed by Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Vice President, Caculo Cars Pvt. Ltd.
The industry experts felt that expertise in denting, painting and body shop was lacking amongst Goan students. Rev. Fr. Agnelo Gomes, Director, Agnel Technical Education Complex, Verna assured the industry experts that the Polytechnic would conduct a specialized short term courses as per industry needs.
The industry experts expressed satisfaction with the automobile engineering pass outs and offered to continue to assist the Agnel Polytechnic by way of expert lectures, field visits and campus interviews.
There is a very high demand for this course and less manpower availability in the automobile industry as expressed by the industry experts present at the workshop.
Due to high demand from industry for automobile passouts, campus placements at Agnel Polytechnic, Verna have been excellent with local, national and international companies coming to the institute and recruiting the diploma in automobile engineering candidates. This was well appreciated by the industry and the management.
The recommendation of the deliberations of this workshop will be implemented and reflected in the curriculum revision of Automobile Engineering course.
During the meet Mr. Ajaz Khan, General Manager, Mody Auto Corp. Pvt. Ltd. Verna offered the Automobile Engineering Department a Volkswagen Polo engine for training purpose which the Polytechnic accepted with gratitude.
The workshop was moderated by Mr. Leonov Vasco da Gama, Training & Placement Officer, Agnel Polytechnic and ably supported by Mr. Niraj Pai Bhale, Head of Automobile Engineering Department, Agnel Polytechnic and the staff of the Automobile Engineering Department.