VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra University’s department of electrical engineering conducted 139 webinars (online interaction programmes) in the last 11 months to help students learn from industry leaders and alumni. Such webinars have become a platform for the students to find jobs in private companies, some of which are run by the alumni of the university. The salary packages the students got so far ranged from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. The man behind holding the webinars is the head of the department, Prof GV Siva Krishna Rao.
Speaking to TNIE, Prof Siva Krishna Rao said the practice and culture of holding webinars continuously is the hallmark of premium institutes such as IIMs, ISB, Stanford and Harvard. The webinar series began with BR Naidu, executive director of AECOM, on December 17 last year. The Covid pandemic triggered the idea of holding the online interaction programmes. The small idea has since transformed into a success, benefitting a large number of students from across departments.
With zero expenses to the university, the webinars are yielding maximum results. Krishna Rao said the webinars were held with eminent personalities from the industries and distinguished alumni. “We are conducting the webinars without affecting the regular online classes of students and without putting any financial burden on the university,” he said. In this way, the students get industry exposure, awareness for their career opportunities, motivation, and inspiration by interacting with founders, co-founders, CEOs, CTOs, CMDs, managing directors and directors of top companies such as Intel, Siemens, Samsung, Facebook, MEIL, Reliance Group, Adani Group, Tata Group, NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, POSCO, AECOM, Accenture, Wipro, Cerium Systems, Vijay Electricals, Texas Instruments, Gain Sight Technology, Microchips and Capital One Bank, the HOD added.
The students of the electrical engineering department said they finally stopped feeling that they were not fit for the top software companies. Most of them are now doing add-on software programme courses such as python, data sciences, java, C++ with motivation by the software giants at the webinars. B Keertana Pallavi, who passed out in 2021, gave the credit for her grabbing a job with Gain Sight and a seat in IIM Bangalore to the webinars. “At a time when we thought that the Covid pandemic shattered our future prospects, the webinars organised by the electricity engineering department kept our morale high,’’ she said, adding interaction with industry giants CEOs gave them an opportunity to be more focused on their career and the skills to be acquired to become industry-ready.
Expressing similar views, Gopichand, another final year student, said he was feeling very happy as he secured a good working opportunity in a US company through one of the webinars. “The webinars gave us a new direction to shape our career by laying a strong foundation,’’ Gopichand said. Prof Siva Krishna Rao said a leading civil engineering company director, who addressed a webinar, sanctioned Rs 2 crore for construction of an additional floor of the PG block of the electricity engineering department.
He said the webinars by alumni helped their students secure job offers in top IT firms and some have chosen to pursue education in premier institutions such as IIMs. Prominent alumni who offered placements to the AU students are P Sudhakar, founder & CEO, Cerium Systems Pvt. Ltd. (37 students), T Divakar, founder & CEO, Innominds Software (18), J Jaganmohan, COO & Co Founder, Acuvate Software (11), K. Suresh Kumar, Sr. Manager, Siemens Technologies (three), G Sridhar, Vice President, Gain Sight Technologies - (five), Ravi Nemalikanti, Chief Technology Officer and NCR Corporation (five).
Zero expenses, maximum result
Such webinars have become a platform for the students of electrical engineering department to find jobs in companies, some of which are run by alumni of the university. The salary packages the students got so far range from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. With zero expenses to University, the webinars are yielding maximum results