BITS Pilani and SAIL sign MoU for Collaboration

Nov. 5, 2009 - PRLog -- The Scientific Manpower Committee (1947), Engineering Personnel Committe(1956), AICTE (1958, 1966, 1969, 1971), Thacker Committee (1961), Kothari Education Commission (1966), National Policy on Education (1968), Ministry of Education, Government of India (1978), Draft National Policy on Education (1979), AIEI (1980), Nayudamma Review Committee (1980), Challenge of Education – a policy perspective, Ministry of Education, GOI (1985), IIT Review Report (1986), ...... many more committees, commissions, seminars, symposiums……have repeatedly advocated and emphasized on the need for strong university industry linkages in India.

With Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla as the Chancellor and Dr LK Maheshwari as the Vice Chancellor, BITS presently has its campuses at Pilani (Rajasthan), Goa and Hyderabad in India and Dubai in UAE. BITS offers degrees in various disciplines at all three tiers namely Integrated First degree, higher degree and PhD.

For the year 2009, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science well known all over as BITS Pilani has been ranked among the top ranking universities in India along with IITs in various Magazine surveys such as India Today, Outlook, LiveMint etc. The alumni of BITS Pilani who are Proud to be BITSians are spread across various continents from Australia to America.

Admission to various degrees at BITS Pilani is by online test BITSAT. The NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council has reaccredited BITS Pilani with 3.71 CGPA out of 4 and awarded “A” grade “Very Good” status. BITS Pilani has done pioneering work in industry university collaborations in terms of Practice School and Work Integrated Learning.

It is indeed a matter of pride that BITS Pilani today has Practice School program in very many organizations not only in India but also in USA, several countries in Europe, Middle East and Singapore. For Work Integrated Learning, BITS Pilani partnerships include Wipro, CTS, HP, Persistent, Patni, Tech Mahindra, SAP, Yahoo!, Sabre Travel, Bharat Forge, Bharat Dynamics, Ashok Leyland, L&T, NTPC, NDPL, Essar Power, Tehri Hydro, Renusagar Power, Chambal Fertilizers, Tata Chemicals, Hindustan Zinc (HZL), Hindalco, Aditya Birla Group Cement Business, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Matrix Labs, Strides Arco Labs, Dabur Pharma (Fresenius Kabi Oncology Ltd), CMC Hospital Vellore, Bombay Hospital, CDC New Delhi, NCSM Kolkata,  CLRI Chennai. NPL Delhi, IIQM Jaipur, RDSO Lucknow and IRCAMTECH Gwalior

The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is India’s largest Steel producing Navratna Company. With a turnover of Rs. 48,681 crore, SAIL is among the top five highest profit earning corporates of the country.  The Management Training Institute (MTI) which is the apex corporate training centre of SAIL is continuously exploring the means of enriching and upgrading its Human Resource Development initiatives for building the competence of the executives to enable them to take up newer challenges. In addition, MTI supports various SAIL Plants and Units in their efforts to develop the competence of employees in all disciplines.

In a colourful function organized at ISPAT Bhawan, Lodhi Road New Delhi on 05 November 2009, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in the presence of Mr G Ojha Director (Personnel) by Dr G Sundar Dean Practice School Division and Dr BR Natarajan Dean Work Integrated Learning Programmes Division on behalf of BITS Pilani and by Mr Satya Prakash Patnaik Executive Director (HRD) from MTI Ranchi and Mr B B Singh Executive Director (Operations) on behalf of SAIL. With effect from the date of signing, the MoU will remain in force for three years with the provision that it may be extended for another period on mutually agreeable terms and conditions.

Apart from BITS Faculty members from Delhi off campus centre Dr MD Arora, Mr Rajesh Tewari, Mrs Ritu, senior executives from SAIL including Mr B Dhal Executive Director (P&A) and Mr R K Singhal DGM (Corporate Affairs) also attended the function.

Dr Natarajan gave an overview of BITS Pilani after which Mr Patnaik presented the highlights of the proposed collaboration. Mr Ojha nostalgically recollected his visit to Pilani way back in 1969 and reiterated that SAIL had top focus for HRD with emphasis on work integrated learning. On behalf of BITS, Dr Sundar thanked all SAIL executives including Mr Anil Sharma from Bhilai and Mr Manas Panda from MTI Ranchi for making the MoU function a grand success. Dr Taposh Ghoshal AGM (Academic) from MTI Ranchi welcomed the gathering and proposed vote of thanks.

This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between BITS and SAIL has been signed with the objective of fostering collaboration between the two institutions to promote academic and research interactions which include Practice School Programme for students of BITS, Work Integrated Learning Programmes for employees of SAIL under continuing education, Faculty support by BITS for short term technical programmes at SAIL as well as Involvement of Senior Executives and Experts from SAIL for value addition to the educational process at BITS.

SAIL and BITS understand that they may share confidential information and mutually agree to respect and adhere to the Confidentiality as well as IPR requirements of the respective organizations. A Coordination Committee consisting of Vice Chancellor, BITS as Chairman, two nominees each from SAIL and BITS would coordinate and monitor the academic and research programmes and all related operational matters within the framework of the academic regulations of BITS and the objectives outlined by SAIL.

After the MoU signing, the BITS team along with Mr Ojha and Mr S P Patnaik met Chairman and Managing Director Mr S K Roongta and discussed the salient features of the collaboration.

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About BITS Pilani: The Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani is a Deemed to be University established vide Sec.3 of the UGC Act, 1956 under notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of June 18, 1964.