NIT’s first centre for excellence in manufacturing to open in Trichy

The much-awaited ‘centre for excellence in manufacturing’ at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy will become operational from May this year. The centre, the first in an NIT, is intended to improve the job prospects of engineering graduates in the central region as it is open not only to students of NIT Trichy but also of other engineering colleges.

The centre is being raised with 10 state-of-the-art laboratories at a cost of Rs 198 crore and is aimed at linking the educational system to the industry through a learning model. With major funding from Germany- based automation company Siemens, the centre would offer courses extending from 3 week to 3 months thereby helping engineering, diploma and ITI students from colleges around Trichy.
With employability becoming a stumbling block for a majority of engineering candidates, the benefits of the Siemens centre are expected to enhance the employment opportunities of the students. This will particularly benefit students from self-financing engineering colleges around Trichy who can make use of the expertise available for a nominal charge. “Most of the graduates lack training in a specialised area and thus don’t meet the requirement of an employer,” says the director of NIT Trichy, Mini Shaji Thomas. The centre would help them to choose a field of their interest and get trained in it.
“Siemens offers hundreds of programmes ranging from a duration of 3 weeks to 3 months. For instance, a candidate with Siemens-certified product validation course or CNC programming course will have greater chances of grabbing a job opportunity,” says M Duraiselvam, head, department of production engineering at NIT Trichy who is also the centre’s coordinator.
“Lack of practical knowledge has been the biggest challenge for a majority of engineering college students to become employable in recent times,” says executive committee member, consortium of SF professional arts and science colleges M A Maluk.

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