(PALS), the body comprising alumni from various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the country, on Saturday launched its 2018-19 annual activities aimed at making engineering college students ‘Industry ready. PALS offer a year-long program with various activities for students, faculty and management of Engineering Institutions. PALS is supported by IIT Alumni Industry Interaction Centre (IITAIIC) and IIT Madras Alumni Charitable Trust (IITMACT) for the benefit of engineering college students in Tamil Nadu. Till Academic year 2017-18, PALS has positively impacted more than 15,000 students and 5,000 faculties across member colleges in Chennai, Tricky, Madurai, Coimbatore and Salem. Sharing his thoughts on the role he would like PALS to play, Prof M K Surappa, Vice Chancellor, Anna University, and the Guest of Honour, said, “The number of engineering colleges has increased exponentially in recent years. However, some of these affiliated institutions have difficulty in imparting engineering education at the same level as some of the top institutions. In the last four years, many engineering colleges have had trouble attracting students and have closed down. Perhaps, a body like PALS can prevent this from happening by focusing on elevating the quality of education.” Further, he added, “The roles of Social Sciences and Humanities have fast become vital for making engineers well-rounded. This has already come about in the West and now, in India too.” In its seventh year now, PALS started as a series of motivational lectures given by IIT Alumni at various engineering colleges’ campuses in and around Chennai. The…
