Mangalore: SJEC - A decade of excellence in engineering young minds

Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, May 27: It is said that ten years is too short a time for any institution to prove itself especially in today’s competitive world. St Joseph Engineering College (SJEC), Vamanjoor, Mangalore, has proved this wrong by emerging as an institute of great standing within a short span of a decade and has made its presence felt in the field of education.

Driven by the motto of ‘service and excellence’ the institution is taking gigantic strides and has been ranked as one of the best colleges in terms of quality education, job placements and outstanding performances of its students. Needless to say SJEC has emerged as one of the premier educational institutions and is looked up to by the students and their parents as the ‘gateway to success’, offering quality education in Engineering, Business Administration and Computer Applications at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels.

SJEC is a Christian minority college but is open to all students irrespective of caste, creed, language and religion. It is affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum and recognized by All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. The institution offers undergraduate and post graduate programmes in addition to PhD degree courses and three research courses. With an intake capacity of 540 students each year SJEC has about 2300 students studying under its enormous campus spread over 40 acres of land in a pristine and tranquil atmosphere at Vamanjoor, just 8 kms from Mangalore city. Director of SJEC Fr Joseph J Lobo says, “SJEC is located in a verdant landscape with plenty of fresh air and greenery all around because we believe a conducive environment fuels and fires creativity and innovation in the field of learning”.

Fr Joseph Lobo

Fr Rohit D'Costa (assistant director), Fr Ajith Menezes (assistant director)

Fulfilling a Dream

SJEC was established in the year 2002 due to the initiative of the Bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza. It was the fulfilling of a long cherished dream for the diocese of Mangalore. The diocese of Mangalore manages over 250 educational institutions and its contribution to transforming education is second to none. But there was a vacuum as the diocese did not have a professional technical college to cater to the increasing number of students of the community, especially from the rural background and the poor who wanted to pursue professional technical courses, until SJEC was formed.

Being a minority institution 30% of the seats at SJEC (160 out of 540) are reserved for catholic students, 40% for CET students and remaining 30% are management seats. Catholic students who answer COMEDK examinations can avail this facility of 30% reservation to find admission to the college and it is a great opportunity for deserving and meritorious students to get admission into this premier institute. Students from all over the country and even from gulf countries can also answer COMEDK to get admission to SJEC. NRI students can also seek admission through the NRI quota.

Top-notch Infrastructure

SJEC believes that education provides opportunities for growth and self determination and every student is entitled to make the best of opportunities that education engenders. In order to achieve this and to fulfill its vision to be a global premier institution of professional education and research SJEC provides top class facilities to its students and faculty to derive the best out of them. The infrastructure is distinctive with its modern architecture and the campus provides a pulsating backdrop and a soothing milieu for academic excellence.

The infrastructure has been modeled to suit the academic, residential, sports and recreational requirements of the students. The college has most modern infrastructure including spacious and well ventilated classrooms, fully equipped laboratories, drawing halls, central computer centre with wi-fi connectivity, sophisticated seminar halls, large auditorium, modern library with online journals, multiple-playgrounds for indoor and outdoor games, cafeteria, bank, dispensary, separate hostel facility for boys and girls to accommodate about 700 students with vegetarian and non-vegetarian food facility, staff quarters, foolproof security, a chapel, gymnasium, separate utility block etc. The institute has a guest house which has a capacity to accommodate up to 40 guests. A streamlined transport facility with eight buses is put into service which runs routes covering almost all parts of the city to facilitate commuting of students. There is a separate training and placement cell in the campus to guide students about placements.

This entire infrastructure within the campus would create a comforting ambience tailor-made for the students to realize their academic pursuits and make way for holistic development.

Faculty

For SJEC a highly motivated faculty is an asset and the institute boasts of an excellent faculty keeping in view the latest trends and the challenged that comes with cut throat competition, globalization and employment opportunities in the corporate sector which is always on the lookout for the best talent. Fr Joseph J Lobo points out “We have a right blend of PhDs, professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers who have the right experience and expertise to offer the best to the students. We have maintained a healthy teacher-student ratio so that students get individual attention from the teachers. A large number of Research and Development projects are guided and supervised under the eagle eyes of the faculty”.

The institute arranges visiting faculty from different parts of the country and from varied fields to supplement and synergize the curriculum with practical applications.

The college faculty is always encouraged and provided all support to explore the possibilities of research and development. They are encouraged to publish research papers at national and international forums and are encouraged to keep pace with the latest developments in their field. The institute accords top priority to attract, nurture and retain its faculty and technical manpower. In this endeavor the institute grooms its students by facilitating interaction with the alumni, academia and industry.

Scholarships to deserving students

Transforming education by reaching out to the deserving students has been one of the major objectives of SJEC. As Fr Joseph Lobo puts it “We want deserving and meritorious students to get an opportunity to study, exhibit their talents and excel by providing a level playing field to them. We want to play the role of being their mentors providing all sorts of assistance and ensure that they seize the initiative. We want to provide a helping hand to the catholic youth especially from the rural areas who cannot afford the cost of professional technical education”.

The college has been providing scholarships to deserving students to help them overcome the financial burden. This financial year alone the college has given scholarships and concessions worth Rs. 4.5 crores, which is quite an exorbitant amount. The institution wants to ensure that the poorest and the have-nots are not deprived of quality education for lack of financial support. Fr Joseph Lobo points out “The scholarship we provide for deserving students at SJEC has been a great morale booster for many students who otherwise would not have dreamt of studying in a reputed professional college like SJEC”.

Future Plans

In the last one decade SJEC has emerged as one of the top ranking professional colleges. The management is determined to ensure that the institution scales greater heights in the days to come and has been making concerted efforts in that direction. Obtaining accreditation by 2014 therefore tops among the future plans closely followed by obtaining autonomy for its programmes by 2015. Autonomy would help the institution to be more student-centric and offer better courses. SJEC plans to enter into a MOU with important institutions like IIT, NIT, IIIT, DST, DRDO, CSIR, ISRO, CMTI, DBT, BRNS and other top institutions of the country.

Plans are also on the anvil to establish industry/institution interaction cell to undertake industrial training and entrepreneurship training programmes from reputed institutions. Plans are also afoot to start 4 PG in advanced multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary areas of Engineering and & Technology by 2015. Seeking more funds for R & D, encouraging the faculty to complete PG qualification and setting up a vibration and pro-active alumni association by 2015 are also in the list of the future programmes. Collaborating with other universities and encourage cultural exchange programmes are also among the future plans in an effort to make SJEC a reputed and sought-after professional technical educational institution.

Apart from academic excellence SJEC gives equal importance to co-curricular and extra-curricular activities to enable the overall personality development of the students. Technical events are organized at the campus to enable students get practical knowledge which may also pave the way for technical innovation. Students are also encouraged to take part in cultural events to enspirit creativity, independent thinking, and leadership quality and develop competitive character. The college has been able to have quality results over the years, which speak volumes of the high standards it has maintained.

Academic and extracurricular excellence

It goes to the credit of the institution that some of its students have excelled in academics by securing ranks and winning accolades in extracurricular activities at state and national levels. It is also a matter of great satisfaction that corporate giants like Oracle, iGate, JSW, Birla Soft, HCL, Wipro, Robosoft, hp, IBM, Bosch, TCS have recruited students of SJEC and many MNC’s have come to SJEC for campus recruitment.

It has been a very fruitful journey of a decade for SJEC which has climbed the popularity chart to emerge as a reputed institution in a short period. SJEC provides value-based education by adhering to the ideals of faith, truth, respect and professional ethics. In its endeavor to reach greater heights it has never compromised on these qualities and it will scout for a shortcut to achieve this. The college strives to provide its students a holistic campus atmosphere which can act as a sturdy foundation for their entire life ahead.

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