Sahyadri project support scheme - SPSS
Motivated by the desire to build a strong base for practical problem solving and hands on skills amongst the students, the Chairman of Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management, Dr. ManjunathBhandary initiated the Sahyadri Project Support Scheme (SPSS). Through this scheme, the department of Projects and Funding provides financial and academic support for engineering student projects. The SPSS scheme is the novel paradigm and first of its kind amongst technological universities in India created by Sahyadri College of Engineering &Management. While most of the engineering projects in the engineering colleges and universities are generally conducted as academic final year projects or club projects, SPSS is quite different wherein students execute non-academic engineering projects for the sake of engineering and not obtaining academic scores.
The new trend towards engineering education is Project Based Learning (PBL) that has a significant edge over traditional paper-based learning when it comes to application of engineering concepts. Research has proven that students gain significant knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge. Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management aspire to be a trend-setter in engineering education and hence adopted the Project based learning through Sahyadri Project Support Scheme (SPSS) alongside with the usual academic curriculum.
Preamble
Over the last four years, Sahyadri has evolved its Project Based Learning (PBL) pedagogy from simple engineering college projects to student project where the outcomes involve solving industrial and societal problems.
There are three PBL structures practiced at Sahyadri
Project where students are exposed to the societal needs and students realize that meeting societal needs and being socially responsible is vital for overall growth of the nation.
SPSS projects undertaken in 2nd and 3rd year B.E. when students probe the unmet needs of society and industry, select critical problems and solve them using engineering knowledge and skills.
Final year projects, where student fine tune their SPSS projects and realize projects to products / implementable solutions.
4PS of projects
The vision of Sahyadri interns of these 3 pedagogies of PBL is very clear. The outcomes must be one or more of the four Ps - Product, Patent, Publication and/or Product-Startup. Thus, the students can significantly add value to the nation building.
What is SPSS?
Sahyadri Projects Support Scheme (SPSS) is a seed funding support from SCEM for students to do projects.
Unique Project Based Learning (PBL) approach that is successful in terms of placements, papers, student grants, TBI grants.
SPSS Organization Structure
Objectives of SPSS
The main objective of SPSS is to create and update the general creativities of the students of the various branches of the college and to bring out the innovation talent in them. The sub objectives are:
To encourage project-oriented learning of the students in the field of science and technology in order to promote innovation in projects.
To promote taking up research in emerging and frontier areas of science and technology including multidisciplinary fields.
To attract fresh talents in the college towards research and project activities.
Benefits of SPSS
SPSS provides the application level (practical) knowledge to the students which are not provided to industry’s level by traditional academic teaching.
SPSS provides funding and guidance to the research /R&D projects.
The current job market is extremely competitive. With a lot of Engineers graduating every year, the jobs for fresher is very scarce. If a fresh engineering graduate has to stand out in the competition, he/she should have some project experience in his/her CV. SPSS provides the platform for the same.
SPSS boosts confidence levels in the students in their career especially during their placements/ higher studies.
Students can generate patents and publish paper there by building their CV.
SPSS Empowers analytical thinking, synthesizing and communication skills, there by holistic development take place in the personality of the students.
Students will gain expertise in how to apply for research grants such as KSCST, VGST-TRIP and IE student grants.
What is sahyadri project ecosystem?
Sahyadri Project Ecosystem Consists of SIP, SPSS, Final year B.E. projects and NAIN
SIP (Social Innovation Project) of Sahyadri Centre for Social Innovation (SCSI) is developed for all the first year B.E. students, to develop the basic ideas on social innovations. It is more about applying academic knowledge for creating new products or services to mainly address social and environmental needs and thus staying connected to the society.
SPSS (Sahyadri Project Support Scheme) is for second year and third year B.E. students to convert the talent and creativity of students into projects. SPSS provides financial (seed money) and academic support for student projects that are aimed at solving the critical needs of society or industry. SPSS has a major impact in improving the quality of technical education.
NAIN (New Age Incubation Network) is focus on igniting the young minds and provide the necessary infrastructure and mentoring to take the concepts of the students from idea to POC (Proof of Concept) stage and then give them the necessary guidance and provide the platform to become successful entrepreneurs.
Representation of sahyadri projects ecosystem
Sahyadri project ecosystem shows how the project chain related from 1st year to the final year project. In the 1st year students are made to mainly focus on the problems related to the society and come up with an idea to solve that problem using the SIP (Social Innovation project) Scheme. The 2nd and 3rd year students are involved in SPSS projects. This is the platform provided by the college to encourage projects-oriented learning of the students in the field of science and technology to promote the innovative projects. Final year projects are related to the Academic and one can continue their selected SPSS project to the final year project for the further improvement.
How a student grows at sahyadri
The figure below shows how a student grows at Sahyadri. In the entry level, the SIP program is initiated for connecting the students to the society and makes them to realize the problems faced by the society and come up with the innovative idea to solve the problem.
In the next level, the SPSS program is developed for 2nd and 3rd year students. Here the focus was given for conceptual design and product design & implementation.
In the final year, the students are encouraged to continue their selected SPSS project to implement in final year. Here the focus is given to the Startup design and implementation.
At the final stage, the projects which get selected in Techvision shall receive a funding for the development of the POC (Proof of Concept) from the SPSS fund. For each of the project, there shall be a faculty from the concerned department and an industry expert to guide the students in developing the prototype and making the product commercially viable. This prototype is pitched in various grants for further funding to develop commercial prototype for building product startups.
Project
The Department of Projects and Funding is aimed to create practical problem solving ambience in the students by promoting research and projects in engineering sciences and innovations in established and newer technologies; Research and development activities are considered as an essential component of higher education because of their role in creating new knowledge and insight and imparting excitement and dynamism to the educational process, as well as make them need based in view of the national requirements. The objective of this department is to create and update the general creativities of the students of the various branches of the college.
Motivated by the desire to build a strong base for practical problem solving in the students as well as to build their R & D potential, the Department of Project and Funding launched Student Project Support Scheme- SPSS to convert enormous reservoir of talent and creativity in the students to projects and products. Through this scheme, the Department of Projects and Funding provides financial and academic support for student projects. This scheme is a major innovation and first of its kind in technical education in the country and has a major impact in improving the quality of technical education.
The objectives of STUDENT PROJECT SUPPORT SCHEME- SPSS are
To encourage project activities of the students in the field of Science and Technology in order to promote innovation in projects.
To promote taking up research in newly emerging and frontier areas of Science and Technology including multidisciplinary fields.
To attract fresh talents in the college towards research and project activities.
| Amount Sanctioned (in lakhs) | No of projects Funded | No of projects successfully completed | |
|---|---|---|---|
SPSS 2014-15 | 6.45 | 78 | 58 |
SPSS 2014-15 | 6.45 | 78 | 58 |
SPSS 2014-15 | 6.45 | 78 | 58 |
SPSS 2014-15 | 6.45 | 78 | 58 |
SPSS 2014-15 | 6.45 | 78 | 58 |
SPSS 2014-15 | 6.45 | 78 | 58 |