Month: December 2017

Seven ways UPES is raising the benchmark for engineering education

If you are an engineering enthusiast or already pursing a B.Tech/M.Tech degree from UPES, here is how UPES School of Engineering and School of Computer Science provides you a winning edge:

1. Industry relevance: Every course holds industry relevance and UPES works closely with leading organizations to ensure this. For instance, all computer science programs are offered in collaboration with IBM and Xebia. Similarly, civil engineering programs are offered in partnership with L&T. Industry engagement is involved right from conceptualizing programs to designing the content and curriculum. Faculty is also trained on practical aspects, engaging students in live projects wherein industry experts interact with students.

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Leadership teams from UPES and Xebia during MoU signing ceremony

2. Global Exposure: At UPES, engineering students get brilliant opportunities to participate in international competitions, events, internships and student exchange programs. For almost five years, UPES students have been participating in CanSat – a prestigious aerospace event that attracts representation from more than 50 universities across the globe. This year, Team Astral of UPES ranked no. 1 at this competition. UPES engineering students have received a grant of Rs. 20 lakhs after reaching the finals of India Innovation Growth Programme 2.0 which is also known as IIGP 2.0. They will now be working on prototypes of innovative technologies. 

Team Astral UPES at CanSat 2017
Team Astral at CanSat 2017 after winning no. 1 rank

3. Personality Enhancement Program (PEP): The 3-day program acts as an icebreaker, helping students from diverse backgrounds to overcome inhibitions. Besides this, there is continuous focus on developing soft skills, lack of which can hamper professional growth. Students also participate in academic fests like IGNITE and RISE that facilitates the learning process outside of classrooms. This hones their leadership abilities, team spirit and other soft skills.

 

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A prototype developed by a UPES engineering student being exhibited at RISE

4. Promoting innovation: Great ideas need financial support for execution and success. UPES has, therefore, launched a program, RISE – Research Initiative for Students of Engineering – wherein INR 15-20 lakhs is provided annually to convert ideas into reality.

5. Faculty Internship: A four to six weeks of learning process in a business environment provides opportunities for the faculty to correlate theory with practical application, in turn making teaching relevant to the industry and augmenting the realism of the classroom course.

6. Consultancy projects: Students are generally involved with faculty members in research and consultancy projects, which give them additional practical exposure. For example, there are on-going projects of renewable energy, which involve the designing of solar power plants.

7. Exceptional infrastructure: UPES provides right infrastructure in terms of research labs, equipment, software, library, wi-fi classrooms, latest teaching technologies etc. to facilitate holistic learning and growth. A beautiful campus at foothills of the Himalayas is always an added advantage 🙂

Aerospace lab at UPES
One of the many labs at UPES campus for students to gain practical knowledge

Digital Professions in Power Sector on the Rise: UPES Power HR Round Table

UPES 7th Power HR Roundtable

Industry leaders deliberated on pertinent issues during 7th UPES Power HR Round Table

The entry of tech giants like Google and Apple in the energy sector has forced traditional organizations in this sector to disrupt themselves- both in terms of use of technology and talent management. CEOs and HR heads of leading Indian companies in the power sector such as Tata Power, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd., GMR Energy, Adani Green Energy Ltd., and DB Power Ltd. deliberated on various challenges faced by the sector today and possible solutions at the 7th Power HR Round Table organized by UPES.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Jayant Kumar, Chief Human Resource Officer, Tata Power Co. Ltd. said, “With technological disruptions like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, augmented reality etc. that are impacting the power sector as well, it has become imperative to re-train and re-skill resources for emerging careers where the demand is more than the supply”. “Curiosity, courage and comfort with technology are the traits of a future digital worker”, he added.

During the CEO panel discussion on ‘Power sector transformation: Impact of digitisation’, Ashis Basu, CEO (Corporate), GMR Energy Ltd. suggested, “Power distribution companies (Discoms), due to their nature of work, have access to huge consumer data and they can use this data to foray into other allied businesses just the way cab aggregators are delivering food or e-commerce companies providing video-on-demand services”. Other panellists on this panel were A.S. Khushwaha, General Manager, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd; Gargi Chatterjea, Executive Director (Regulatory & Corporate Affairs), CESC Ltd.; Sanjeev Mehra, Managing Director, Tata Power Trading Co. Ltd. and Sidharth Jain, Founder & Managing Director, MEC Intelligence.

UPES plays an instrumental role in developing industry-ready talent for this sector as it offers specialized engineering and management programs in power. Besides this, UPES is the first University to enter into a MoU with NITI Aayog to assess national energy issues. Utpal Ghosh, President & CEO, UPES, explained, “This MoU provides as a framework for cooperation between NITI Aayog and UPES to collaborate for designing, developing, and conducting consultative policy dialogue and business research to promote and enable high level energy efficiency policy formulation in India. It also includes providing inputs on the implications of high penetration of renewables on the grid”.