Pandit Deendayal Energy University Gandhinagar: Interview with Dr. S. Sundar Manoharan (Director General)

Established in 2007, Pandit Deendayal Energy University is a state university in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. PDEU has been accredited with A++ grade by NAAC. The university offers UG, PG and Doctoral level courses. Pandit Deendayal Energy University offers both full-time and part-time courses. Some of the courses available at PDEU Gandhinagar are as follows: BA (Hons), BBA, B.Sc (Hons), B.Com (Hons), BE/ B.Tech, ME/ M.Tech, M.Sc, MBA, Executive MBA, MA, and Ph.D. Admission to BE/ B.Tech programmes at PDEU is based on JEE Main/ GUJCET scores. Eligible students can apply for PDEU scholarships provided by the university.

Careers360 in this interview with Dr. S. Sundar Manoharan, Director General Pandit Deendayal Energy University. In his interview Dr. S. Sundar Manoharan has shared various details about PDEU Gandhinagar vision, mission, courses, admission process, internships, placements, facilities, etc. Dr. S. Sundar Manoharan has also answered various queries related to Pandit Deendayal Energy University student life. To know more about PDEU Gandhinagar go through the complete interview of Dr. S. Sundar Manoharan with Careers360.

Careers360: Pandit Deendayal Energy University was set up as a private university under the state act in Gujarat. What was the mission and vision behind the university?

Answer: Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) was formally known as Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU). Now it is known as PDEU because of its contributions to not only the petroleum sector and to fossil fuels but also to non fossil fuels (renewable energy). The vision of PDEU is to be internationally well accredited and a known university for energy education, research and innovation. One of the chief missions is to create a Centre of Excellence (COE) because we emphasize mostly on experiential learning and hands-on experience. To augment skill development and also propagate Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and make in India concept PDEU has over 12 COE, in various verticals of renewable energy with an investment of more than Rs 240 crores.

Our vision is to make students camera ready for industrial employment and we want PDEU students to not feel the gap between academics and industry.

Careers360: The university has four schools primarily. Can you give details on each?

Answer: PDEU is a unique university in light of the National Education Policy (NEP) mainly because it started as an institute of Petroleum Management, then the institute of Petroleum Technology was instituted. Later it became a university with the School of Liberal Studies. So today PDEU has four schools:

• School of Petroleum Management

• School of Liberal Studies

• School of Technology

• School of Petroleum Technology

In the School of Technology CS, ICT, ECE, Civil, Mechanical and some of the allied science departments are there. In the School of Petroleum Technology the uniqueness is that all the major departments which contribute to energy are linked together. The foremost department of the School of Petroleum Technology is Electrical Engineering. They serve all the mission and vision pertaining to energy education.

Careers360: What sets the School of Petroleum Technology and the School of Petroleum Management apart from similar bschools or engineering institutes?

Answer: School of Petroleum Management has 240 students intake with two sections. One for General Management and other for Energy Management. School of Petroleum Management also offers a Ph.D programme with hand holding with NDPC. So it is a unique propagation in management that it not only trains students in all the branches of management but also has a separate section for Energy Management which brings more relevance to direct employment into any energy industry vertical.

Careers360: Accreditations are important quality checks for any university or institute. Please throw light on the important accreditations of PDEU.

Answer: The good practices exercised both in education and research naturally brings us to the accreditation process. In the state of Gujarat except Gujarat University amongst the technical universities, PDEU is the 1st private university to be ranked by the Government of Gujarat with a five star rating. PDEU provides leadership in grooming students from All India JEE and also from ACPC. PDEU has been accredited by NAAC with A++ grade. This has been achieved by the hard work of faculty and staff.

PDEU curriculum is as per industry 4.0 demands. That is the uniqueness that has given PDEU the edge to be ranked number one amongst the private universities. Recently the Government of Gujarat recognized PDEU as one of the seven COE. PDEU has received COE status because it transcends beyond being locally engaged and also to become globally competitive. Apart from this PDEU, as per the ARIIA ranking conducted by the Ministry of Education for innovation and entrepreneurship has been ranked 5th amongst the private universities in the All India Ranking.

Careers360: Is the admission process separate for students from Gujarat and the other states? Is there any quota for the same?

Answer: In the PDEU admission process 50% allowance is given to All India JEE rank. At the same time GUJCET entrance exam is conducted for Gujarat students and 50% seats are reserved for GUJCET qualified students. However, the Government has given more autonomy to PDEU in terms of selecting students. Therefore from this year we have 75% allotment for All India JEE, while 25% has been dedicated to ACPC qualified students.

The School of Liberal Studies has 15% diversity. 53% of the students in this school are female. PDEU takes care of gender equality, outreach and inclusivity. PDEU also has robust scholarship schemes for attracting more female students from Gujarat and outside.

Careers360: What are the scholarships that students can avail?

Answer: Pandit Deendayal Energy University has a very detailed listing of all the scholarships on the university’s official website. The university offers nearly Rs 10 crores worth of scholarships. The two major scholarship schemes available at PDEU Gandhinagar are given below:

Merit scholarship - It is solely based on students +2 achievements and their JEE ranking.

Merit cum means scholarship - It is also aided by the Government of Gujarat

For detailed information on PDEU scholarships interested students can visit the PDEU admissions website. There is also a clear mandate for girls quota with PDEU scholarships.

Careers360: Considering the fast evolving technology, how does the university ensure the curriculum is on par with industry requirements?

Answer: In the year 2020, when we were in lockdown due to COVID-19. It was a very transforming journey for PDEU. The university has revised 100% of all the subjects pertaining to industry 4.0.More than 1300 subjects were revised, not minor revisions but the entire curriculum and all the elements pertaining to industry 4.0 were added. Especially the area of Data Science, AI, IoT and also in the next gen computing PDEU brought revision in the skill sets. One uniqueness of PDEU curriculum is that a lot of importance has been placed in manufacturing skill sets.

Careers360: Internships and placements are very important factors for all students? Please give details on the latest internship and placements this year like packages, recruiters etc.

Answer: Both entry and exit are important. At PDEU internships start right from the 1st year. One practice of PDEU is to give an immersion programme into rural internships as a compulsory engagement in the 1st year. The students are supposed to spend one full month in the rural internship to understand and to connect with the communities. PDEU has 5 NGOs who help in giving this immersion programme. So that the students are sensitized to the societal needs before they come into core engineering or other branches of science or liberal arts. So they know what to learn and what is the relevance of social connectivity.

PDEU has compulsory industry internship by the end of 4th semester. It is a 1 month long industry internship. All the students have to go through it. It is also graded and credits are added to it, which makes it very robust. PDEU is connected with more than 600 industry partners, which helps the students to get industry internships and placements.

Apart from this PDEU has more than 320 student projects which are also called comprehensive projects, where students do their last semester internship/ training solving industrial problems. PDEU also focuses on CAPSTONE projects, which are comprehensive projects where industry guided and approved projects are taken up. When the students do their final projects with the industry it leads to employment.

Today the PDUE has 90% placement of the students who wish to be placed. As per the latest PDEU placement data of the 20 PDEU students who qualified GATE and had All India Rank in the top 10, they were offered a salary package of Rs 24 LPA. There is also a big emphasis on higher education. Almost all our liberal arts students opt for higher education.

Careers360: What can prospective students look forward to at PDEU?

Answer: JEE students are analytically well trained, numerically brilliant in solving problems. Their understanding of basic methodology is very sound. But what they should look for at PDEU is experiential learning. 33% of the courses are taught outside the classroom, this helps students with hands-on learning.

Careers360: Any message to students.

Answer: When students look for opportunities, they should not look only for bookish knowledge because they have been trained for such practices for the last 3 to 4 years. Students have to groom themselves as future entrepreneurs. They need to have industry specific requirements and know how they can contribute to the nation through the flagship programmes called Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. If students can answer the questions or solve the challenges that the community or nation is facing. The reward will certainly come back to them.

Disclaimer: This content was distributed by Pandit Deendayal Energy University and has been published as part of Careers360’s marketing initiative.

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