Getting 100% admissions to MTech courses is possible in two situations:
1. Demand Driven Course. Which means there is a high demand and college only has to setup the infrastructure and conduct the course.
2. Smart Marketing and Smart Exits. When colleges market are able sell the course benefits to students resulting in 100% admissions.
Given the fact that M Tech Defence Technology is a new course, with 25 colleges offering the course, it becomes necessary to package and market the course to prospective students in a professional manner.
This will ensure 100% admissions in the next academic cycle.
Below I have listed 12 steps which can be easily adopted in your Engineering College and help achieve the goal of 100% admissions.
A few of the steps are very simple and the remaining ones require proper planning and effective execution.
A big challenge faced by Engineering Colleges when promoting an MTech Course is that students today want to take up a job immediately and start earning. This is very understandable.
Another challenge is students want to work in the software domain or a related domain.
These two challenges can be overcome by adopting 12 Tips, which are discussed below.
#1 – CREATE Defence Technology showcase
This is the most easiest, obvious and simple one.
Some of the Engineering Colleges offering MTech Defence Technology may have already done this. However, I have seen many colleges have not focused on this simple yet high benefit step. Frontage or Optics or Presentation is very important. If the management of the Colleges conduct a simple survey to assess how many of their own students know about the MTech Defence Technology course, what are the prospects, why this is a growing Industry for India?, only a small fraction of the students will answer these questions positively.
Given this, it is very much necessary for the “Course In Charge” to create a showcase of the Course, particularly getting a “MTech Defence Technology” degree will benefit their careers.
Today’s reality is students want to work in a software related role. It is simply because salaries in software related jobs are higher and they can work in popular MNCs such as Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS and Accenture. College marketing team has to convince to the students the above mentioned companies have dedicated Defence and Aerospace wings employing 1000s of employees.
This is a smart marketing step as each Engineering College already has a catchment area.
#2 – Create Technology Influencers
A Technology Influencer is a Defence Technology Subject Specific Information Hub in the College with a comprehensive and aggressive Digital Presence. With smart management, Technology Influencer Initiative can yield excellent benefits, such as better relations with the corporate companies and prepare students early in their student life for premium jobs.
Of all the 12 steps listed here, this is the most important and the foundation for all other initiatives.
This is a step which is both smart marketing and smart exits.
#3 – Colloborate with other Colleges
M Tech Defence Technology is a relatively new course. Every college which has ventured to start this course needs to be encouraged and managements of all “MTech Defence Technology Colleges” can voluntarily form a special interest group.
This group can share useful and critical information for rapid growth of the course in this important sector of the Industry.
#4 – Offer Integrated course
Those students who enroll for the MTech Defence Technology course while studying the Bachelors course can be offered incentives such as Project Credit carry over, Defence Technology Subjects as Optional subjects in the Final and Pre Final year which will help them in the MTech course.
Fees reduction can be offered for those who enroll the Bachelors course.
Offering an integrated course with the possibility of completing the entire BE and MTech in 5 years is very important for packaging the course. This step addresses the biggest challenge faced by Engineering educational institutions which is students want to get a job early and start earning.
To convince the students Colleges have to show clear terms how they will be completing the course early and the benefits for the student of doing an additional MTech degree to stand out in the competition. The benefits are better performance in jobs as compared to a simple BE degree, a highly secure Industry and higher pay.
#5 – Support for certification
Today there are several online training courses which enhance the M Tech Defence Technology course. These courses are highly focused and increase job opportunities. Students should be guided with information on which courses to go for, so that their resume is enhanced. The key is to pack the student’s resume with certifications, degree, projects and internships.
This step will ensure placements and result in better packaging of the course.
This step will lead to smart exits as companies today are looking to hire professionals who have a career plan and are demonstrating with action that they are executing their plan.
#6 – Create SPECIALIZATION competency
1.Combat Vehicle Engineering
2.Aerospace Technology
3.Naval Technology
4.Communication Systems and Sensors
5.Directed Energy Technology
6.High Energy Material Technology
It is strongly recommend that Colleges select one of the above to begin with. This will enable colleges to build up the resources both teaching and lab competencies in the chosen area. A second competency can be added later on.
To begin with Aerospace Technology is a good choice as several export and Indian Air Force orders running into hundreds of crores are being placed. Several production lines are needed to augment production and skilled Engineers are needed in good numbers.
This step will ensure faculty and the team to focus on specifics and add immensely to better package the course.
#7 – FOCUS ON MODEL PROJECTS
As Defence Technology and Defence Manufacturing is relatively new in India, students find it hard to select projects in Defence Technology.
This is also because, students are not encouraged to select Model projects and Professors hesitate to grade such projects.
As existing Defence Weapon Systems and Equipment have well defined design and specifications, encourage students to build a model project which is monitored on a day to day basis. This will enable students to become very familiar with the weapon systems and increase his/her employability.
This is a smart execution step as students get a comprehensive and an end to end knowledge of what it takes to build a mini weapon system, and leads to smart exits.
#8 – FOCUS ON SOFTWARE
There are 40 plus subjects in all the six streams offered by MTech DT course. In each subject, focus on software perspective and provide exposure to students in such software.
This will result in making it easy for students to apply for premium jobs and smart exits.
For example, FEA is an important subject in design, plan and manufacture of all weapon systems of the Defence forces. There are several popular FEA software, Autodesk FEA is one, and ensure students are very well versed in using such software.
Similarly, product QC is an important area. Encourage students to learn software which are used in QC. This single step can yield high returns in terms of placements.
When students hear about MTech Defence Technology, they have a tendency to assume that there is less software content in the course. In fact, it is the other way around. In Defence Technology everything is software driven.
#9 – Conduct special courses on Simulation
Defence forces and the Industry too, need a number of simulation cycles before a product or assembly or component goes into production. Expose students to various simulation software and train on a few of them.
Especially useful for students of Computer Science who have chosen to undertake the MTech in Defence Technology course.
#10 – Get students participate in Tech. Influencer initiative from BE
Getting students to participate in the #2 initiative, which is “Tech Influencer” initiative will open up the creative thinking of Defence Technology. At the same time it will enable the faculty to enhance the Digital Footprint of Engineering College in the chosen subject.
This step is a part of subtle effort to encourage students to join the course. This step alone can bring in high demand for ensure 100% admission to the course. Not just admissions, this step can pave the way for jobs and projects..
#11 – Defence Terms – Prepare students for familiarity
A big challenge for students in Defence Technology will be the large number of terms used in the Defence Industry which they will have to become familiar with to learn the subjects in the MTech Defence Technology course and get ahead in the course academic requirements.
Create a bank of such terms and provide to students which will hasten their adaption to the course.
How will this help in 100% admissions?
MTech in Defence Technology is an excellent opportunity for colleges to connect syllabus, high quality training, excellent students and smart marketing. A separate exercise to enable students to become familiar with terminology is very critical to shorten the learning curve.
Familiarity with the Defence Terms will lead to confident students which will in turn lead to smart exits. Smart exits in turn lead to 100% admissions.
#12 – Expose Students to DPP
The Govt. is the sole buyer of Weapon Systems and students.
The Government of India has released a 700 page Defence Procurement Manual. Expose students to this manual by way of short term course or on line training. This will go a long way in enhancing student’s awareness of Defence Industry, how purchases happen and how the supply chain works.
Students of 2nd and 3rd year can also attend a day workshop or lecture. During this talk, students should be told about the order size for each weapon system. For instance, the LCA MK1 order size is of Re. 40,000 crore. This will help in increasing admissions, which is smart marketing. For MTech students this will open up new job opportunities as there are very few Engineers who are familiar with this procedure which will lead to smart exits.
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