Pan IIT Alumni Leadership Series (PALS), a unique professional body comprising of alumni from various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) launched its 2018-19 annual activities with the aim to make engineering college students ‘Industry Ready’. PALS, in support wth IIT Alumni Industry Interaction Centre (IITAIIC) and IIT Madras Alumni Charitable Trust (IITMACT), offers a year-long program with various activities for students, faculty and management of Engineering Institutions across Tamil Nadu.

Prof. M. K. Surappa, Vice Chancellor, Anna University, says, “The number of engineering colleges has increased exponentially in recent years. However, some of these affiliated institutions have difficulty in imparting engineering education at the same level as some of the top institutions. In the last four years, many engineering colleges have had trouble attracting students and have closed down. Perhaps, a body like PALS can prevent this from happening by focusing on elevating the quality of education.”

The main objective of PALS is to enhance the quality of engineering education and make graduates from these institutions ‘industry ready’. In order to fulfill this, PALS has tapped into the vast pool of expertise available. Till 2017-18, PALS has helped more than 15,000 students and 5,000 faculties across member colleges in Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore and Salem achieve a holistic technical knowledge. Its student centric programs like campus lectures, internships, workshops and industry projects and faculty centric programs like research park visits, development programs, workshops and industry visits help gain an overall expertise.  Furthermore, the management is facilitated with inaugural events, valedictions, educational excellence summit and many more.

Mohan Narayanan, Chairperson, PALS, says, “We now strongly believe an intelligent concoction of a supportive anchor institute, dedicated alumni network and industry can re-create this model anywhere else in our geographical educational ecosystem. PALS on its part will be more than happy to work with such dedicated groups and mentor them to create similar impactful models.”

Established in 2011, PALS’s vision is to provide a unique experience in the sphere of engineering education to all its partner institutes, nurturing a holistic evolution of their teaching fraternity and student community. It organizes several events that enhance job opportunities for the students by increasing their awareness of the job market and practical skills. These opportunities will help the students and faculty with the rich experience shared by the IIT alumni. Hence, inputs from the faculty coordinators of the Partner Institutes and enthusiasm of the student participants help them get the proper guidance.

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