Committed to delivering highstandards in technologyeducation and crafting creativeengineers at all times, School OfManagement Studies (SOMS)under National Institute ofTechnology, Calicut (NITC), iscommitted to proficiency inmanagerial skills and entwinestechnical skills with ease

ational Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC), one of thepremier institutions imparting technical education inIndia, has been a striking name in the educationalresurgence of Kerala. Formerly known as Calicut

Regional Engineering College (CREC), NITC has always made hugeleaps forward with each progressing year, ever since its establishmentin 1961. It stood then, as the ninth Regional Engineering College inIndia. Though the School of Management Studies (SOMS) wasestablished only as late as 2008, it is already at par with excellence insetting international standards of the management educational unitsconsidering the need to develop and boost the managerial skills of to-be professionals in the country. NITC is an Institute of Nationalimportance, fully funded by the Government of India

Campus CallingNational Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) is locatedabout 22 kilometers north-east of Calicut. The sprawlingcampus at NITC boasts of separate hostel facilities for menand women, a guest house for the guests of the instituteand an engineering unit to organize all constructions,maintenance, electrification, and water supply of the collegebased on the needs of different departments. Apart from themess in every hostel, a mini canteen is also available in thehostel premises. STD/ISD facilities are available in almostall hostels. Students (except first year) are permitted to usetheir own computers in their rooms. Facilities for recreationare also provided in all the hostels. Medical care is offeredby the institute at its own Health Centre with two MedicalOfficers catering to the health needs of the campusresidents.

Central Computer Centre (CCC) is the central facility inNIT Calicut which caters for the computing requirements ofthe whole community of this institution. The Centre hasstate of the art infrastructure with four fully operationalterminals spanning over three floors of the building.Decision Support System (DSS) of the institute alsooperates from the Centre building.

The Campus Networking Centre (CNC) in the campusprovides internet and intranet facilities to all users in theinstitute. For the network services, centre has the high endcomputational servers on which accounts are given tostudents, staff and faculty of the departments. It has an

extensive fibre optic network over the whole campus. A well-equipped central library within the campus has a

huge collection of reputed management journals, casestudy collections, and market research tools such asPROWESS and Ace Analyzer, and so on, besides onlinejournals, print journals, national & vernacular dailies,magazines.

The MBA programmeA new chord of balance between technical skills andmanagerial proficiency had to be achieved, especially so inKerala and the development of School of ManagementStudies (SOMS) exactly nailed it. Today, the Master ofBusiness Administration Programme (MBA) that the Schooloffers nearly surpasses the standards already set by that ofthe leading B-Schools in the country. This two yearprogramme is semester-based, in tandem with theacademic pattern followed at NITC and, both the syllabusand the pedagogy reach out beyond classroom teaching andindustrial learning.

NSherene Joseph

Extra-curricular activitiesApart from academics, NITC gives equal importance to theholistic development of its students. There are various clubsand activities that nurture the budding talent of the studentssuch as Club Unwired (CUW), a comprehensive Science&Technology club, consisting of dynamic and passionatestudents. Club Unwired is a platform for creative andoriginal ideas with innovation at its core. The activities ofAdventure Club gives one an adrenaline rush such ascampus trekking, marathon, treasure hunt, and so on. Apartfrom these, various other clubs and activities like ClubMathematica, Indian Society for Technical Education, Natureclub, National Service Scheme, FOSSCell and RoboticsInterest Group, adds value to the life of the students at NITC.

Extra edgePlant tours, workshops and seminars, business games andexperimental simulations along with business researchprojects are some of the highlights at SOMS. Peer-to-peermentoring is the ultimate aim of any activity.

Entrepreneurship is a key element that aids in boostingdevelopment. Anticipating this serious thought of progress,NITC-SOMS has always been encouraging and motivatingstudents' potential setting them on track not only with theeducation set pattern in the theoretical and practicalframework of being employable, but in the basic lessons ofgood entrepreneurship too, thus contributing to theindustrial and economic development boom. The School

SOMS has introduced a mandatory industrial internship fornot less than sixty days in the specific area of specializationwhich is broadly spanned from Business Analytics andSystems to Financial Management, Human ResourcesManagement Operations and Production Management toMarketing Management and General Management apart from aconcentrated focus on latest developments in Humanities andSocial Sciences not ignoring the current trends in business,governance and professional ethics. The students are given thechoice of freedom to select their electives according to theirskills, potential and tastes and it would certainly not be anexaggeration to point out that the list is really long andsophisticated enough to reach at a consensus with theaccelerating demands of today's and tomorrow's globalizedworld.

MBA students are selected based on one-on-one interviewperformances, and group discussions which shall furtherprove their merit as potential students of great skill once theyare through the CAT and CMAT. Obviously, the student groupof SOMS is an energetic bunch belonging to both categories-those with work-ex and without. Again, since they belong tovarious backgrounds, it revitalizes the already thrivingcosmopolitan environment of NITC. After their coursecompletion, a good bunch of students are being continuouslyplaced with the leaders in the national and international marketlike Coal India, UST Global, MSTS, Ernst & Young, PWC, IBS,ITC and Arbitron etc. and a lot many have turned out to besuccessful entrepreneurs setting up fattening startups.

Student Guidance CellStudent Guidance Cell (SGC) aims to provide guidance andcounselling services to students based on their needs withassured privacy and confidential exchange ofcommunication. SGC also provides academic support in theform of special classes for students. The formation of SGCwas based on the feedback from graduated students of theinstitute who stressed on the need to have a facility tocounsel and motivate the students. SGC helps the studentsto function better in all domains of life - academic, social,personal and psychological.

The motive behind SGC stems from the need to facilitatethe process of growth and maintain a positive well-being ofthe students. The counselling services offered by SGCempowers the students to have enhanced ability to solveproblems, make decisions as well as make them moreefficient in tackling personal problems. In a nut shell, it isaimed at enhancing their ability to utilise the best potentialavailable in them. The SGC avails the help of two trainedclinical psychologists who are available in the institute.

also fosters an interactive platform for learning and guidancewith the top faculty members from Kellog's School, AuburnUSA and IESEG Paris apart from IITs and IIMs. Needless tosay, virtual learning through webinars and other interactivevirtual platforms for e-learning are also encouraged and thecampus facilities are also appropriately designed toaccommodate the same.

The congenial research environment apart from the hugepool of resources helps the Ph.D. scholars in SOMS greatly,though relevant data from the institute points out thatresearch is mostly limited to the fields of Economics,Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management,Operations and Systems. SOMS is planning to launch a hugeevent to break this convention so as to set new standards inchoosing research areas by promoting awareness into thevarious fields of possible research not discounting the scopeof latest innovations in industrial dynamics too, integratingwith the local government bodies aiming for an increasedcommunal interaction.

These new strategic developments in NITC-SOMS is sureto revolutionize the education ideals of the state with thehighest literacy level and set an inspiration model ofdevelopment and research in higher education for the rest ofthe nation. These steps taken by NITC would surely leadIndia to the threshold of exponential growth in the nearestfuture.

NITC- SOMS has been very committed to delivering the

highest possible standards of education, training and

research, whereby the Corporate world can always rely on

our trained and equipped professionals. Though we are

only six years old now, the maturity in the field of

education we have displayed already is set at

par in excellence with leading institutions in

India that boast of a definite legacy

Dr R Sridharan, Professor & Head, School of

Management Studies, NITC

Imparting education is the highest form of service

to society and humanity. We at NITC-SOMS

explore and deliver the highest international

standards intertwining technical skills and

managerial proficiency to mould our future

generations' commitment towards

themselves, the institution, and our

nation.

Dr Sivaji Chakravorti, director,

National Institute of Technology, Calicut

www.nit.ac.in