NINTH CONVOCATION

th 09 February 2014

Annual Report

by

Dr. M. PONNAVAIKKOVice-Chancellor

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-14 BY THE VICE-CHANCELLOR

Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Naredra Modi ji,

Revered Chancellor of SRM University,

Esteemed Chairman and President,

Distinguished Invitee Shri. Avinash Chander,

Director General, DRDO, Government of India,

Respected Members of the Board of Management and

Academic Council,

My Beloved Young Graduates,

Respectful Parents and Guests,

My Dear Colleagues,

Our Friends from Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning!

I join our Chancellor in Extending a Very Warm Welcome to

Every One of You on The occasion of the 9th Convocation

of SRM University.

SRM University, born in 2002 as a multi disciplinary

University, encompasses the leading Institutions of SRM

Group with international reputation, established by the

academic visionary, Dr.T.R.Pachamuthu, from the year

1985 onwards. The University functions in four campuses in

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the country, namely, Kattankulathur campus in

Kanchipuram district, Ramapuram and Vadapalani

campuses in Chennai city and Modi Nagar campus, near

Delhi, built over a total land area of about 300 acres with a

total built-up area of over 10.3 Million square feet. The

University offers academic programs under four major

Faculties, namely, Engineering & Technology, Medical &

Health Sciences, Science & Humanities, and Business

Management, through 59 Schools & Colleges, 151

Departments and 9 Research Centers of Excellence, offering

75 UG and 111 PG programs in all the four campuses and

guiding 900 Ph.D. research scholars in 62 disciplines. The

total strength of students studying in all the campuses of the

University is 39,266 with a total teaching staff strength of

2,634.

During this year convocation, the University will be

awarding Degrees and Diplomas to 10,280 candidates,

including 6,501 UG Degrees, 3,625 PG Degrees, 104

Diplomas and 50 Ph.D. degrees. It is indeed a matter of

pride and privilege that the University is conferring

Honorary Doctorates on Shri. Avinash Chander, Director

General of DRDO.

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SRM University is known for its amazing infrastructural

facilities including large number of High Tech laboratories

with latest equipments, devices and Software Systems and

well furnished Libraries. The Central library of the

University is located in an area of 150 thousand sq.ft. in the

15-Storey University Administrative Block, spread over

Ground + 3 floors, situated in Kattankulathur campus, in

addition to the departmental libraries, automated with

RFID technology. All the libraries of the University have a

total collection of over 2,63,593 volumes in 99,892 titles,

and has subscribed to 351 International journals and 619

National journals and to 10,946 online journals, along

with 16,642 e-books and 12,954 CD-ROMs as Audio-

visual resources. SRM University library also holds

memberships of various library networks like DELNET,

MALIBNET, etc. It has also access to EKLAVYA

Technology channel.

SRM University in collaboration with Partner's Health Care

systems, USA, has established a state - of - the - art

SRM-STRATUS SIMULATION CENTER to train

nurses, doctors and students in dealing with medical

emergencies. It is the largest Simulation Center in South

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East Asia. SRMU – BOSCH Joint Certification Training

Centre in SRM is another initiative, which acts as a bridge

between the Industries and Academic Institutions. SRM

University takes the lead among Indian Universities to set

up a state-of-the art Software Defined Communications

Technology / Research Test bed in collaboration with an

Industrial partner, Tejas Networks, Bangalore. A High

Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) has been setup

in SRM University with a server having a total of 368 CPU

cores with 2.844 TB RAM and 23 compute nodes.

RESEARCH

SRM University in its quest for excellence has made rapid

strides in creating outstanding research facilities in the form

of Research Centers, Research Chairs, Research Institutes

resulting in patents, numerous publications in refereed

journals and securing funded research projects from

funding agencies. Nine Research Centers have been

established in the University to support research activities

in the University, which includes a Nano Technology

Research Centre, an Interdisciplinary School of Indian

System of Medicine with International GLP and GCP

complied National Facility for Clinical Trial and

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International GLP complied Neurology, Molecular

Biology, Phyto Chemistry and Common Instrumentation

Labs to develop herbal based Siddha and Ayurvedic

medicines, a Centre for Environnemental Nuclear

Research, Two Research Inst i tutes one in

Kattankulathur and the other in Bangalore with 62

Research Faculties, PDFs and JRFs, a Genome Research

Center, an Earthquake Research Cell, a Center for

Advanced Concrete Research, and an SRM Medical

Research Center.

Research Chairs

Further the University has created Five Chairs to promote

research in specific fields:

� Appadurai Chair for Research in Power Engineering.

� J.C.Bose Chair for Research in Communication Engineering.

� Noble Laureate S.Chandrasekar Chair for Space Research.

� Sivaji Ganesan Chair for Research in Fine Arts.

� Devaneya Pavanar Chair for Tamil Language Research

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Under Academic Research 900 Ph.D. research scholars are

currently pursuing research. Under Funded Research, 94

Research projects with a total financial grant of Rs. 43

crores have been secured from the funding agencies like

DST, DBT, ISRO, DRDO, ICMR, UNICEF, BRNS,

Ministries of Health and Food Processing, etc. Research

Day is organized every year in the month of February at

SRM University which gives an excellent opportunity for

the students and Research Scholars of SRM University to

exhibit their aptitude for research on innovative and

application oriented topics.

Research Publications

Faculty members of SRM University are motivated to do

research and publish papers in the refereed journals and

present research papers in the International and National

conferences. The total number of Research papers

published so for by the faculty members are 3,000. During

the year 2012-13 alone 1,561papers have been published in

the International and National journals and conferences.

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Patents

So for 23 Patents have been filed out of which 4 paterns in

the formulation of herbal based Siddha/ Ayurvedha

medicines are published, of which two US Patent have

been approved.

INNOVATIONS BY STUDENTS

The students of SRM University have a number of

innovative contributions. 54 students, from different

departments, designed, developed and built SRM SAT to

the monitor the greenhouse gases, CO and CO 2

concentration in the infra red region of the space, and

launched on October 12, 2011 successfully as part of the

PSLV – C18, from Satish Dhawan Space center, Sriharikota.

It is still in the orbit and has completed more than 11,470

orbits so for. A student team from the University won the

second prize in CANSAT - internationally competing with

100 teams from 65 universities, in a design-build launch

competition organized by the American Astronautical

Society (AAS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics

and Astronautics (AIAA). A student team from the

Department of Aerospace, SRM University, developed a

conceptual aircraft, with many innovative design features,

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and won the third place under foreign university team

category, in the Green Aviation contest organized by NASA

in May 2011. Another team of students from the

Department of Aerospace Engineering designed a space

tourism system and secured third position with a cash

prize of US $ 1,000, at an International Undergraduate Team

Space Transportation Design competition 2011-12 held in

the US , organized by American Institute of Aeronautics and

Astronautics (AIAA). Another team of Aerospace

engineering students of the university won the second

prize at the Heinlein Space Innovation and Exploration

Contest (China) for designing a module to collect and

disburse debris in the space.

A team from the Mechanical Engineering Departmt won the

top honors of the fifth edition of the 2012 BAJA SAE India,

a 3-day event held at the NATRAX facility of NATRip in

Pithampur, for the Development of an SAE award

winning all terrain vehicle – BAJA

A group of 61 students from CSE, IT, SWE, MECH, CIVIL,

ECE, BIO are developing a cluster based Search Engine

called as SRM Search Engine, recognized by the National

Internet Exchange of India, Department of Information

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Technology, Government of India and has been funded up to

an extend of Rs.72 Lakhs .

A Team of 6 students belonging to ECE, CSE, EEE,

Automobile and Mechatronics departments is developing an

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (SRM-AUV) to

participate in the international AUV competitions such as

SAUVC, held in Singapore and Robosub, held in San Diego,

USA.

A group of students of SRM University have designed and

fabricated a SRM Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SRM- UAV)

which is a remotely controlled airplane without a human

pilot. It can be used for surveillance and transport in both

military and non military applications.

Other innovative contributions by individual students,

like,

� Power generation utilizing Speed Breaker

� Mobile controlling devices for vehicle

� Automated dosa making machine

� Handy mobile recharger

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� Heart attack detection device

� Novel mobile detector sensing, alarming and reporting system

� Herbal mosquito repellent.

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES

To promote the academic and research activities of the

University on par with the international institutes of repute,

an International Advisory Board with 58 International

Advisory Members from 38 top reputed universities across

9 countries in the world has been formed. The University

has entered into MoUs and agreements with over 86

universities and industries from around the world. Through

these linkages SRM University is sending students to study

under Semester Abroad Program (SAP), and under

Twinning and Dual degree Programs and Staff Members

under Faculty Abroad Program (FAP), for international

exposure.

Colleges of Health Sciences of SRM University are the first

of its kind in India to provide clinical placement for students

with overseas Universities-UK and Australia. A total of 8

students, 2 from each departments of Nursing,

Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy and Speech Therapy

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from La Trobe University, Australia, visited SRM

University for clinical placement. Two faculty Members

from the departments of Occupational therapy and Speech

Therapy of La Trobe University, and one faculty from

department of Physiotherapy of KEELE University visited

SRM University under Faculty Exchange programme.

College of Physiotherapy is committed to provide free

therapeutic services to the community for 10 years to Guild

of Service, Anna Nagar and for 5 years to Maithree Special

School, Tambaram (Differently abled children).

National workshop on “Augmentative and Alternative

Communication” with International Speaker Dr.Jennifer

Oates, Associate Professor & HOD of Department of Speech

and Communication Sciences, La Trobe University,

Australia was held on 28.01.2013. Dept. of Audiology and

Speech Pathology organized two RCI approved CME

programmes in Jan. and Dec' 2013.

Foreign Students at SRM University

University is attracting foreign students for study at SRM

University from different countries. As on date 1,385

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International students, belonging to NRI and Foreign

Nationals from 48 countries, are pursuing their studies in

various disciplines at SRM.

Visiting Professors at SRM University from Abroad

Professors from foreign universities are showing keen

interest to work at SRM University on tenure basis. So for 56

faculty members from abroad have served at SRM

University.

There are other Advisory Bodies in the University like

Corporate Advisory Board (CAB), Industry Institution

Interaction Cell (IIIC) and the Planning and Monitoring

Board, to provide exposure to the industrial environment

and to improve the quality of education and the

employability of the students.

SPORTS

SRM University gives very high importance for the Sports

Activities. The students are encouraged to participate in the

sports events of all types. The Ball Badminton, Volley ball,

Basketball, Table Tennis, Football, Hockey, Tennis and

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Cricket teams of the University have been the winners

continuously at the state and National level competitions.

Our University Volleyball(Men) team has won the Gold

Medal in the State championship against the last 10 years

defended champions of IOB in Nov 2013and Won All India

Inter University Championship 2012-13. Our University

Chess team has won the All India Inter university

Championship 2012-13. Our University Ball badminton(W)

team has won the All India Inter university Championship

2012-13. Our University Ball badminton (M) team won the

All India Inter university Championship 2013-14. Our

University Volleyball (M) and Tennis (M) team have won

the Gold Medal the South Zone Inter university

Championship 2013-14. Our University Chess and Cricket

(M) team have won the Runners Up in the South Zone Inter

university Championship 2013-14. Our University

Tennis(M&W),Volleyball(M&W) team have won the Gold

Medal in the Tamil nadu Inter Deemed Inter university

Championship 2013-14. Our university volleyball men

team has been adopted by the Sports Authority of

India(SAI) and has announced our university as an

Extension Centre.

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Services

The University has created service Directorates and Units

like Corporate Affairs , Student Mentoring, Information

Technology and Knowledge Management, Career

Development Centre and Placement Cell to guide and

help students in their co-curricular and extra-curricular

activities and for offering placement and counseling services.

The Placement Office liaises with major companies and

industries like TCS, Wipro, HCL, Accenture and other core

companies, numbering over 250 companies to ensure

maximum placements. More than 80 percent of the students

are placed every year in jobs with good salary packages.

While 80 percent of students opt for Placements, another 15

percent opt for higher studies and the rest go for

entrepreneurships. During 2012-13, through campus

interviews, 3,521 students were placed.

Promotion of culture

To promote Tamil culture and Tamil literary knowledge to

the community a Tamil Perayam (Tamil Academy) has

been set up. The Tamil Perayam honors Tamil Scholars with

awards similar to Sahitya Academy awards for publishing

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unique contributions in Tamil, giving Eleven Tamil

Academy awards for a total Prize money of Rs.22 lakhs,

Publishes rare Tamil Books and translations of Tamil

literatures in foreign languages and simple forms of books

on ancient literatures like, Tholkappiyam, for the use of

public, Develops web based lessons for M.A.(Tamil) and

M.Phil.(Tamil) programmes and offers Diaspora Tamil

Teachers Diploma, Arutsunaigar diploma, Othuvar diploma

and Yoga for Human Excellence Diploma courses and

promotes Tamil softwares and offers training programmes in

Tamil Computing.

Tamil Perayam has so for published Seven books. So for 77

candidates are qualified for the Arutsunaigar Diploma and

60 candidates are studying in the second batch this year.

EVENTSth98 Indian Science Congress

rd thDuring 3 to 7 January 2011 the University organized the th

98 Indian Science Congress in the University campus.

Breaking the records of the earlier 97 meetings of the Indian th

Science Congress, the 98 Indian Science Congress held at

SRM University, witnessed certain unique features that

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more than 10000 delegates and six Noble Laureates and

renowned scientists from across the world participated in the

five day event. The Prime Minister and the HRD minister

honored the congress by their participation. We have created

a Noble Laureates Garden in the University campus by

getting trees planted by the six Noble Laureates.

Regional Rural Science Congress was organized by SRM

University in collaboration with the Indian Science

Congress Association, Chennai Chapter, on 12th December

2013. The Congress was inaugurated by the Chancellor of

SRM University.

ACCREDITATION

� SRM University has received ISO Certification.

� SRM University has been accredited by Natioanl

Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

with ‘A’ Grade.

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RECOGNITION

� SRM University is placed in Category-A by

MHRD.

� DNA-Zee news Survey 2012 ranked the University

within the top 15 institutions in India.

� Deccan Chronicle ranked SRM University as No. 1

Private Institution in South India in 2012.

� India Today ranked SRM University as No.1

Multiple Stream Private University in 2011.

� The financial express ranked the University as

India's No.1 Private University in 2009

� In 2009, the University stood high in the Education

times-GFK mode survey and was ranked as No.1

Private University in India for multiple streams.

Engineering was ranked No.8 in all-India

including IITs and NITs, and medicine was ranked

No.8 in all India including aided universities.

� SRM Institute of Hotel Management which

includes 3 star deluxe hotel received Top Institute

award in South Zone.

To conclude, we look back with pride, the achievements we

have so far made. But, we also know, that we have taken only

the first few steps and we have many more miles to go before

SRM University fully realizes its Vision which I wish to state

here:

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“To emerge as a World - Class University in creating and

disseminating knowledge, and providing students a

unique learning experience in science, technology,

medicine, management and other areas of scholarship

that will best serve the world and betterment of

mankind”.

*****

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