Panimalar Group of Institutions

Panimalar Group of Institutions: Identifying Student’s Potential and Transforming into Talent

In recent years, education system has gone through an evolution. Education from classrooms have now gone beyond horizons to connect globally. Education has seen incremental steps from offline to online., courtesy “the corona period”. Today, we are going to talk about one educational group which has been a leader in bringing evolution in Indian education system. We are talking about none other than Chennai based Panimalar Group of Institutions.

Panimalar Group of Institutions, a Christian Minority Institution of Higher Education governed by JAISAKTHI Educational Trust aims at imparting quality engineering education for the aspiring youth. The College is accredited by National Board of Accreditation (NBA), New Delhi, approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and recognized by UGC with 12(B) & 2(f) status. Situated near Poonamallee, Chennai, it is well connected by road covering, Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts.

The Trust started Panimalar Group of Institutions in the year 2000 in accordance with the general policy of the Government of Tamilnadu. The policy emphasizes to give high priority to meet the demand for trained engineers for various industrial and development projects in the state of Tamilnadu and the rest of India. At Panimalar, they identify student’s potential, convert them into talent and elevate the talent to infinite possibilities. They condition the students for challenges ahead and groom them to be responsible citizens.

Saranya Sree Sakthikumar is the Director of Panimalar Group of Institutions namely Panimalar Polytechnic College, Panimalar Engineering college, Panimalar Institute of Technology and Panimalar Medical College Hospital and Research Institute. Prior to her current role, she completed her Engineering and MBA, and was working with Wipro for a brief stint. She started her lifelong partnership with Dr. C Sakthikumar (Director, Panimalar Group) who is the Grandson of Mr Jeppiaar, (pioneer in educational world). Raised from a humble background, Saranya Sree Sakthikumar elevated to an inspirational icon with her contribution in the field of Education. She is always committed and passionate to bring a positive change in the education system.

Creating a Conducive Atmosphere by Nurturing Talent

For many years, education industry was going through a conservative mode. Saranya Sree Sakthikumar wanted to overhaul the prevailing education system. People labeled her as an outcast for reinventing the wheel. But she firmly believed that education was the greatest solution for all real-world problems and kept reinventing and made Panimalar what it is today. She aspires to be a lifelong student. Also, she wants to learn, share and help the community around her. She believes in enjoying life and work. “As a director of India’s most prestigious institutions like Panimalar Group of Institutions, I would like to create a conducive atmosphere by nurturing talent and set up perfect platforms for students to exhibit their potential”, she asserts.

She is focused in bringing out the true potential of the college. She is of the opinion that it is the responsibility of the educational institutions to empower the young techno brains of India so that the younger generation will succeed in the global mainstream. Talking about the journey of Saranya Sree Sakthikumar, it was not inheritance, but she carved out a niche for herself.

The journey was full of experience and learning. Her working style is dependent on collaboration. Coming to her outside interests, she has a liking for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), helping underprivileged children, and works for women empowerment.

Saranya Sree Sakthikumar stands up for a good cause irrespective of the results for the welfare of the community around her. She wants to change education as real time, hands on, activity-based learning unlike the conventional ones. As a revolutionary educational leader, she is fervent to transform the brick bags to bouquet bags. There are many resistances towards change, but as you know change is the only constant attribute in this ever-changing world.

Her family has been one of the biggest factors behind her success.

“My family was a pillar of support, they stood by me during tough times, they always fostered my efforts even during uncertainties. The staff, students and parents had a trust that I will transform their vision into action, which in otherwise is called as conviction”, she asserts.

When she is lean at work, family is her priority. Striking a balance between family and professional life is the key to success. “Also, I am an avid fitness freak. I always tutelage people around me to be fit both mentally and physically”.

Ensuring the idea of a student is converted to a product

As a leader of the organisation, she has instilled entrepreneurship as the new normal in today’s dynamic world. “Research and innovation have become an everyday routine in our institution. We have given the freedom to our students to go with their passion, many students have passed out of our institutions as job givers and not job takers”, she exclaims.

She is a firm believer of encouraging creative thinking within her organisation. Hackathons, ideation camps, entrepreneurship development cells, Guinness records have been initiated for out of box thinking. “We want our students to think on all dimensions, helping to give solutions to modern day problems”, she says.

Collaboration is the buzzword in today’s global environment. Panimalar partners with industries to set up labs, incubators and ensure the idea of a student is converted to a product. They have tied up with foreign universities to share and assimilate knowledge around the globe. They are mentoring the students to be responsible future citizens.

Panimalar Group of Institutions was ranked as top 250 colleges in India in the NIRF ranking 2020, Top 50 colleges in India in ARIIA rankings 2020, Swachh Bharat award for the cleanest campus in India for 2 consecutive years 2018 and 2019, First college in India to host ISRO’s NAFED, and the count goes on.

Panimalar Group of Institutions have leaped on to their next assignment “Panimalar Medical College Hospital and Research Institute” to serve the poor, needy and destitute. The best way to help the community around you is a helping hand. We require the help of our well-wishers as you are our extended arms in our new endeavour.

Ensuring best of the talents

To make sure that they have the best of talents in the form of faculty members and other vital areas, they have a talent officer having seasoned expertise of the domain. Their Chief Talent Officer, M. S. Balamurugan holds 16+ years of corporate experience mainly in Fortune 500 & BIG 4 Organizations in the field of IT, ITES, Information Technology Infrastructure Services and KPO industries with expertise in Customer service, Project management, Quality, Recruitment (Domestic and International), Telecommunication, Market Research and Employment verification. He holds expert level understanding of social media networks, design and functionality including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and similar tools that complement Social Media Recruitment & Talent Branding.

His roles & responsibilities include:

• Recruiting the best in class faculties with succession planning
• Assessment of key executives
• Working with management to improve team dynamics and, as a result, overall business performance.
• Creating “Beyond Syllabus” curriculum to students
• Organizing Leadership Conclaves
• Keynote speaker in Corporate & International forums
• Setting-up Incubation Labs
• Responsible for Industry – Institution connectivity
• Architecting Internship Hiring
• Chief Mentor & Student Counsellor
• Inviting Industry experts to create Awareness Programs

The educational group holds frequent seminars in association with the eminent organisations of India and international organisations. On Dec 14th, 2018, INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION’S 3rd National Finite Element Developers’ (NAFED) and Users’ Meet 2018 was hosted in Panimalar Group of Institutions, Poonamallee. Shri S Somanath, Director-VIKRAM SARABHAI SPACE CENTRE was the Chief Guest along with Dr. P Chinnadurai, Secretary & Correspondent-Panimalar Group of Institutions, Dr. C Sakthikumar, Director-Panimalar Group of Institutions, Shri S Sridhar, Deputy Director- VIKRAM SARABHAI SPACE CENTRE & Shri B S Raju, Group Director- VIKRAM SARABHAI SPACE CENTRE spearheaded the conference.

This conference was about finite element & its developments. First time ISRO hosted NAFED in a private institution in India. Leading SCIENTISTS, Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, CEO’S from Startup’s, Renowned Professors from elite universities & students from all over India participated in the event.

Panimalar Group of Institutions was one of the very few Engineering Colleges in India to be invited for ISRO’S World Space Week on October 4th 2019.

Maintaining Hygiene in and Around Campuses

The institution has been fervent to maintain hygiene in and around its campuses. The Union Minister for HRD, Shri Prakash Javadekar conferred Swachhta Ranking Awards 2018 for higher educational institutions in New Delhi. 51 higher educational institutions were selected for Swachhta Ranking Awards in 8 different categories among 2069 institutions applied.

Panimalar engineering college was adjudged as the No.1 cleanest campuses among technical Colleges (Residential Category) in the country in 2018 ranking. The institution has played the leading role not only in campus hygiene but also by adopting villages around our area for promoting hygiene through awareness creation and other assistance.

Apart from this, “Panimalar Engineering College” was selected as the recipient for the Indywood Educational Excellence Awards in the category – ‘Excellence In Engineering and Technical Education”. It is a first of its kind initiative, organized in concurrence with Project Indywood, to recognize and facilitate efforts made by schools, educators and administrators to impart quality education under multiple categories, from across the country.

Panimalar Engineering College has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and entered into International collaboration with foreign universities, Birmingham City University (BCU), United Kingdom and National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. The technological tie up with these universities are for Computer Engineering and its allied courses namely:

• B.E-COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
• B.TECH- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & DATA SCIENCE
• B.E- COMPUTER & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
• B.TECH- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
• B.E- ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

This will benefit the students immensely and help them to work through a structured process and achieve higher echelons in their professional career. The highlights of the collaboration are regular internships during summer and winter; technical know how with hands on practical exposure; opportunities to pursue higher studies; state of the art research facilities and; higher credit ratio and better placement possibilities. Panimalar Group of Institutions scripted one-of-itskind conference in the month of July being the first ever educational institution to host a Conference on Block chain & IoT. The conference convened 8 CEO’s from all over India along with our Secretary & Correspondent, Dr. P Chinnadurai and our Director, Dr C. Sakthi Kumar.

Each of the keynote speakers trained our students to develop their innate skills on all aspects of technology & entrepreneurship. This also led to signing of 6 live MoU’s and the inception of 6 incubation hubs within our college premises enabling 3rd year students being employed, thus making them to earn while they learn.

Taking another leap with a conference on Man, Machine, Materials and Management

On 3rd August, 2018, Panimalar group of institutions took another leap with a conference on Man Machine Materials and Management. About 10 Keynote speakers reigning in their own fields, notably having their regime from NASA, Rolls Royce, BABA ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE and many other entrepreneurs descended on a single dais addressing students on defining the recent trends. 6 live MoU’s were signed during the conference benefitting the students by giving opportunities to deal and gain real-time industrial experiences.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development constituted Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC), launched on 21st November 2018 by Hon’ble Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar, to systematically foster the culture of Innovation in educational institutions. The college has been selected as one of the CENTRES leading to an innovation eco-system in the campuses. This initiative will enable the college to encourage, inspire and nurture young students by supporting their new ideas and transforming into prototypes which may lead them to become Entrepreneurs.

This year, on March 6th & 7th 2020, Panimalar Engineering College and World Humanitarian Drive (WHD) had Jointly hosted an international Conference PECTEAM 2K20 and “THE SCIENCE BAZAAR” empowered by the BRICS International Forum. Eminent Scientists, Researchers, International Diplomats and Students participated in the conference.

On a regular basis, Panimalar works on the gender equality. On March 5th 2016, Panimalar group of Institutions jointly with Schneider Electric conducted a Marathon at Marina Beach, Chennai for “HE FOR SHE” a solidarity campaign for the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, initiated by the United Nations (UN) where Men run for Women.

Saranya Sree Sakthikumar has a suggestion for others who want to set off in a similar direction. She says, “Start complimenting rather than complaining. Forget the past and create a new future. Don’t get bogged down irrespective of the outcomes. What matters is the efforts and not the fruits”. Further she advises people to be a lifetime student because learning happens all through our life. Embrace changes and be pragmatic in your approach. Don’t look at the source of the advice rather look at the contents.