Institution Profile

Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai

Ranked among the top ten of Tamil Nadu’s 225 engineering colleges and third in Chennai based on Anna University exam results, SEC is distinguished by its value-added engineering education

Sprawled over 200 acres of landscaped gardens with a scenic lotus pond as its epicentre, the Sai Ram Group of 12 education institutions in the West Tambaram suburb of Chennai, offer a unique — by Indian standards — campus. Promoted by Melvin Jones Fellow, Lion (MJF. Ln) Leo Muthu, a successful Chennai-based real estate tycoon and industry leader, the Sai Ram Group (SRG) comprises a dozen educational institutions including the Sai Ram Matriculation School; Sri Sai Ram Engineering College (which also houses the Sai Ram Polytechnic, Sai Ram Institute of Computer Applications and Institute of Management Studies); three siddha, ayurveda and homoeopathy medical colleges in Chennai; the Shirdi Sai Engineering College, Bangalore; an ITI in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu; four teacher training institutes (two in Chennai, one each in Pondicherry and Madurai) and the Sai Ram College of Education, Pondicherry.

Though Muthu expresses satisfaction with the evolution and development of all SRG institutions which are administered by the Sapthagiri Educational Trust (estb. 1995), he acknowledges that the Sri Sai Ram Engineering College (SEC) — the flagship institution of the group — promoted in 1995, has earned the best reputation for delivering high quality technical education to rural and urban students in the state. Within a short time span of 11 years, the college, affiliated to the Chennai-based umbrella Anna University, has received the ISO 9001:2000 certification from Bureau Veritas International and all its engineering programmes have been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation of the Delhi-based All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Ranked among the top ten of Tamil Nadu’s 225 engineering colleges and third in Chennai, based on Anna University examination results, SEC is well-known for developing outstanding young achievers who have won national and international awards for socially relevant projects and inventions.

SEC inducts 600 students annually and offers six undergraduate and two postgraduate programmes. Currently it has 2,012 students instructed by a team of 175 well-qualified faculty on its muster rolls. Student counsellors are appointed for every group of 12 students, to aid and advise undergrad students in particular. "Our focus is on promoting learning beyond textbooks. Therefore classroom instruction is supplemented with guest lectures, seminars, frequent visits to industry establishments for in-plant training, industry-oriented project work and active participation in student chapters of ISTE and the Computer Society of India (CSI). This comprehensive curriculum ensures that students are abreast with latest developments in technology and are well-equipped to meet industry requirements when they enter their workplaces," says Dr. S. Seetharaman, principal of SEC who has over 35 years experience in teaching, research and consultancy in academia in India and abroad.

A tour of the spacious SEC campus indicates that the management has pulled out all stops in providing state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities for students. The college’s air-conditioned, fully computerised and wi-fi enabled library with separate reference and reading sections sprawls across 5,000 sq. ft and is stocked with 25,000 volumes and 175 specialised journal subscriptions. Video cassettes and CDs supplement classroom teaching and SEC boasts 45 fully wired classrooms with overhead projection systems, a contemporary computer lab with 500 computers, an internet lab, 45 laboratories for engineering depart-ments, five drawing halls for students, a 500-seater air-conditioned indoor auditorium and a 2,000 seater open-air auditorium. Other facilities include separate well-furnished hostels for men and women with computer facilities, a canteen, and an infirmary for residential students. A fleet of 44 buses transports day scholars.

SEC is distinguished by a management which makes a spirited effort to deliver value-added engineering education. Special classes are conducted at the end of every year to equip students with communication, presentation, analytical and problem-solving skills. From the second year during vacations, students are trained to write aptitude tests and final year engineering students are given placement interview training every week.

This extra-curricular regimen has paid rich dividends. During the past three years SEC has consistently maintained a placement record of 90 percent. Among the major campus recruiters are Accenture, Areva, Caliber Point, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant and L&T Infotech. This year the Dutch-based software company Perfetti Van Millon offered the highest start-up pay package of Rs.4.5 lakh per annum to an SEC graduate.

A wide range of extra-curricular activities and services complement SEC’s academic curriculum. The sports infrastructure includes separate throwball, basketball and volleyball courts, two cricket fields, a football ground and indoor tennis and table tennis facilities.

The SEC management has drawn up ambitious plans for the future. Augmentation of postgraduate programmes in engineering apart, SEC has signed a twinning agreement with the Lawrence Technological University, Detroit (USA) under which SEC students alternate their study in India and the US. "We also plan to strengthen industry-institute partnerships, improve our Centre for Developmental Activities housed within the college, and build relationships with nearby schools so that school students can acquire hands-on experience in our laboratories," says Seetharaman.

Eleven years down the road the SEC management has attained more than what most education institutions take decades to achieve. Clearly its best is yet to come.

Admission and fees

Under the Tamil Nadu state government’s admission rules for colleges of professional education, 65 percent of the annual student intake (600 students) is on the basis of performance in the CET (Common Entrance Test) conducted by Anna University. The remaining 35 percent of the annual intake is filled by the management after conducting a separate entrance test.Study programmes. SEC offers undergraduate courses (B.Tech/ BE) in six subjects: information technology; computer science and engineering; electronics and communications engineering; electrical and electronics engineering; mechanical engineering; instrumentation and control engineering.

The college also offers two postgraduate programmes — MBA and MCA.

Tuition fees (annual): Rs.32,500

For further information contact Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Sai Leo Nagar, Poonthandalam, West Tambaram, Chennai 600 044. Tel: 044 22380031

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)


Rice University, USA

Often billed as the Harvard of the South, Rice boasts a teacher-student ratio of 1:5 and outstanding faculty which includes Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners

Set in a 285 acre wooded campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University, although low profile internationally, enjoys an enviable reputation in the US for its high quality academic programmes, teaching and research. The US News and World Report (2007) ranked it 17th among America’s best colleges and it is heralded as one of the ‘New Ivies’ by the Kaplan/ Newsweek College Guide. Often billed as the Harvard of the South, Rice combines the small size and teaching emphasis of a liberal arts college with the scholarship of a major research university. It boasts a teacher-student ratio of 1:5 and outstanding faculty which includes several Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners as well as Fullbright scholars.

Founded in 1912 as the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art, Rice University was named after the eponymous Massachusetts-born businessman who endowed the institute with $4.1 million as a gift to the city of Houston, where he made his fortune. Since then the endowment corpus of Rice University has grown to $4.1 billion — the fifth-highest per capita among US universities. This huge corpus allows the university to charge lower tuition, room, and board fees than most comparable private universities. Consequently Rice is routinely rated a ‘best buy’ school.

A member of the Association of American Universities, Rice offers an eclectic range of academic subjects across six schools (see box) to its approximately 3,000 undergrads and 2,000 postgrads. A private, non-sectarian and co-education institution, Rice follows an Oxford-inspired residential college system which requires every freshman to be assigned to one of the university’s nine colleges (Baker, Brown, Hanszen, Jones, Lovett, Martel, Sid Richardson, Wiess, and Will Rice).

Houston. The administrative capital of the Lone Star state of Texas, Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States with a population of 4.7 million. It is home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center; the Texas Medical Center, (the world’s largest centre for medical research, education, and patient care) and the base of 21 Fortune 500 companies.

Promoted as the ‘urban forest’, Houston boasts more than 508 parks and open areas, an arboretum, a rose garden, Japanese gardens, and seven golf courses. Houston summers are hot with temperatures averaging 90oF during the height of summer, which lasts about 95 days. But the winters are pleasant, with average temperatures in the 60s, and snow or ice is a rarity.

Campus facilities. Rice University sprawls across 285 acres of heavily-wooded land adjoining Hermann Park, Houston’s most historically significant public green space, and the Houston Museum District. Next door is the world’s largest medical complex, the Texas Medical Center, and a neighborhood commercial centre, known as Rice Village. The university campus also houses several inter-disciplinary research institutes, schools and think tanks including the Rice Architecture School, James Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice Engineering Design and Development Institute, the Rice Design Alliance, and the Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.

The Fondren Library, located in the Academic Quad, subscribes to approximately 36,800 current journals (print and electronic) and houses 2,314,000 print volumes and 2,900,000 units of microform. The collections include audiovisuals, music recordings, scores and other special formats.

Sports facilities include the Rice Stadium, an American football facility which can seat 72,000 people (more than the total number of alumni); Reckling Park, Rice’s baseball stadium; Autry Court (basketball, volleyball); the Rice Track/ Soccer Stadium and the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.

Other on-campus facilities include the Rice Coffehouse, pubs, bookshop and a cinema. Moreover Rice offers its students membership of over 215 clubs and organisations.

Admission. The admission process is highly selective. For instance for its class of 2006, of the 7,079 students who applied only 700 were admitted. The minimum eligibility criterion for admission into the university’s undergrad degree programmes is completion of Plus Two/ class XII. Students must also write the Scholastic Aptitude Test (a minimum of two subject tests are required) or ACT and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (minimum score: 600). The admission form should be accompanied by a $50 fee and specified documents. While the university’s needs-blind admission policy is restricted to US citizens, international students can apply for merit scholarships.

For more information write to the Admission Office, Rice University, 6100 Main St, MS17 PO Box 189, Houston Texas 77251-1892, United States. Tel: 001 713 3487423; e-mail: admi@rice.edu; www.rice.edu.

Accommodation. All new students are assigned to one of Rice’s nine residential colleges.  Each college houses approximately 250 freshmen and upperclassmen; another 80 or so members of each college live off campus. The residential college system lies at the core of the Rice undergraduate study programmes.  Each college functions as a self-supporting unit, boasting its own government, budget, sports teams, and dining facility.

Degree programmes. Rice University is internationally reputed for the quality and diversity of its undergrad and graduate programmes. Academic schools include humanities, social sciences, music, architecture, natural sciences and engineering (see box). The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management offers Masters degrees.