New-age engg college in Hyd

Tech Mahindra group has started engineering institution in collaboration with a 200-year-old French engineering university named Ecole Centrale Paris.

Hyderabad: Thousands of engineering aspirants in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana may be deprived of engineering seats, but there is a revolution happening elsewhere in Hyderabad.

Tech Mahindra group has started a prestigious engineering institution in collaboration with a 200-year-old French engineering university named Ecole Centrale Paris. The Mahindra Ecole Centrale (MEC) is located within the Tech Mahindra campus at Bahadurpally in the city outskirts.

Tech Mahindra bigwigs see the college as a step towards closing in on the long-felt hiatus in between what the industry needs and what an academic institution provides in India. At the industry-academia interaction programme that was organised at its campus on Friday the vision of the college was discoursed upon. Close to 20 Indian and French companies participated.

French companies like Biomeirux, Bull, Michelin, Renault, Thales and Vallourec gave their suggestions on how to leverage this partnership in the effort to perk up the prevalent education system to meet the needs of the current corporate environment.

Indian companies like BHEL, Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS took part along with six other Indian companies.

Speaking at the event, Vineet Nayyar, executive chairman, Tech Mahindra and chairman, Mahindra Ecole Centrale, said, “Our industry-academia model envisages a well-trained talent pool that is technically sound, who will turn into entrepreneurs and innovators. We looked for a suitable partner throughout the world and zeroed in on Ecole Centrale Paris.”

Herve Biausser, director, Ecole Centrale Paris said that the school was founded 200 years ago when the French industry was developing from its nascent stage. The philosophy is to train engineers capable of meeting the greatest challenges of their era. Tie-up with Mahindra group is more than symbolic as it’s a major industrial group.

The college has Sanjay G Dhande, former director of IIT-Kanpur as its founder director. He is also the founder of IIT, Rajasthan and IIIT, Jabalpur.

The college started its first academic year and classes commenced six weeks ago. The institution may make some difference in the days to come, as not even a single Indian higher education institution has made it to the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings.