SCMS gave me every opportunity to excel

(While receiving both the awards – the best outgoing student award for overall performance and Chairman’s gold medal for the first rank holder – (for the first time in the history of these awards) Vivek Namboodiri of PGDM batch 15 was all excited. He now shares his experiences in SCMS with us – Editor)

The day I joined SCMS, I was told that the ensuing two years were not going to be a bed of roses for us. That statement had proved to be true in full measure during my tenure here. The couple of years that I was in SCMS campus has taught me three important things among many other things, for which I am really indebted to this great institution

Firstly, taking initiative is the most important quality that I have learnt from here. I have been able to realize that in this cutthroat competitive world nobody has time to bother about us and therefore in our own interest we need to chase and grab every opportunity that comes on our way.

Another important skill that I have acquired from SCMS is the capacity to work in a team.. “Inclusive growth” is often preached by many but not practiced. I experience the greatest satisfaction when my colleagues also grow along with me.

Again I have learned to take up responsibilities and to work with dedication to satisfactorily fulfill those responsibilities. I find that taking up responsibilities especially when others shy away from it is a great way of learning and improving.

By focusing on these three critical areas with commitment I have been able to accomplish the kind of achievements that I have been conferred on me now. Getting both the awards – gold medal and best student award — from SCMS was a great surprise because I was not at all expecting the Best Outgoing Student award.

On the stage I was about to step down after receiving the gold medal because I expected nothing more to happen to me. But when my name was announced again for the best outgoing student award I couldn’t really believe my ears. I was flabbergasted and felt I was really on the top of the world. Academics were my area of concentration when I joined this course but SCMS gave me every opportunity that I needed to excel and snatch both the awards for excellence.

What I have learned from my own experience is that every person has the capability to accomplish his or her cherished goals. All that is required is to get motivated enough and to stay focused all along.

Serve your family, preserve your relationships
 Prof.R.Vaidyanathan

The Fifteenth Annual Convocation was held as a colourful glittering ceremony at the Prathap Nagar campus on April 27. Prof.R.Vaidyanathan, IIM-Bangalore was the chief guest. He presented diploma certificates to the batch 15 PGDM students of SCMS-COCHIN and degree certificates to batch 3 MBA students and batch 1 MCA students of SSTM.

“One of the most critical requirements to become a successful professional is to be very careful in serving your family and preserving your relationships,” said Prof.R.Vaidyanathan in his convocation address to the outgoing students. Business organisations are becoming more and more system-based and rule-based with growing modernization. Consequently, personalized approaches and relations are becoming progressively uncommon. This is going to be a serious challenge to the new generation of managers, Prof. Vaidyanathan cautioned.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr.G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman, SCMS Group, stressed on the need for improving quality of our professional education on a continuous basis in order to make it comparable to world standards. And that would necessarily require more investments. Without additional investments it is not possible to improve the quality of our education, Dr.Nayar explained.

Vivek Namboodiri of PGDM batch 15 who secured the first rank received the Chairman’s Gold Medal and also the Best Outgoing Student Award for overall performance. It is for the first time that same person from PGDM is claiming both the top positions. In MBA batch 3, S.Sreelaxmi received the Chairman’s Gold Medal and V.M.Aneesh received the Best Outgoing Student Award. Sarath Purushothaman of MCA batch 1 received the Chairman’s Gold Medal for the first rank as well as Best Outgoing Student Award for overall performance. Dr.G.P.C.Nayar gave away the awards and gold medals.

Earlier Prof.Radha Thevannoor, Director, SSTM, welcomed the chief guest and all the invitees and participants. Prof.Indu Nair, Additional Director, SSTM proposed the vote of thanks. Dr.V.Raman Nair, Additional Director, SCMS-COCHIN, Prof.K.J.Paulose, Dean, Prof.Filomina P.George, Dean (AA) and Dr.Jose Payyappilly, Dean (SSTM) also spoke. Large number of parents attended the function.

Making a difference in the world

The 15th annual convocation was held at SCMS-COCHIN on April 27, 2008. A noteworthy feature of this year’s convocation was the phenomenal attendance of the parents of the students on the occasion. In spite of having a spacious convention hall we could not accommodate all of them at the venue and a large number of them had to sit in another adjacent hall and watch the proceedings with the help of a closed circuit TV.

Usually we have two occasions in a year when all the parents come face to face with us. The first occasion is the inauguration of the programme. On such an occasion we could invariably observe on their faces flashes of emotions of anxiety, tension, hope, expectations and the like and a deep concern on the future of their children.

The second occasion is the convocation day when the mood will be quite distinctly different – mostly reflecting jubilance, joy, ecstasy, satisfaction, gratification, fulfillment and such cheerful sentiments. By that time all the children would have been well placed on a successful career path.

Some of the parents prefer to come to me and express their sincere gratitude. I also make it a point to go to them to share our feelings. It is a matter of great satisfaction and inspiration to me to listen to their feelings of contentment and gratitude. It actually triggers our internal power that pushes us up the ladder of growth.

The words and feelings of the parents of Vivek Namboodiri (PGDM batch 15) who claimed, this year, both the awards for excellence – the Gold Medal in academic attainments and the Best Student Award for overall performance (a very rare feat achieved for the first time by any student in the history of SCMS-COCHIN) - were particularly stimulating. They revealed that Vivek was just another ordinary student during his engineering days. But after his joining SCMS-COCHIN they could notice a metamorphosis in him, a total transformation that has now culminated in his unique achievement. They were earnest in expressing their gratitude to SCMS-COCHIN for converting him into a super star.

Inspiring success stories of this sort are the true guiding lights for us. We are here to help our students to get to their greatness. To help them reach their best at work and to make a mark. To guide them find happiness at home and in life. And when we help them to live their finest in life we get a feeling that we are making a difference in the world. That we are not walking the planet in vain. The sole purpose of our setting up a group of quality professional educational institutions in the banner of SCMS is just that.

Therefore we value very much the trust reposed in us by a large number of students and their parents year after year.

Dr.G.P.C.Nayar
Chairman, SCMS Group

Batch 4 bids adieu
The fourth batch of Engineering Graduates is all set to leave the portals of SSET. There are around 320 students in this batch and this includes the first batch of Automobile Engineering students of the institution. The University Examinations are scheduled to start around third week of May, and by mid June, this final year students are expected to join the engineering fraternity.

College Union 2008-2009
The activities of the College Union (2008-2009) were inaugurated at a function held at the campus on April 5. Prof.M.Madhavan, Principal SSET, lit the ceremonial lamp to mark the inauguration. In his inaugural address, Prof. Madhavan reminded the students to strike a healthy balance between academic and co-curricular activities; Shri. P.P. Premachandran, Asst. Professor (ME) offered felicitations, and Justin Anto, the Union Secretary welcomed the gathering, Reynolds Premji, the union Chairman gave the presidential address, and Deepak Hari, Secretary, Arts Club proposed the vote of thanks.

Pict1: Prof.M.Madhavan, Principal, lighting the lamp. Also seen in picture Shri.P.P.Premachandran, Reynolds Premji, Deepak Hari and Justin Anto. Pict2 : Dance programme presented by students of S8 CSE. Pict3 :Rock Band of SSET in full Action

ISO certification
February 16, 2008 is going to be a Red Letter Day in the history of SSET. RINA, the lead assessors for ISO certifications, completed their external audit on the organization and methods followed at SSET. The external auditors have conveyed a satisfactory feed back and the final certificate is expected to be handed over in a month’s time.

Placement Activities

The placement cell had a hectic schedule during the month of April. A host of IT and non-IT based companies organized recruitment programmes at the campus. Civil Engineering students of 2008 batch were selected by companies like Galfar Engineering - Oman, Nael - UAE, Essa - UAE, Crest Buildtech, Kochi. Mechanical and Electrical students were absorbed by Galfar Engineering, Oman, Anglo Eastern Ship Management and Barber Shipping. IT based companies like Reliance Communications, SunTech Business Solutions and Poornam Infovision selected students mainly from Computer Science Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering. Around 80-85 percent of the eligible students of 2008 have been placed by now.

Students Association Activities
The Electronics and Communication Engineering students association organized a lecture on VIOP and Networking on April 19, in collaboration with B-Soft, a leading software company.

Staff achievements
Shri. P.P. Lalu, Asst. Professor (ME), presented a paper entitled ‘Parallel Computing Issues in the Development of Pipe Network Simulation Code’, at the national conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering held on March 28 and 29 at VJCET, Vazhakkulam.

Paper presented

Dr.V.Raman Nair, Additional Director , SCMS presented a paper on ” Technology for service quality enhancement” at the International Conference on ‘Process and Technology: Key drivers for customer-focused service management’ at TAPMI, Manipal on February 15.

Effective government intervention with people participation is very much the need of the hour to save Kuttanad from the present grave crisis faced by the farmers, says a report of the study made by SSTM students.

The paddy fields extending to nearly 500 square km. in Alappuzha district of Kerala had, till recently, been known as the ‘rice bowl of Kerala.’ Farming in Kuttanad is unique because the entire tract is lying below the sea level. This is the only place in the world where paddy is being cultivated below the sea level. Farming is the main livelihood of the 1.8 million people living in this region.

During the past few years, agricultural production in the area had declined considerably. Today paddy cultivation in this area has turned out to be uneconomical for many reasons. Farmers are not able either to conduct timely cultural operations or to market their produces to make a reasonable return on investment. The entire farming community is in a deplorable plight, fighting for survival.

It was against this background that the MBA students of SSTM had undertaken a social project focusing on various issues related to agricultural production, especially paddy cultivation in Kuttanad. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the farmers, both small and large, to identify the various issues involved. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Interactions with government agricultural officers and officials of the local bodies helped to get a clear picture of the real problems faced by the farmers.

The major findings of the study are as follows:

Paddy cultivation can be made profitable in Kuttanad only by resorting to large-scale farming. The unresolved issues with trade union activists in regard to mechanization and modernization of agricultural practices as well as wage-related issues need to be sorted out before any progress could be made.

The support from the government, both technical and financial, is inadequate. Price offered for the produce by supporting agencies is inadequate. The poor quality of the seeds supplied by government agencies result in poor yield.

The elder generation of farmers is losing interest in farming on account of the serious problems remaining unresolved. The new generation has completely neglected farming because of the hard labour, unionization among workers and high cost of cultivation.

Obstruction to natural flow of rivers due to unscientific construction of bridges and canals in the area is destroying the ecological balance and in turn agriculture.

The study was conducted by George Kurian, Harshad Rasheed, Dilna Elza R., Devi R., Deepthi D. and Fathima Nazir R.

Paper published
An article by Dr.N.Rajagopal, Associate Professor and Shri Ajay Kumar Pillai, Lecturer, titled “Inter-relations between system variables and effectiveness variables in the context of organizational change”, was published in the journal Business Review, December 2007 issue.

Articles accepted

An article titled ‘Role of marketing channels in building a business’ by Dr.Susan Chirayath, Professor, has been accepted for publication in Journal of Contemporary Management Research, April 2008 issue.
Another article by Dr.N.Rajagopal, Associate Professor and Dr.Poornima Narayanan R., Assistant Professor, titled ‘Institutionalizing participatory healthcare services’ has been accepted for publication in the journal, Health Action, forthcoming issue.

Effective government intervention in Kuttanad, need of the hour - SSTM study report

Effective government intervention with people participation is very much the need of the hour to save Kuttanad from the present grave crisis faced by the farmers, says a report of the study made by SSTM students.

The paddy fields extending to nearly 500 square km. in Alappuzha district of Kerala had, till recently, been known as the ‘rice bowl of Kerala.’ Farming in Kuttanad is unique because the entire tract is lying below the sea level. This is the only place in the world where paddy is being cultivated below the sea level. Farming is the main livelihood of the 1.8 million people living in this region.

During the past few years, agricultural production in the area had declined considerably. Today paddy cultivation in this area has turned out to be uneconomical for many reasons. Farmers are not able either to conduct timely cultural operations or to market their produces to make a reasonable return on investment. The entire farming community is in a deplorable plight, fighting for survival.

It was against this background that the MBA students of SSTM had undertaken a social project focusing on various issues related to agricultural production, especially paddy cultivation in Kuttanad. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the farmers, both small and large, to identify the various issues involved. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Interactions with government agricultural officers and officials of the local bodies helped to get a clear picture of the real problems faced by the farmers.

The major findings of the study are as follows:

Paddy cultivation can be made profitable in Kuttanad only by resorting to large-scale farming. The unresolved issues with trade union activists in regard to mechanization and modernization of agricultural practices as well as wage-related issues need to be sorted out before any progress could be made.

The support from the government, both technical and financial, is inadequate. Price offered for the produce by supporting agencies is inadequate. The poor quality of the seeds supplied by government agencies result in poor yield.

The elder generation of farmers is losing interest in farming on account of the serious problems remaining unresolved. The new generation has completely neglected farming because of the hard labour, unionization among workers and high cost of cultivation.

Obstruction to natural flow of rivers due to unscientific construction of bridges and canals in the area is destroying the ecological balance and in turn agriculture.

The study was conducted by George Kurian, Harshad Rasheed, Dilna Elza R., Devi R., Deepthi D. and Fathima Nazir R.

Budget analysis

More efforts needed to boost agriculture
– Shri Venugopal C. Govind

More efforts would be needed to make agriculture a sustainable economic activity in the country, said Shri Venugopal C. Govind, noted Chartered Accountant, while speaking on the Union Budget at SCMS-COCHIN on March 5. He also suggested public-private partnership and better government-people partnership in this field in order to strengthen the agricultural sector in line with other segments of economy like industry, services and infrastructure.
Agriculture, according to him, has always become a matter of concern even though it has tremendous potential for growth. A strong political will would be required to revive the agriculture sector and to enhance its productivity, which remains very low compared to global standards, Shri Venugopal added. The panel discussion on Union Budget was organized by SCMS-COCHIN in association with The Hindu Business Line.

Earlier, Shri Venugopal began his speech complimenting the students of SCMS-COCHIN who presented a brilliant analysis of the Budget, at the beginning of the programme.

Shri Babu A. Kallivayalil, Member of the South India Regional Council of ICAI, the other panelist, strongly defended the waiver of agricultural loans in the Budget. He said it would ensure relief to nearly 30 million small and marginal farmers and also would push up production.

According to him, the immediate beneficiaries of the loan waiver schemes is the banking companies because of the reason that most of the loans are non-performing assets as on December 31, 2007 and have been provided for the loss as per RBI norms. These loans, even otherwise, would have been unrecoverable and therefore the banks would have been forced to write off a larger part of it, he reasoned.

Since loss on account of these small agriculture loans are already absorbed in the bank account, the amount that will be granted by the government, is going to be taken to the profits of the banking companies, Shri Babu explained.
Photo: Shri Babu A.Kallivayalil, Chartered Accountant speaking on the Union Budget. Shri Venugopal C.Govind, Chartered Accountant is sitting beside.

Management quiz competition

The inter-business school management quiz programme for the Ghanashyam Das Binani Rolling Trophy organized jointly by SCMS Group of Educational Institutions and National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) Kerala Chapter was held at SCMS-COCHIN on March 8. Ten teams representing various business schools in Kerala participated in the competition. Dr.Anandakuttan B.Unnithan was the quizmaster. The team consisting of Rashmi M. and Diana S. from Rajagiri School of Management emerged as the winner. Shri.K.K.Roy Kurian, President, Binani Industries, gave away the trophy.
Photo: Shri K.K.Roy Kurian, President, Binani Industries, presenting the Ghanashyam Das Binani Trophy.

Represented SCMS-COCHIN in Brainstorming meeting

Prof. (Dr.)V.Rajagopalan Nair and Prof. (Dr.) Mercia Selva Malar participated in the brainstorming session organized by Competition Commission of India, Government of India at New Delhi on March 17.

Competition commission of India was established by the Government to prevent practices having adverse effect on competition, to promote competition in the market and to protect consumer interests. The CCI commissioned several studies on the competition in different sectors of the economy to get to know the various prevailing business policies in such sectors. CCI has recently identified other new areas where studies are to be initiated. It was in this connection that SCMS was invited, as a reputed academic and research organization, to attend the brainstorming session. It was decided at the meeting to entrust a study on the ‘Competition issues existing in banking sector’ to SCMS.

Pre-induction programme

Keane, the multinational IT services provider, conducted a two-day pre-induction programme for their newly recruited B.Tech. and MCA students from SSET and SSTM at the Prathap Nagar campus of SCMS-COCHIN on March 14 and 15. 50 newly recruited B.Tech. students from SSET and 8 MCA students from SSTM participated in the training.

Paper presented

Caption: Dr.V.Raman Nair, Additional Director presenting a paper on Technology for service quality enhancement at the International Conference on ‘Process and Technology: Key drivers for customer-focused service management’ at TAPMI, Manipal on February 15.

Paper published
An article titled ‘Consumer generated media: Can you ignore it?’ by Shri Harish.B., Assistant Professor, was published in the magazine Effective Executive, April, 2008 edition.
Industry Institution Interaction
Shri Satheshwara Bala, Keane, Chennai addressed the students on ‘Work culture in IT industry,’ on March 15.

Monsoon cine fest

Monsoon cine fest is a new concept to promote film culture in campuses. Mohanlal film “Photographer ” was screened at SCMS campus on March 11 under the auspices of The Elias Foundation, Cochin to introduce this concept at SCMS. After the screening, there was an interaction with Shri Ranjan Pramod, Director of the film and Shri Ravindhar, Actor.

National Service Scheme (Technical)

The NSS Technical Cell of SSET conducted a blood donation camp on March 12. This time there were 97 donors from SSET, which included 2 teaching staff members too. The camp was organized in collaboration with IMA Blood Bank and Research Centre Thrissur. Earlier Dr. Babu, of IMA, conducted an awareness programme on blood donation at SSET campus, for NSS volunteers.

Kerala state level valedictory function of NSS (Technical) was held on February 23 at Government Engineering College, Thrissur. four student volunteers and the Programme Officer from SSET attended the function.

Association of Electrical Engineering Students (Vajra)

The activities of Vajra, association of Electrical & Electronics Engineering students, were innagurated at a colourful function held on March 6, by Shri.V.R.Sudhi, Dy Chief Engineer, Kerala State Electricity Board.

Staff Achievements

Prof. M. Madhavan, Principal, SSET, was the resource person for a Short Term Technical Programme on Quality Management, held at Government Engineering College, Thrissur during March 6 - 19.

Shri. P.P. Lalu, Asst. Professor (ME) presented a paper entitled ‘Optional design of pressurized pipe networks, a non-linear programming approach’ at Second National Conference on ‘Advances in civil engineering’, held at T.K.M. College of Engineering, Kollam, during February 21-23.

Shri. Mahesh. R, Asst. Professor (ME) attended a two-day workshop on ‘Lasers in material processing’, held at N.I.T Tiruchirappalli during March 6-7.

Student achievements
Smt.Lakshmi Sudhakaran of final year Civil bagged a Merit certificate and cash prize of Rs 2000 instituted by Ultratech Cement. The award was given away by Shri.Joseph, Regional Manager at a function held at the campus, on March 24.

ISO certification
The ISO certification programme is progressing at full steam towards the final target. The external lead auditors RINA, is slated to visit the campus by mid April for the final audit. The second internal audit by the consultants was conducted on March 3 & 4, and a preparatory external audit was conducted by RINA on March 6. They will be conducting a scrutiny of records on March 27.

Placement activities

The Placement Cell is working in full swing. Conglomerates like HCL, Velozeta and Pro-X have conducted campus recruitment at SSET, during last month and together they have selected around 15 students of 2008 Batch, from all disciplines.

IT based companies like Subex, NAEL, and Civil Engineering and contracting firm, EASA Engineering from UAE are expected to visit SSET for conducting recruitment programme.

IETE students chapter

The IETE students’ chapter of SSET is organizing a one day seminar entitled ‘Your profession from a global perspective, on March 29 at the campus. The resource person for this programme is Major G.K Nair, Chief Executive of Coast to Coast.

An internet based seminar a.k.a “Webinar” on agile computing was conducted on March 26 under the aegis of Infosys Technologies.

Blood donation camp held at SSET Campus

A team of scientists headed by Dr.C.Mohankumar, Director, SCMS Institute for Bioscience and Biotech Research and Development (SIBB-R&D) has developed a process for producing white steviol powder, a potential natural sweetener, from mature Stevia leaves. The process is economical and reliable. The processing protocol has been filed for Indian patent as no. 1436/CHE/2007.

Stevia rebaudiana, popularly known as honey leaf plant, is a sweet herb belonging to Asteracea family, indigenous to Paraguay. This plant has been used for centuries in the treatment of diabetes as a traditional medicine. The leaves of this plant contain several diterpene glycosides commercially known as steviol. The major glycoside is called stevioside which is one of the major sweeteners in use in Japan, China and Korea. This natural product tastes intensely sweet, up to 300 times sweeter than sucrose, but does not provide calories. Therefore, diabetic patients can use it effectively.
The therapeutic properties of steviosides as insulinotropic (activation of insulin production) and antihyperglycemic (reducing the level of glucose in blood) have been proven with sufficient experimental evidence. Considering the impact of Type-2 diabetes in human population at global level, the steviol as a dietary supplement will definitely safeguard the future generations.

Studies so far conducted in India on Stevia have been confined to the propagation of Stevia plants as well as the production of crude green Stevia powder. It is for the first time a process for producing white Steviol powder has been developed in India.

Production of white Steviol powder from Stevia leaves has enormous scope in food industry at international level.