Expressnews
Chennai, April, 2026: PALS, an IIT Alumni Initiative, successfully hosted its two-day Leadership Conclave on Teaching and Research from April 10–11, 2026. The event was well attended by senior decision makers from many of our partner institutions. VCs, Principals and Deans of PALS partner engineering institutions were in attendance, making a high profile gathering of more than 150 delegates.
PALS in their mission to make engineering students Industry ready have been conducting 70 plus programs for their partnering Institutions targeted at Students, Faculty & Management of colleges as a 360º initiative. The Leadership conclaves for the Management serve to meet the growth aspirations of colleges towards improving accreditations and NIRF rankings. Towards this end, effective teaching methods and cultivating a good research culture were identified as key points to address. The conclave in progress addressed Research excellence on Day 2.
Day 1: Focus on Teaching Excellence
The eagerly anticipated conclave was inaugurated by an address by Prof. S. Vidyashankar, Vice Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University VTU, Karnataka. He said “A great teacher does not inform but transforms. Curriculum innovation must adapt to Industry 4.0 and beyond. Experiential education and industry collaboration should be mandatory for students. Curriculums should not be a fixture- VTU is flexible and changes curriculum annually and not once in 4 years. Industry oriented subjects designed by major industries are brought into the curriculum. There should be strengthened focus on outcome-based education and institutions must move away from rote learning to meaningful learning. The VC commended PALS for doing a great service by training teachers and students of Tier 2,3 partnering colleges.
Prof. Prathap Haridoss, Dean Academics, IIT Madras was also a keynote speaker at the Inauguration. He spoke about changing aspirations of students over the decades. “90% of students used to apply for going abroad 25 years ago whereas today only 5% of students want to go abroad. Today Industry looks for students with good analytical and mathematical skills rather than hard core engineering skills and good CGPA. Students also face a lot of stress today because of the impact of social media.
The sessions were adorned by a galaxy of star speakers from amongst IIT Professors, distinguished faculty from PALS Partner colleges and Industry experts. Eminent speakers included Prof David Koilpillai, Prof Edamana Prasad, Prof. Preeti Aghalyam, Prof M S Sivakumar ( Anbudan Siva) and Prof Ramesh Babu from IITM. Prof. S M Srinivasan, Dr Sivakumar Krishnan ( Sri Vishnu Group), Dr Malmurugan VC SPIHER, Dr S P Subramaniam Principal SIMAT, Dr H C Nagaraj, Principal NMIT also participated in the panels. The event also had senior Industry experts from CADD Centre and Rane Group of companies.
Day 2: Advancing Research Excellence
The second day of the conclave shifted focus to research, exploring how institutions can build a strong research ecosystem and foster innovation.
In her virtual keynote, Dr. Ciza Thomas, Vice Chancellor, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala, emphasized “Leadership has a much broader objective than improving NIRF rankings. It is to bring excellence and transformation for our students, our Nation and for a rapidly changing world. Infrastructure enables learning but culture ignites it. Let us look for research with purpose and impact, not just for high impact publications. Future of education will be defined, not by those who resist change but by those who lead it. If we build excellence, rankings will automatically follow.
A virtual address by Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO, ANRF, along with a keynote by Dr. Prasad Raju, AICTE Distinguished Professional, highlighted the wide range of funding opportunities available for research and encouraged institutions to actively leverage them.
The sessions featured distinguished speakers from IITs, academia, and industry, covering critical themes such as:
- Translational and transformational research
- Research driving innovation and start-up culture
- Emerging technologies and the impact of AI on teaching and research
These discussions provided actionable insights into how institutions can enhance research productivity and align with global trends.
The conclave concluded with strong participation and engagement from institutional leaders, who gained valuable insights and practical strategies to implement within their organizations. PALS reaffirmed its commitment to supporting partner institutions in their journey towards academic and research excellence.
For more details on PALS please refer to www.palspgm.org.
