Best Practices
Best Practices
Best Practice 1:
Title:
Empower the rural youth through RECS (Empowerment Cell of SVIST) and NLP(Neuro-Linguistic Programming) training
The Context:
SVIST established in 2008 in the united Andhra Pradesh , affiliated to JNTU Kakinada and approved by AICTE Delhi in the small town Tiruvuru of Krishna Dist., (surrounded by Telanagana state). In 2014, as bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has taken place, consequently seven mandals of Telangana state (Kukunoor, Velairpadu, VR Puram, Chintoor, Kunavaram, Atapaka and Nellipaka) were moved to Andhra Pradesh, in order to facilitate the construction of thePolavaram Irrigation project. These mandals are on the banks of Godavari river and in remote of Andhra Pradesh with rural youth consisting of SC, ST and other backward castes majorly.As there are separate state quotas, local area wise reservations, and financial support policies for each state Govt. independently, the institute has taken a policy to educate and motivate the rural youth of the backward communities.
In that scenario, SVIST has identified the above extreme rural mandals, which were in the Telangana region prior to state separation.SVIST conducted vigorous campaigning and educating the youth towards the higher education as potential area and convinced them to aim for prospects in higher education. Upon admission, it was observed that the students from these areas were found to be more concentrative on learning activities and inclined towards games and sports, but communication skills and technical knowledge is a challenge for them. In order to improve the all-round development of students and prepare them, mentor them to become industry ready engineers, SVIST has formed RECS and involved training by NLP.
The Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is very effective tool which can change human lives. NLP is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, United States, in the 1970s. NLP's creators claim there is a connection between neurological processes (neuro-), language (linguistic) and behavioral patterns learned through experience (programming), and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life.
NLP can treat problems such as phobias, depression, tic disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, near-sightedness, allergy, the common cold, and learning disorders. NLP has been adopted by some hypnotherapists and also by companies that run seminars marketed as leadership training to businesses and government agencies.
The objectives of RECS:
a. Identifying suitable students from these rural mandals
b. Conducting the educational camps and motivate the youth for studies
c. Creation of Awareness and trainings on Engineering education, APEAMCET and counsel them for admission process.
d. Bridging gap in academically weaker students and identification of suitable trainers and arranging the NLP training session in the first year level itself.
e. Encourage students to take part in project expos, paper presentation and coding challenges etc.,
f. Training them on advance courses like .Net, Java Script, Simulation, Ansys, MATLAB, GIS & CAD
g. Promote activities for all round development of students through the practice of NLP.
The Practice:
• Established RECS cell in AY 2014-15
• Identified and nominated the suitable faculty towards the development of RECS and make utilization NLP practice session.
• Classify the areas and delegate responsibility to small teams (typically 3 member)
• Collect the prospective student information by approaching the teachers in those areas (mostly schools and junior colleges).
• Create awareness on higher education and inform the SVIST policy / benefits offered for aspiring students.
• Conduct training classes for state level entrance examination EAMCETwith study material support and also practice the mock exams.
• Provide orientation with resource persons and Identification of weaker students from the internal examinations at 1st year itself.
• Provide trainings towards to reduce phobias, depression, tic disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, near-sightedness,allergy, the common cold, and learning disorders and to improve concentration, memory, self confidence and leadership skills etc.,
• Provide trainings towards placements / higher studies for meritorious students with financial support.
Evidence of Success:
Systemic planning and approach leads the growth in student career as well as progress. The details of the students joining details as shown in below table
Student information and contributions
| Academic Year |
No. of students counseled |
No. of Admissions |
Number of students undergone NLP training |
Awards in Games & Sports |
Placements |
| 2013-14 |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
Nil |
| 2014-15 |
55 |
21 |
All 1st year |
8 |
10 |
| 2015-16 |
50 |
22 |
All 1st year |
9 |
12 |
| 2016-17 |
45 |
27 |
All 1st year |
7 |
15 |
| 2017-18 |
62 |
35 |
All 1st year |
11 |
Pursuing 3rd year |
| 2018-19 |
56 |
38 |
All 1st year |
15 |
Pursuing 2nd year |
| 2019-20 |
57 |
39 |
All 1st year |
12 |
Pursuing 1st year |
Problems Encountered and Resources Required
These students have illiterate background and also from extremely rural and agency areas on the banks of Godavari river. Also the majority are first generation learners. The parents/ guardians of the students are often engaged in earning bread and butter for the family and can seldom allocate a specific time to look after their studies. Most of the rural youth were habituated to their village works based on their community background, they were less motivated for higher education and dreaming for higher ambitions. Hence it is very hard to motivate to them towards study and concentrate on the study and training activities.
Many villages are not connected by any means of transport and faculty finds it challenging to visit the villages. Most of the time, parents were not approachable due to their farming works. Able to overcome this challenge with the help of Alumni from those areas.
The activities covered under the NLP are not regular. To improve the learning abilities of the rural students and train the students in advanced areas, contracting industrial experts and outsourcing agencies etc , was found to be as complex task. Bringing the students to industry ready engineers is very challenging aspect and SVIST has successfully performing the same.
Best Practice 2
Title:
EMPLOYEE RETENTION STRATEGIES
The Context
Human resources are the life blood of any type of organization. Even though all types of organizations are found to be technology driven today, yet human resources are required to run the technology. With this development and competition, there are lot of avenues and opportunities available in the human resources. The biggest challenge that organizations are facing is not managing these resources but also retaining them. Securing and retaining the skilled employees plays an important role, because employee’s knowledge and skill are the key factors in the success of any technical campus. Retention of employees is a much bigger challenge for the institute like SVIST as it is being in remote area. Besides, continuously satisfying the employees is another challenge that the employers are facing today. When compared to urban areas, it will be very difficult to retain their employees in rural areas. At the same time employees are always attracted to settle down in the major cities and metropolitans because of the availability of good facilities, comforts, luxuries, quality education for their children etc.,. Today, unemployment is at the record low levels. By some estimation, it can cost the employer double an employee’s salary to replace them when they quit.
According to a collection of recent surveys on employee retention, only 24% of employees say that financial stability motivates them to stay in a job. Yet 56% people opinions that health care and insurance concerns keeps them in their job. Colleges like SVIST located in the rural area are facing tough task of retaining faculty as well as skilled non teaching staff. Employee retention strategies help organizations to maintain effective employee communication to improve commitment and enhance workforce support for key institutional initiatives.
Objectives of the Employee Retaining Strategies
a. To analyze the supportive relationship between employees and the institution.
b. To examine the level of motivation in the organization.
c. To determine the stress level of employees in the organization.
d. To understand the various factors influencing the employee for retaining them.
e. To suggest and recommend suitable measures to improve employee retention strategies.
The Practice
a. Salary and other benefits must be competitive: In SVIST, pay scales are given to all the faculty members. To encourage them and extract to their maximum potential, college offers incentives and monitory benefits. Those who have completed 10 years of service in SVIST, incentives have been awarded to all eligible staff members.
b. Reduced employee pain: We can’t expect staff to function like robots. When an employee’s work should be balanced with the life cycle, then the tasks assigned to him/her will be completing within the stipulated time. In SVIST, identification of the right person for the right work is done perfectly. It reduces fatigue of the faculty and enhances the retainability. SVIST always focus on the smooth workload to reduce the stress levels on the employees.
c. Recruiting the right person: Recruitment of suitable persons to the suitable job is another key factor of success in SVIST. During the recruitment process itself SVIST identifies right persons for the desirable positions based on their specializations, knowledge, skills and contribution to the committees in past track. Through oral feedback, paying attention at the college work, find out where and what is the point of frustration for staff.
d. The relationship between employees and institution: The organization of SVIST are very friendly in nature with their employees and they are very helpful to them. Particularly when any incidents occur they behave like family members and are present till the things gets sorted out.
e. Training and FDPs: New faculties are given training on the service rules and University curriculum. In order to up skill the capabilities of the staff, Faculty Development Programmes are conducted with appropriate budgets in the department. Some of our faculties have registered for PhDs through Research Common Entrance Test (RCET). Our faculties are also actively engaged in research and conference paper publications.
f. Sponsorship for higher studies: Faculties who have registered for PhD studies have been given a better hike in their salaries. Special leaves for attending seminars and conferences are also granted for such faculties.
g. Medical leaves: Emergencies are unexpected. As such, we at SVIST are flexible in terms of granting medical leaves. Women faculties, who need maternity leaves, are granted leaves as per the Government regulations. First aid facility is made available in the campus.
h. Annual Garden Party: AT SVIST, we take off sometime annually from regular teaching and spend time with our families at some garden in and around our locality. We spend the whole day with cultural and recreational activities for the staff, their families and children. Our college management along with their family members also take part in this annual outing.
Evidence of Success:
The staff retention rate is high in SVIST with the application of the above staff retention strategies. In the below table shows, there are 30 members being working right from the inception of the college. Almost 30 members are working for the last five years. Hence the satisfaction levels are good in the SVIST.
| Completed 12 years service |
Completed 10 years service |
Completed 8 years service |
Completed 5 years service |
| 30 |
36 |
42 |
47 |
Problems Encountered and Resources Required:
a) Govt Opportunities: A huge number of postings of Govt. Opportunities at Village Secretariats are given a large affect on this institution. Many of the faculty got posted into the newly formed organization of the Government of AP. In regarding this, the Institution encountered problems for recruiting worthy faculty in the middle of semesters.
b) Less scope for Research: Faculty find there are less opportunities for carrying the Research work in this area.
c) There is less scope for quality education for the children in this area, hence some of the employs turned for the relocation.
d) Young faculty members like weekend recreation. The college is located in rural area recreation or amusement parks are not available here.
