Vadodara, August 31: As the first year of the MoU between Pune-based Neilsoft and M S University’s Faculty of Technology and Engineering (FTE) draws to a close, engineering students of the university gear up the second year of HeadStart, a four-year pilot project to equip engineering students with soft and technical skills.

Introduced in 2006 after Neilsoft entered into MoU with MSU’s FTE, College of Engineering, Pune and Hubli’s BVB College of Engineering for HeadStart pilot project to impart training in design and problem-solving skills with adequate industry project exposure.

The programme includes workshops and interaction with industry on continuous basis, a 45-day internship at Neilsoft and exposure to live projects and exposure to areas like project management, quality management and industry practices in engineering services, including communication skill.

The course, a 200 hours module to be completed in 4 years, starting with First Year students getting a special orientation programme. It has 80 hours of latest soft skills and 120 hours of technical skills imparted to the 30 First Year Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Department students.

HeadStart steering committee member at FTE, AR Chudasama said, “With emerging opportunities across the globe, our engineering manpower will have to constantly adapt to the changing requirements of the industry and HeadStart is a move towards accomplishing it.”

The 200-hour training module, being designed by a steering committee comprising industry experts and academicians, includes industry interactions as will as 45 summer training for first-year students at Neilsoft, to expose them to the real-life applications of the theory studies in college.

"This exposure to live projects gives students a different perspective to what they study in college, as they see the ordinary line drawings and problems they solve in class come alive in an industrial set-up," said Sahasrabuddhe.

Among other aims will be improving the design and problem solving skills of the students, strengthening fundamental concepts, developing a better understanding of projects management, team work and so on. "The programme includes modules on entrepreneurship, business communication and language skills, time management, and so on," said Sahasrabuddhe.

"If this three-year pilot is found to be successful, it can be rolled out on a national level through the support of NASSCOM and possibly other companies, as it will benefit the industry as a whole," said Neilsoft Corporate Communications head Sudakshina Sinha Banerjee.