Dr. Sajan Kurien is the Dean and Professor at Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences. As part of his educational qualifications, he has done Ph.D. and M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Horticulture. He teaches Fundamentals of Horticulture and Production Technology of Fruits and Plantation courses. He is a professional member of the Horticulture Society of India and the Indian Society for Nuclear Techniques in Agriculture and Biology. He has been awarded the International Jury of Excellence Award and the National IARI- Gold Medal. He has published several research papers in various National and International Journals.

Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences

What is your philosophy of leadership?

“A good leader knows how to respond in different situations and with different people”

In my opinion, the best leader is that person who knows how to react when, in other words, he must understand the severity of the condition and should act accordingly. The next thing is a leader should be capable enough to handle people of different mindsets at the same time and he can guide them properly and in the right direction to achieve the desired goals of everyone. 

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

“Thrust to examine and explore new things”

This field requires you to keep yourself updated with the latest happenings be it in a particular subject or in general. Also the different kinds of challenges it offers day to day is what helps me to move ahead. I have been in research for pretty long from 83 only because of my thrust to explore new things. Therefore all these factors have kept me connected with the education sector for so long.

What are some of the plans that you are currently designing for students?

“I am working on to fetch best academic programs for them”

Since I am associated with the agriculture domain in Karunya Institute and working as a dean, I am currently emphasizing bringing the best learning and research opportunities for my students in the agriculture field. And for this, I am in talk with my friends from other colleges and our industry partners.

What do you think should be the college's top priority for the next 10 years?

“To update ourselves in terms of education and infrastructure”

In today’s digital era, students' focus gets shifted very quickly, like the person who is studying agriculture wants to shift towards computer science and vice-versa. Hence, college should focus more on how to retain students’ interest in a particular subject and that will be possible only when we will bring the best growth opportunities for them and would be able to convince them about career opportunities that come with a particular field. Also, we should emphasize strengthening our infrastructure which includes laboratory facilities, hi-tech computer labs, etc., education quality and teachers' skills upgradation. Lastly, we should work towards getting more funding projects from industries to help our students to utilize their learning in a better way. 

How do you establish a healthy relation and environment in your college?

“Through transparent communication and my support in need”

In order to have a healthy relationship with everyone and among everyone, I use a very basic concept and that is of open communication system through which our students and faculties can put forward their concerns and suggestions without any hesitation. And I also give my full support to our students for their studies and research projects by addressing their needs on an individual basis, because we know that every student's requirements are different along with their learning pace, so same methodology or course cannot benefit to everyone.

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How do you introduce a practical and industry-oriented approach towards subjects?

“By allotting them an assignment and research projects”

To enforce a practical and industry-oriented approach, I encourage my students to take more research projects so that they can come with doubts and I can help them to clear their concepts and fundamentals. I also assign them various types of assignments every semester to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the subjects. Lastly, I ensure to have a curious attitude in them by keeping a participative environment during classroom teaching.

What extracurricular activities are organized in college to enhance the skills of the students?

“Different academic and fun activities are conducted”

Our college does have a very good association with our Alumni and many of them are helping us to give more inputs by bringing learning opportunities for students through ted talks, google meetings, webinars where they share their experience, knowledge etc. We also have 360-degree development cells (including women empowerment, sports club, environmental development cell etc.) and committees where students and faculty members work together to bring a positive result to the campus. For disciplinary actions, we also have an anti-ragging committee, grievance redressal, and discipline committee in the college.

What challenges you are facing to upgrade the quality of education of your college?

“We struggle to restore students' focus in a particular subject”

The quality of education which we are offering in our institute is totally up to the mark in terms of University guidelines and industry expectations. The only thing which I would like to highlight here is that sometimes our students do not take the right direction to upgrade themselves despite every kind of help, support and guidance which we provide to them. Hence it sometimes becomes challenging for us to deal with these types of students. So overall, we struggle sometimes to gather the attention of our students towards their studies and research.

How does your department upgrade its faculties as per industry standards?

“By organizing training programs for them”

I feel very proud while telling that most of our faculty are Ph. D holders along with being an expert of subjects they teach. They also have very good exposure with International universities and Colleges, so they keep themselves updated without our interruption. And whenever required we also arrange training programs and workshops for them so that they can learn new things and can showcase what they already know. 

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Any advice which you would like to give to young students?

“Check out new technologies and be disciplined”

As we are already aware that the world is progressing at a very high speed and there is something new for us to explore. Hence I would like to suggest my students that explore the world as much as you can, but don’t lose focus on your studies. Also, time is not unlimited hence make the best use of it. Take more research projects and implement your learnings.