PSG College of Technology, fondly known as PSG Tech, is an educational landmark of Coimbatore, the textile city of India. Since its inception in 1951, PSG Tech has been attracting the best expertise in science, technology and management to train students effectively in various domains and to instill in them a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation.
When PSG & Sons’ Charities Trust (1926), one of the oldest charitable organizations in the country, decided to set up an engineering institute in Coimbatore, the founders had only one vision in mind; an effective industry-institute interaction. They wisely placed PSG College of Technology (PSG Tech) in the same campus of the PSG Industrial Institute, a pioneer in the manufacture of Machine Tools in India. “Be it teaching, research or any other activities, we always try to connect it with the industry and through them, to the society. In fact, PSG Tech from the inception has been focusing on doing things that are relevant to the industry,” says Dr. R. Rudramoorthy, Principal, PSG College of Technology.
The presence of a thriving industry like the PSG Industrial Institute, which manufactures several engineering products, like process and agricultural pumps, industrial motors, high quality specialty castings and so on, offers an unparalleled experience of learning for the students of PSG Tech. This close industry connection enables students to study the actual production processes and gives them an opportunity to observe the working of industry. In fact, for the past few years, AICTE and CII have consistently ranked PSG Tech as the Institution with Best Industry Linkage.
“At PSG Tech, we focus more on the industry related applied research. We work very closely with the industry to understand their issues and help them to find solution through our research activities. It also increases our chances of taking up a good number of consultancy projects too,” shares Dr. Rudramoorthy. PSG Tech has an army of faculty members. “We have more than 600 faculty members in our institution and more 350 of them are PhD holders,” adds Dr. Rudramoorthy. It is indeed mandatory for faculty members to indulge in some form of research activities at the PSG Tech. The management also promotes research and innovation of both students and faculty members through various incentive schemes.
“More than 20 percentage of our students are interested in pursuing higher education and research, for which a research experience is mandatory. So, the faculty members always involve students in their research projects. We also have an exclusive Research Council to help students with necessary guidance and funding,” explains Dr. Rudramoorthy. Currently, PSG Tech has a student strength of over 9100 and among them over 500 are research scholars. “Several of our students across various years and branches opt to attend a Summer School at overseas Universities that offer such programs. Students also take up a one-semester study abroad program as part of their curriculum,” adds Dr. Rudramoorthy.
PSG Tech has a long-term relationship with many global universities, including the University of South Australia, University of New South Wales, University of Taylors Engineering and University of Flinders-Australia, University of HoF Applied Sciences and University Hochschule Esslingen of Applied Sciences – Germany, University of Colorado State, USA, Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom. On the other side, PSG Tech maintains close interaction with several R&D Institutions and institutions of higher learning in India and abroad, through institutional network programs and collaborative research programs. They have also set up several advanced centres with financial support from the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Ministry of Science and Technology and other agencies.
Making Entrepreneurs Since 1980s
A cross fertilization of theory with practice through a close collaboration of educational institution and industry is one of the unique features of PSG Tech. “As an institute that closely work with industry, entrepreneurship support has always been a hallmark of PSG Tech,” mentions Dr. Rudramoorthy. While, a startup culture slowing picking in the campuses all over the country, PSG Tech had started an Entrepreneurship Development Center as early as the 1980s. Later in 1998, the center has been coveted to PSG-Science & Technology Entrepreneurial Park (PSG-STEP) with the support from the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, IDBI and ICICI.
Ever since its inception, PSG-STEP has been playing a critical role in creating an enabling eco-system to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among the students, faculty, and researchers and for the people from the community. PSG-STEP has also been identified as the nodal agency by various government departments to implement the schemes and programs to promote innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship in the region. “Over 150 companies have already been graduated from the PSG-STEP, most of them are founded by our alumni members. Right now, we have incubated more than 75 companies, which means, the opportunities of doing internships and gaining some hand-on experience are very high here,” shares Dr. Rudramoorthy.
Today, PSG Tech is extremely proud of its alumni, a considerable number of them being entrepreneurs or senior executives in industries both within India and abroad; and a few of them having established their own educational institutions. The growth and development of the college owes much to the untiring efforts of Dr. G.R. Damodaran, Founder Principal of PSG College of Technology. “We already have a couple of companies to do business with the outside word. In the coming years, we will have more such companies where our faculty member will be involved,” concludes Dr. Radramurthy, an instrumental personality in the modernization of PSG Tech and one of the longest serving principals of the institution.