Disclaimer: This article in no way seeks to defame or discredit the Practice School Division of any BITS Pilani campus. It is also not intended to serve as a campaigning tool for the upcoming elections into the Students’ Union. This is not meant to be viewed as the English Press Club’s endorsement of any particular candidate in any of the upcoming elections either. 

The name of the concerned student has been kept anonymous keeping in mind their direct involvement with this issue.

Student Interview

The English Press Club spoke to a student from the 2020 batch who had reported a lack of resources and structure in their Practice School-I (PS-I) station—iWorksLab, Hyderabad. This station took on 23 candidates from across the three campuses. The  student mentioned that this was one of their top preferences due to their interest in the various projects listed by the company. The station, named nearly identical to a laboratory in the University of Maryland, College Park, also had initially impressed the student, owing to them believing that this was an Indian subsidiary of the aforementioned lab. However, it eventually came to the student’s attention that the organisation did not have a Linkedin presence, which they believed was unusual for their supposed stature. They highlighted that the onboarding process was not comprehensive and that the tasks allotted to the members of their vertical slowly took an unrelated tangent from what the initial domain, i.e., Electric Vehicles, was. Another thing that they again found very strange was the offer made to the students to become “Co-Founders” of the company in their very first meeting.

The student mentioned that they had to be very careful with how they approached iWorksLab, due to the fact that their PS-1 grades were controlled by the staff. Due to earlier interactions with the Faculty-in-Charge of the station, Prof. Abhishek Sarkar from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, the student found it more prudent to reach out to the Head of the Practice School Division (PSD), Dr G Muthukumar, requesting an investigation into the station and its resources. He in turn redirected the student to Dr Annapurna Gopal, who he mentioned was taking care of PS-1 this year. The student mentioned that while Dr Gopal initially seemed proactive towards their cause, making them feel reassured that their queries would be resolved, this eventually faded away. In fact, they mentioned that they are no longer in contact with the PSD regarding this issue owing to the Head of the PSD of BITS Pilani, Goa Campus, reprimanding their behaviour and way of communication towards the concerned staff. With this came the stern warning that the student’s behaviour was marked and reported to the concerned parties from the PSD of BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus. As of today, the student and all others enrolled in the station have received some acknowledgement of conclusion, such as internship certificates. The student wished to firmly reiterate that they only wanted an investigation into this firm and the resources available for it, so that PS-1 remains a fruitful learning experience for all students involved.

Interview with the PS Dean

The English Press Club reached out to Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Practice School Division (PSD) Dean, BITS Pilani. He joined the institute in 1998 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and became the Dean PSD in 2020. 

The students who had opted for the Practice School Program had noticed that a few PS stations  were not up to standard, and their corresponding PS experiences were superficial in nature, as per a source from the 2020 batch. According to Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, ‘An ideal practice school is a bridge between training and professional currency.’ Elaborating on that idea, he said, ‘The central objective of the PS program is to provide practice based learning and an opportunity to experience the professional world of engineering.’ While considering a potential PS station, the Dean claimed that the primary requirement from the organisation is a sufficiently large workforce under it. He added that small-scale startups are unsuitable PS stations due to the limited learning opportunities they provide. Further, he said that potential PS Station requests from career fields such as law are rejected, assuming that engineering students would not be interested in branches disparate from science and technology.

PS Fee breakdown

When asked for an explanation regarding the exorbitant Practice School fee,  the Dean provided a generalised statement for the same. He stated that the fee was an aspect handled by the Vice Chancellor of BITS Pilani, and that he could not disclose any information regarding the matter. However, he did express his opinion on the PS fees, saying, ‘We had to work double time. So for the work done double time, you see, man-hour expenses are more. So actually, fee should be doubled… and so many got COVID, their medical expenses have to be added to your fees.’ In conclusion, he claimed that despite the adverse situations faced in the last few years, the PS program was still conducted seamlessly.

The link between PS-I and PS-II

In light of the fact that the unlinking of PS-I and PS-II was a major point on the previous SU President’s manifesto which was not fulfilled, the Dean was asked why it could not be accomplished. He explained that while the PS program as a whole is not compulsory, PS-I is a statutory prerequisite for PS-II. He elaborated that the total industry engagement of a student was divided into two parts, PS-I and PS-II. The former would aid the student in their third year courses by giving them a better understanding from an industrial viewpoint, while the latter would provide a complete experience of the professional world of engineering. He added that the entire system was discretionary, and the student also had the liberty to incorporate both research and industrial components from the PS program.

Conflict Management

When asked about conflicts that have occured in the past between students and their respective stations, Srinivasa Prakash Regalla mentioned that there were not many setbacks, saying, ‘As few as two or three students among the 4000 had faced issues.’ He added that all issues raised were addressed by the management in favour of the students. 

Notable projects and initiatives accomplished by students of the PS Program in the previous years have been documented annually under the PS Chronicle section of the BITS Pilani Practice School website. Project topics and brief abstracts about each project can be found in the PS-I and PS-II Chronicles.