Program Curriculum and Teaching Learning Process

Two written communications to the university on the identified curriculum gaps are reproduced in the SAR. This is the formal route — the department cannot amend a GTU syllabus, so the evidence expected here is the record of having asked.

Twenty-two beyond-syllabus activities are recorded from 2019-20 to 2025-26 — expert lectures, industrial visits, workshops, webinars and a coding competition. The programme is continuous rather than episodic, with activity in every year including the two COVID years, which were covered by webinars.

The content is chosen against the identified gaps and against emerging technology: CCTV installation, entrepreneurship, digital communication with MATLAB, cyber security, consumer electronics, IoT (twice, including ESP-32, NodeMCU and Raspberry Pi), drone technologies, semiconductor manufacturing technology and emerging mobility trends. Visits run to PCB Power and MCBS in Gandhinagar, Banas Dairy, the Palanpur railway station, the local community radio station (four times across the period) and the NETRAM command and control centre.

The mapping closes the loop, and it is the most direct evidence in Criterion 2 that the gap analysis actually drives departmental activity: the beyond-syllabus events are counted against exactly the four outcomes the Program Articulation Matrix flagged, and against no others.

The department works to a three-tier calendar. GTU publishes semester start and end dates, tentative examination schedules, internship periods and the holiday list before each term. The institute derives its own calendar from that, adding internal examinations, industrial visits and expert lectures. The department then produces a third calendar aligned to both.

The departmental layer is where the SAR's specific claims sit: it carries class-test schedules, remedial examination periods and submission timelines, industrial and site visits, seminars and expert lectures, parent–teacher meetings and weak-student support sessions. Publishing all of these together at the start of term is what prevents clashes between activities and gives every student an equal chance to take part in the co-curricular programme.

Seven delivery methods are documented, and the SAR is candid that the traditional board-and-chalk method remains the most widely used — justified on the grounds of real-time interaction, immediate doubt-solving and continuous visibility of whether students are following.

Around it sit multimedia delivery (presentations, video, animation, simulation software), demonstration with equipment and models, student seminars and presentations, the flipped classroom in a few classes, and wall charts and posters in classrooms and labs.

The online-platform history is recorded honestly as two phases. Microsoft Teams was the primary platform during COVID-19, used for live classes, quizzes, unit tests and viva examinations, subject-wise channels, online parent–teacher meetings and lecture recordings. Post-pandemic the department moved to Google Classroom, which continues in use for study materials, assignments, question banks, lab manuals and written submissions — so the digital layer is presented as a permanent addition to blended learning rather than an emergency measure that lapsed.

Both ends of the ability range are handled by a written policy with numeric identification criteria, which is what makes it auditable. Slow learners are those scoring below 40% in Progressive Assessment-1, together with difficulty grasping basic topics and low participation. Fast learners are those scoring 60% or above, with quick grasp, problem-solving ability and active participation.

Slow learners receive remedial classes for concept revision and doubt-solving, personalised mentoring by subject faculty, assignments and question banks built around university question patterns, and parent–teacher interaction to secure parental support and track attendance. Fast learners are pointed at NPTEL and curated video material beyond the syllabus, given certificates and appreciation as toppers, and encouraged toward self-directed learning.

The evidence of effect is tracked rather than asserted: the department records Progressive Assessment results for identified students across semesters, and reports that students identified as weak in one semester progressed to average or higher standing in subsequent examinations.

Classroom quality is argued from the course file. Subject allotment happens well before the semester starts so that lesson plans, laboratory plans and teaching material can be prepared in advance, and each subject coordinator maintains a course file containing the syllabus, teaching scheme, course outcomes, lesson and lab plans, attendance, assignments, tutorials, the CO–PO–PSO mapping, question papers, CO-wise marksheets, the course exit survey, lecture notes and the lab manual with rubrics.

Monitoring is direct: the HOD conducts surprise classroom and laboratory visits to verify lesson-plan coverage, resource use and teaching effectiveness, and student feedback is collected periodically and discussed with the faculty member concerned.

Faculty capability is presented as part of classroom quality rather than separately. Two faculty members have completed PhDs and one is currently pursuing one; one has completed a master's degree; one has completed the AICTE QIP PG certificate in deep learning; and one is working through a BS in data science. Training participation across the eight faculty ranges from 2 to 11 programmes each.

Experiments are planned from the GTU-prescribed list by the subject coordinator, who produces the experiment list, weekly laboratory plan, lab manual and assessment rubrics as part of the course file, with each experiment mapped to a Course Outcome.

From 2021-22 the Directorate of Technical Education introduced common laboratory manuals for each subject across all Gujarat polytechnics, which the department cites as the source of uniformity in experiment delivery and evaluation. Students work in small groups after the faculty member has explained and demonstrated the experiment.

The SAR is explicit about what happens when equipment is unavailable rather than passing over it: the department falls back on simulation software, mobile applications, the Government of India virtual laboratories, and video material — and students are encouraged to build circuits on breadboard where trainer kits do not exist, and to design and fabricate on PCB in Electronics Workshop and project work.

Every laboratory course runs continuous assessment through the semester, scored by the subject faculty against parameters set in advance and varied to suit the nature of the laboratory — software-based and hardware-based labs are not assessed identically. Participation, performance, sincerity and timely submission all count.

End-semester practical examinations then differ by year of study: for semesters 5 and 6 they are conducted by external examiners appointed by GTU, while for semesters 1 to 4 departmental faculty conduct them under institute and university norms.

This sub-point carries 6 marks, the most in 2.2.1, and the department separates feedback into direct and indirect channels. Direct feedback is collected once each semester from all students, offline or online, on a five-point scale, covering content knowledge, delivery, communication, punctuality and regularity, interaction, response to queries, prerequisite coverage, use of real-life examples and learning support. Confidentiality is maintained and only consolidated results are shared.

Indirect feedback comes from the HOD's periodic interactions with students about academics, laboratories and support services, and from the Course Exit Survey run for each course and the Program Exit Survey run for passing-out students — the two instruments that also feed the indirect attainment calculation in Criterion 3.

The action-taken mechanism is what closes the loop. The HOD discusses consolidated reports with the faculty member concerned and may direct FDP or workshop participation for pedagogy, adjustments to lesson planning and pace, additional tutorials, remedial sessions or lab demonstrations, or improvements to notes, presentations, manuals and question banks. Faculty with consistently high or improved feedback receive appreciation certificates. Effect is checked in the following cycle's scores rather than assumed.

All courses are allotted across the nine laboratories, with experiments designed to the GTU-prescribed list and batch sizes set to DTE guidelines. Groups of four to five students perform each practical under faculty and support-staff supervision, after the procedure, underlying theory and intended learning outcome have been explained.

Each laboratory has a designated in-charge, and the lab assistant maintains an equipment utilisation register countersigned by faculty — the record that makes utilisation claims checkable. Every experiment title in the manual is mapped to a Course Outcome, and sample manuals with readings and observations are retained for verification.

Beyond the prescribed experiments, students are set micro-projects aligned to current industry requirements. The innovative practices recorded are concrete: Quartus with a Spartan-6 kit for hardware implementation in VLSI, virtual-lab test-bench simulation in VLSI and in Digital Electronics, Machine Learning for Kids as an integrated digital environment in Renewable Energy and Emerging Trends, and eXtreme Burner as the AVR development interface in Embedded Systems.

Every experiment is mapped to a Course Outcome, and the department states plainly that the experiment list covers the maximum number of COs it can — with the remaining COs assessed through CO-wise examinations and other activities the course coordinator specifies. Performance-based courses are assessed on rubrics.

One industry-supported laboratory has been established — the Advanced Controller and Processor Laboratory, set up in collaboration with BeeRobokids Innovations Pvt Ltd.

Coursework delivered by industry experts is recorded session by session, with the expert's name, designation, employer, date and the number of students who attended — so participation is countable rather than asserted.

The range spans TCS on programming, Google Bangalore on the future of electronics in industry, Bank of America on cyber security (94 students, the largest single audience), JMRC Ahmedabad on communication in industry and later on emerging mobility trends, SOFCON India on embedded systems, web development and AI-ML, Indrashil University on IoT, Ganpat University on semiconductor manufacturing, and a HAM Radio workshop run by GGP Ahmedabad.

Industrial visits are logged with date, industry, semesters involved, participant count and accompanying faculty across all five assessment years. The pattern mixes local employers reachable for large groups — Bajarang Paper Products, the Palanpur community radio station, Samsung Care — with longer trips to specialist EC industry in Gandhinagar such as PCB Power, MCBS and Sahajanand Laser Tech.

Participation is substantial where the destination is local: 51 students visited Bajarang Paper Products in 2023-24 and 56 travelled to Gandhinagar for the PCB Power and MCBS visits the same year.

Student reflections are collected at the end of each visit, and the recorded benefits are specific — connecting theory to practice, exposure to industry standards and regulatory frameworks not covered in textbooks, direct help with the design, simulation and implementation stages of academic projects, and an understanding of workplace culture and professional conduct.

Internships are mandatory under COGC-2021 — two weeks after the third semester and six weeks after the fifth. Students may take them across government agencies, skill development centres, the social sector, government social schemes and NGOs as well as industry.

Across the assessment period 45 of 47 regular students completed the mandatory internship, a participation rate of 95.74%. Four of the six semester cohorts recorded 100% participation; the two shortfalls were 2022-23 semester 3 (11 of 12, 91.67%) and 2023-24 semester 3 (8 of 9, 88.89%).

Post-internship assessment carries 10 marks — twice the weight of the internship itself — and is conducted at the institute in consultation with industry, against a defined evaluation rubric measuring the knowledge and skills actually acquired during the placement.

Fourteen community activities are recorded from 2022 onward, most run through the NSS. The scale varies widely and is reported as such: 276 students took part in the organic-farming outreach at Dhelana village, 187 in the Meri Matti Mera Desh lamp lighting, 175 in the Vasudha Vandan tree plantation, and 170 in the thalassemia, eye and dental check-up camp.

A week-long special camp at Jalra Karja village in January 2023 involved 50 students across teaching, yoga practice, a village survey, a horticulture seminar, an awareness rally, a bakery-based self-employment session, tulsi plant distribution, tree plantation and kitchen service at the primary school. Smaller activities include a cleanliness drive at Palanpur railway station, the Ambaji NSS Seva camp, and voter-awareness and Mission LiFE programmes. Faculty also carry out RTO learning-licence duties as a standing yearly activity.

Employability work runs through three channels: placement fairs, career guidance through mentors and the TPO cell, and industry exposure through visits and expert lectures.

Mega placement camps are organised with the Education Department and the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat. EC participation is reported without rounding up: 5 students in 2022-23 at GP Palanpur, 5 in 2023-24 at DNP Arts Deesa, 7 in 2024-25 at GP Palanpur, and for the February 2026 fair at GEC Palanpur the SAR records plainly that no industry attended for EC students.

Alongside these run the Wadhwani Foundation skilling programme on communication, job readiness and entrepreneurship, HAM Radio and drone technology workshops, a career-guidance lecture specifically for EC engineers, and the KCG Finishing School soft-skills modules.

Personality development runs largely through the Training and Placement cell — resume and LinkedIn profile creation, the annual KCG placement fair, and training in handling stress, leadership and interpersonal skills — supplemented by the Wadhwani Foundation skilling programme and expert lectures on interview soft skills, teamwork and leadership.

The claimed outcomes are stated as improvements in communication and self-confidence, ability to face interviews and interact with industry professionals, leadership and teamwork, and adaptability to changing industry demand.