Osmania University alumni plan innovation centre

Hyderabad: Around 1,500 alumni participated in the Osmania Engineers’ Global Alumni Meet 2017 held at Osmania University on Sunday. Fifteen eminent alumni from across the globe and the chairpersons of the 10 OU affiliated engineering colleges were felicitated at the event.

The alumni had some interesting observations to make. For instance, Junuthula N Reddy, distinguished professor at Texas A&M University, commented on the lack of a robust research culture at OU. Mr Reddy studied in the 1963-1968 engineering batch and visits the campus often. He stressed the importance of a culture of innovation and research. 

“We are trying to develop an international centre of innovation and culture in Osmania University. Developing research habits among students is very important. This university lacks research due to which students study and work without passion. Mugging up theory will not help them in the long run and it’s the reason most of them fail to answer simple questions,” he said.

Mamidala Ramulu from the 1970-1974 M.Tech batch and now Boeing-Pennell Professor at the University of Washington, emphasised the importance of research.  “Research and teaching should go together as we can only develop a research culture by engaging the students and teachers in more research.

Teachers should not only teach them, but should work with them. There should be a culture of innovation in the university. In foreign varsities, students have the keys of labs where they can go any time, but here students are happy when lab classes get cancelled.”