May 3, 2015: Bangalore based, Radel Group, a leading MSME in Aerospace, Defence and Electronics sector today launched ‘DRONA – School of Engineering practice’, with a focus to enhance the skills and employability of engineers in core sectors. M.N. Vidyashankar, IAS, President, India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA launched this ambitious venture in the presence of other dignitaries, and appreciated the timely initiative taken by G Raj Narayan, MD of the Radel group.
‘Skill India’ is being stressed upon both by industry and government alike in recent days, with the ‘Make in India’ initiative gaining momentum. Moreover, reports confirm that out of about 1.5 million engineers graduating from more than 3,500 engineering colleges across India last year, only 4 – 7% were fit for jobs in the core engineering sectors, out of which less than 1% have any moral education or social empathy. This certainly calls for an urgent requirement for ethical training institutes for core engineering disciplines specifically in Electronics and Aerospace Engineering Design. Several months are spent by organisations on training fresh recruits, impacting both productivity and cost-to-company.
Radel Group has effectively addressed this issue, with the timely launching of the Drona School, to create skilled engineers for the Electronics, Aviation, Aerospace and Defence sectors.
Its unique Apprenternship (Apprentice – intern) program provides fresh engineers with training in design and manufacturing, with mentoring provided by Raj Narayan and other veterans from the industry. Trainees are provided with hands-on work experience and exposure to live projects.
Fresh Engineering graduates are offered several skilling programs in Embedded Systems, Avionics, Electronics Design and related domains. The flagship program is a 6-month project related ‘Campus2Career’ holistic program which includes training in soft skills. Other courses offered are a short 3-week course and 3-day introductory workshops on current technology topics.
Showing concern towards Skill development of Engineers, G Raj Narayan, Chief Mentor of Drona and Founder & Managing Director, Radel Group said, “While institutes have been set up to create skilled workforce at the technician-level, there are very few schools to prepare engineers to get ready for the opportunity of Make in India with special reference to ESDM and the push towards self-reliance in the A&D sector. Drona is a unique initiative towards this goal”.
During the launch event, a panel discussion on “Skilling Engineers for ‘Make in India’” was held, chaired by Mr. Raj Narayan. Other eminent panelists, included Mr.L.S. Sathyamurthy, Senate Member, VTU and ex-Program Director, ISRO; Mr. M.N. Vidyashankar, IAS, President, India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA); Prof. AKN Prasad, Head, MDC – Executive Education, WE School and Ms Uma Reddy, Managing Director, Hitech Magnetics & Electronics Ltd. The panelists discussed the various facets of the subject, from the points of view of manufacturing industry, academia, industry bodies and research organisations.
About Drona – School of Engineering Practice:
DRONA is a timely and unique initiative that focuses on creating skilled engineers especially for the Electronics, Aviation, Aerospace and Defence sectors. ‘Campus2Career’ is an intensive holistic project-related six month course comprising all aspects that are required to make a fresh engineer job-ready. The aspiring trainee can select from a variety of subject modules that have combinations of Embedded Software, Embedded Electronics Design, Avionics, Mechanical CAD Design, PCB design, Technical Documentation and Project Management, apart from a basic introduction to various facets of industry (Production, Planning, admin, HR etc) and most importantly, soft skills such as verbal and written communication, time management and business etiquette. Drona also offers customised programs to corporates in the Electronics Engineering, Avionics and Manufacturing fields, for training fresh recruits in their organisations, thus saving them the time, cost and effort of training fresh engineers.
About Radel Group:
Radel Advanced Technology, part of the Radel Group is an ISO 9001:2008 certified, design and manufacturing organization promoted by technocrats with four decades of proven track record in the aerospace, defence and electronics industry. The other enterprise in the group is Radel Electronics, the pioneer in Electronic Indian Musical Instruments. Radel Group is renowned for innovation, quality and dedication, while upholding the highest ethical standards of business. It possesses strong expertise and capabilities in not only designing and manufacturing electronic equipment, but also reverse engineering and troubleshooting older and ageing systems of foreign OEMs in the A&D sector. It has achieved success in indigenous design and manufacture of electronic equipment as a replacement for imported equipment.
Radel is certified by CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness Certification) as a design organisation offering system design and development of airborne, ground support equipment and associated services.