Fueling passion: India analog education drive

The Analog Education Drive 2015 initiated by the TI university program in India has created an opportunity for engineering students at the industry threshold, who are fueled by passion for technology and charged to power the world. The exposure and the knowledge gained are applicable for budding entrepreneurs as well as engineers joining the corporate world, making them better equipped for the industry. More than 52,000 students from 137 colleges from all over the country got training to master industry relevant technology.

Engineering colleges abuzz with Analog Waves…

Imagine getting an opportunity to apply your academic knowledge before you actually land a job. Exciting! The Analog Education Drive has created a ripple effect across India by sending the right waves to more than 100 engineering institutes and more than 52,000 students within a few months. The overwhelming response from these students and institutions is instrumental in the manifold increase and extensive reach of the campaign.

 Analog Drive: Bridging the Gap

Until recently, industries faced issues with lack of trained hands and young graduates with zero experience and little application-based knowledge. Fresh graduates who entered the corporate world were often found wanting in the practical aspects of their learning. However, the wheels have been set in motion and this trend is changing now.

Today, industry has stepped up to bridge the gap between academia and the real world. TI believes that stimulating curiosity, sustaining interest and enhancing knowledge of students through contests that present difficult technical challenge is one way to make the transition from college to corporate easier. 

Weaving the realities of the technology and industry into the world of academics, and tempering education with contests, workshops, campaigns and internships, we provide practical exposure to engineering students. Over the years, TI has repositioned itself on its leadership areas and is reaching out to the young leaders of tomorrow.

Contests involving theory and applied skills arouse students' appetite for learning (ASLK Pro)

After exposure to such contests, students:

• Recognize their true passion
• Obtain guidance and direction to harness their potential
• Become technically experienced
• Get a strong foundation for their career
• Learn to hone their ideas and innovate

Along with students, faculty also benefit from the campaign by learning beyond the curriculum. A powerful example is TI’s WEBENCH for Education, which helps professors give their students an application-based experience within the classroom walls. Students and faculty get a better understanding of real-world scenarios and diverse ways to solve problems. Combining classroom knowledge with hands-on experience, colleges can better mold next-generation leaders.

…Riding on the crest of the Analog Campaign 2015

The Analog Campaign 2015 launched by TI has made inroads into the student community, challenging and delighting them in equal measure. In addition to students, the campaign involves multiple, interconnected stakeholders who stand to benefit from it.

Stimulating through simulations 
Have you ever…?

• Felt that you have the best design idea in mind but you lack the prowess to implement it?
• Aspired to funnel your ideas into developing a circuit but didn’t want to go component hunting?
• Been challenged to think beyond your textbook?

Analog Campaign 2015 has succeeded in creating just the right platform to address these queries. It has resulted in challenging young minds and stimulating them to share design ideas, learn analog innovations and ‘chip’ in for team ventures. It has rekindled their passion for technology and electronics, and delivered creations that have a significant impact on the future of the industry.

The campaign has been a vibrant platform where students get a feel of the real world through interaction with industry experts, combining technology, innovation, ideas and obtaining an avenue for highlighting their skills. The exposure and the knowledge gained are applicable for budding entrepreneurs as well as job seekers, making them better equipped for the industry. 

Paving the road for faculty
Have you ever…?

• Considered a different approach to train your students?
• Fully understood your students’ potential and learning needs?
• Felt that academia is lagging behind the industry expectations?

Faculty members who participated in the Analog Campaign along with students got a better grasp of these multidimensional aspects involved in the education system. They got a better understanding of their students’ strengths. These programs also help them to identify what the industry expects from graduates. Armed with this knowledge, faculty members can decide which pedagogy to adopt, the extent of support required by the students and the level of mentoring they need to be offered.

The programs also act as icebreakers for future Faculty Development Programs (FDP) or workshops in similar functions, such as analog system design and its applications. Faculty members of various disciplines, for example: electrical, electronics, telecommunication, instrumentation technology and allied engineering disciplines, stand to gain from the exposure.

Empowering faculty members to become the beacons for tomorrow’s leaders is TI’s mantra and taking any opportunity to add value to classroom pedagogy has always been part of our philosophy.

Industry-academia Collaboration

The Analog Campaign offers educational institutions a direct connection with the industry and creates the way for continuous partnerships in the future. It facilitates the institutions to continuously feel the pulse of the industry and receive relevant insights on industry trends. 

The industry, primed to absorb young graduate engineers, will welcome more aware and tech-savvy entrants, who have application-based knowledge. It will reduce their investment in terms of in-house training time and knowledge-sessions.

The future of analog 

Despite the evolution of digital signal processing, analog system design is still prominent in the industry. Modern day electronics has more analog content than ever. Take a cell phone for example, though it is a digital system, it has a significant amount of analog content like sensors, amplifiers, filters, power management and RF. Career prospects exist in analog system design. It’s a fallacy to believe that the need for analog engineers has reduced the need for analog engineers.