Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) (Deemed to be University) here has signed an MoU with L&T EduTech, a business vertical of Larsen and Toubro Limited (L&T), in which the latter would extend professional training, internship and placement to SOA’s core engineering students.

As per the agreement, signed on Monday, Larsen and Toubro, one of the leading engineering conglomerates operating across the world providing technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and services including learning and assessment solutions and platforms through its EduTech business unit, would aim to bridge the gap between industry and academia.

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Initially, the facility would be available to students of core engineering disciplines like Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) which would be subsequently extended to other disciplines, Prof Sujit Dash, Professor and Head, Training and Placement, SOA, said.

The core objective would be to enhance the employability of students as well as aspiring professionals across various engineering and technology sectors. Focusing on employability, L&T is set to launch a series of industry-led application-oriented courses under its program—L&T CollegeConnect which would be made available to SOA students.

SOA would cooperate and provide the solicited inputs, infrastructure support etc to L&T and both parties have agreed to provide CollegeConnect series to the students in phases. It will enable skill development of the students for preparing them for industry based jobs, Prof Dash said.

The Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), SOA’s faculty of engineering and technology, was ranked 27th in the country in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2022.

The MoU was signed by Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Pro-Vice Chancellor of SOA and  R Balasubramanian, Consultant, L&T EduTech.

Besides Prof Dash, Prof DN Thatoi, Additional Dean (Academics), Dr Saroj Acharya, Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr Bidyadhar Basa, Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Dr Binod Sahu, Head, Department of Electrical Engineering, Dr Niranjan Nayak, Head, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Dr Sumit Mitra, Head, Career Development Cell, ITER, Pramod Kumar Panda, Chief Administrative Officer, SOA and Pabitra Kumar Parida, Manager, L&T EduTech, were present during the signing of the MoU.