Production and
Manufacturing
Design, Development and Consultancy
Research and Development
Publishing
Management
Consultancy
Software
Consultancy
Banking and Financial Services
PRACTICE SCHOOL - II
Emphasis on Problem Solving
Unlike PS-I, the PS-II assignments are such that students are involved in problem solving efforts of direct interest to the host organizations. Such assignments are usually done by group of students from different disciplines.
Identification of the projects by the PS faculty in consultation with Professional Experts
The PS-II assignments are identified by the resident Practice School faculty apriori in consultation with professional experts. The professional expert and the Practice School faculty play the role of consultant and supervisor respectively during the programme.
Round the year operation
PS-II is of five and a half month's duration and is conducted in both the semesters of the academic year. The PS faculty stays at the station while the students change every six months.
Graded for Twenty Units
PS-II is a twenty unit course both for the First degree as well as Higher Degree students and the grade obtained is credited to the CGPA and becomes a part of the transcript.
Out of pocket allowance
Since the students contribute to the organizations through the work done by them, all students are given out-of-pocket allowance by the organizations. Other facilities provided by the organizations are : accommodation, transportation, subsidized lunch / free lunch / dinner / snacks, etc. Such facilities vary from one PS station to another.
Resident PS Faculty
The PS-II programme is monitored and coordinated by the resident PS-II faculty. He keeps in constant touch with students as well as professional experts.
PS organizations have wide range of professional activities
Students drawn from different disciplines, work on a variety of professional activities. The following areas of the industrial world are covered in Practice School stations:
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As PS-II programme runs twice in an academic year, planning starts almost a year before the programme is implemented. The planning involves,
Preparation of Student's Profile . It contains each student's ID number, name, date of birth, latest CGPA, languages known, permanent address, grades obtained in various categories of courses, proficiency in extra-curricular activities, professional interests, information like completion of PS-I and compulsory disciplinary courses.
Finalization of Problem Bank . It is a list of assignments identified by the host organizations. These assignments are of direct and immediate relevance to the organizations. The Problem Bank specifies the number of students required from each discipline. After the list of stations and Problem Bank are finalized, students are given the Preference Forms.
Allotment is done after carefully matching the requirements of the assignments and the student's profile. The allotment process closely resembles what the employers do while matching the manpower to the tasks at their hands.
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PS-II, like PS-I is a course which is implemented at the industrial world. The practice method of education follows the concept of continuous evaluation. This educational process seeks out and focuses attention on many latent attributes which do not surface in the normal classroom situations, such as intellectual ability, professional judgement, decision-making ability, inter-disciplinary approach, skills for data handling, ability for written and oral presentation, initiative, leadership qualities and ability to meet dead lines. These personality traits are evaluated through various instruments of evaluation, namely, quizzes, viva, seminars, group discussions, project reports, daily observation of students and diary. All these components of evaluation are evenly spread out throughout the 5½ months. To view the breakup of marks click on PS-II Weightage for attributes.
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Each student who completes his PS programme, is awarded a transcript with words 'With Practice School'. This is in addition to the student's on campus academic transcript. The Practice School transcript has a rating sheet which has the professional expert's opinion of the above mentioned personality traits. The rating sheet also points out the competence and ability of the student for professional activities. To view a sample page of rating sheet click on Sample page of Rating Sheet
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Registration
The Practice School-II programme begins with the registration of students at their stations on the first day of the PS-II. This is like registration for courses on campus with the difference that the entire process is carried out at the off-campus PS-II station.
Orientation
An orientation programme is organized once the registration is over. The main objective of this is to familiarize students with the different facets of the organization and acquaint themselves to the nature of work done in different sections / departments of the organization.
Handout
Within a week of the registration, the PS faculty distributes handouts to all the students. A handout contains all the details of evaluation components with the dates on which these would be conducted.
Allotment of Projects
The orientation, which usually lasts for two weeks, is followed by allotment of projects from the ones listed in the problem bank. The professional expert from the host organization here acts as the consultant and guide. These projects are of direct relevance to the host organization. Therefore active involvement of professional experts assumes greater importance.
Evaluation
Throughout the PS-II programme the work of the students is closely monitored. The PS faculty conducts quizzes, group discussions, seminars and invites the professional expert's critical views on these evaluation components. These components enable the PS faculty to assess those latent attributes in students which do not normally surface in the class room. Observation and diary, for instance, enable the faculty to evaluate the student's total professional personality, his approach towards problem solving, and his ability to take initiatives, plan his work and meet the deadlines.
Feedback
Feedback constitutes a unique feature of the PS system of education because the aim of various components of evaluation is not merely to evaluate the students' various personality traits but to also help them in improving upon these traits. Therefore, after each component of evaluation has been conducted the PS faculty gives feed back to the students and discusses with them, how they can overcome their drawbacks as well as strengthen their strong points.
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Practice School Division has established massive linkage across the country. The statistics given below gives a bird's eye view of the extent of such linkages:
PS-I Summer(1999)
PS-II (II Sem. 1998-99)
Operation of PS programme at such a large scale, at both the levels involves a lot of activities such as identification of eligible students, identification of stations, placement of students, infrastructural needs of students and faculty, etc. These activities are handled under the close supervision of the Dean, PS Division. He is assisted by the Division Office and other members of the faculty who are in charge of various cells created for the purpose.
As the PS programme grew over the years, manual processing of most of the routine operations had to be computerized. The Computerized PS Instruction Monitoring System (COPSIMS) is a register covering the entire monitoring and control of the 22-week PS-II semester which is divided into ten stages as follows :
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The strategy of monitoring evolved by the PS Division has the following characteristics:
(i) Detailed specification of certain minimum requirements is followed at all the stations. Close monitoring and control is exercised to ensure that these are fulfilled without any deviations whatsoever. These specifications include the precise dates and duration of Practice School courses, the objectives of evaluation structure to be followed, etc.
(ii) Unambiguous guidelines on all other operational aspects are provided to supervise faculty members.
(iii) Within the limits of the requirements that are mandatory, the faculty are encouraged to make operations flexible and responsive to local conditions, subject to the guidelines.
(iv) Prior planning at the beginning of the semester is done. Further detailed reports received from the faculty (every month) are scrutinized for deviations from the plans.
Thus, the PS Division becomes the central node in a large distributed network. The success of such monitoring depends on the explicitness and regularity at which information can be sought, the existence of unambiguous criteria (to decide between what is 'acceptable' operation and what is not), and the speed of processing information and feedback generation.
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Benefits to the students
Benefits to the Industry
Benefits to the Institute