Page 2 - Institutional Distinctiveness

With a view to attaining this objective, VIT, in addition to the research activities pursued at Master’s

and PhD levels, has incorporated research components at undergraduate levels (immediately after the
plus-two levels). Not only that the undergraduate students are expected to devote at least one full

semester (preferably the last semester) exclusively for project, involving original research to be
pursued either in VIT or in another institute par excellence, they are also encouraged to carry out

research with a faculty member on a particular research topic. This association has led to publishing
the results in journals of repute. Hundreds of UG students have successfully completed such studies

in collaboration with the faculty members; the number is phenomenally increasing year by year; 664

publications were evolved out of these collaborations in 2018. Further, the UG students are
encouraged to choose courses (URE001 and URE002) on “Undergraduate Research Experience”,

so that they are exposed to various disciplines of research and innovation; this could inspire them to

opt research as their career. VIT has also a unique system of conducting research seminar (exclusively
a student – centered programme) in every semester (referred to as SET Conference; Science,

Engineering &Technology Conference). This student-driven Conference, the largest (and probably
the only one) of its kind in India, wherein research papers are being presented under the supervision

of faculty members, acts as a major impetus for the students to get exposed to the intricacies and the
beauty of research. In the previous year 2018-19, a total of 3609 papers were presented on floor

exclusively by the students – a sizeable increase from 2014-15 (when 2657 papers were presented).

Another unique feature of the system is the inclusion of a module in the curriculum referred to as the
th
“8 module” which ensures each and every course has an industrial component. Mandatorily, the