CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE: M. S. Ananth, Director of IIT Madras (right), explains the features of the proposed centre of excellence in engineering design to R. Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland and Albert Hieronimus, official of Bosch India, i n Chennai on Monday. — PHOTO: Shaju John

CHENNAI: The IIT Madras will establish a centre of excellence in engineering design with a science-meets-aesthetics curriculum that is expected to fulfil the spiralling needs of the automotive industry.

The Ashok Leyland and Bosch Centre of Excellence in Engineering Design will house the IIT's relatively new department of engineering design which offers a dual degree programme in engineering design — B.Tech in Engineering Design and M. Tech with specialisation in Automotive Engineering.

With a strong emphasis on modern practices of design, the programme is said to be the first of its kind in the country. The department plans to offer M.S. and Ph. D programmes from January 2007.

The MoU on establishing the centre was on Monday signed by R. Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland; Albert Hieronimus, managing director of Bosch India's flagship Motor Industries Company and M. S. Ananth, IIT Director.

The centre, expected to be ready in ten months, aims to develop engineers with a multidisciplinary background as well as an aesthetic approach to design development. The Stella Maris faculty is providing exposure to aesthetic principles.

With an annual intake of 30 students from the joint entrance test at the undergraduate level, the engineering design programme aims to provide well-honed placements in the automotive industry, which is clocking a growth rate of 15 per cent annually.

Hands-on component

The 55,000 sq ft centre will be equipped with facilities for teaching and research, ranging from graphic art studio and computer-aided engineering centre to laboratories for product design, ergonomics and vehicle dynamics.

An important factor that will enrich education at the centre is the hands-on component in the curriculum. While four laboratories have already been established, six more are in the pipeline. Prof. Ananth said the "right brain-left brain" balance in the curriculum, or the integration of science with creativity, was finalised in the IIT's best traditions of close interaction with industry and engaging a consultative process. The engineering design curriculum was given shape through discussions with a cross section of industry, he said.

Mr. Seshasayee said the centre of excellence would produce the critical mass of design developers to put the nation on the fast track of growth.

Progress is not possible through an emphasis on low cost manufacturing and without significant inputs in design and development.

Ashok Leyland and Bosch have each invested Rs. 4 crore for the centre in what they believe will evolve into a world-class design facility in automative engineering. "We look at it as a win-win situation," said Mr. Hieronimus. India's automobile industry is set to triple its volumes in ten years, while the ancillary business is estimated to jump from around $10 billion to $40 billion in the same period.

Bosch, Mr. Hieronimus said, regarded the money it was putting in as an investment, an investment that would become a sound one when the talent pool of young engineers turns out a million dollar idea or two.

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