Dr Manivannan Kaliyappan

With more than 34 years of experience as teacher, Dr K Manivannan now serving as the Director-Industry & Academia Relations, VMRF- Deemed University, Chennai & Puducherry campus under the MHRD, Government of India. This long experience in academia has given me an immense understanding of the teaching learning process. Meeting brilliant students, erudite teachers and proficient industry professionals taught him to understand the needs of the industry, to contribute to bridge the gap and learn from the academically challenging environment. In addition to his academics, he has been very actively contributing his knowledge and time to professional bodies by serving in different leadership positions. Dr K Manivannan was elected to the Executive Committee member of International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) twice at Seoul (2016) and Albuquerque, New Mexico (2018). Subsequently, he was appointed as the Vice-President (Industry & academia Relations) IFEES (www.ifees,net) and continue his service till 2020. He is elected twice as Secretary/ Treasurer, Global Engineering Dean’s Council (GEDC) (www.gedcouncil.org) & Chair - Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC), India chapter. It is my privilege and pleasure to state that I made the presence of both IFEES and GEDC in India by organizing WEEF 2019 for the first time in India as Co-chair. My participation as member of Indian delegation in the World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) and Global Engineering Dean’s council (GEDC) at Singapore (2010), Beijing (2011), Argentina (2012), Dubai (2014), Florence (2015), Seoul (2016), Kuala Lumpur (2017), Albuquerque (2018) and Chennai (2019) gave me a great opportunity to interact with various Stakeholders in Engineering Education globally. I am happy to mention that, as a panel member, my presentation ‘Cultivation of Practical Ability of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education’ at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Asian engineering