Prof R V Raja Kumar

Creation of the First Telecom Center of Excellence (TCoE) : Responsible for creating and initiating the first of the eight Telecom Centers of Excellence envisioned by the Dept of Telecom, Govt of India and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in the premier institutions of India. The Vodafone Essar IIT Center of Excellence (VEICET) is the first CoE in the country set up with the support of Vodafone.
Perspective Plan for the Growth of IIT Kharagpur: Entrusted with the responsibility, he prepared a perspective plan for the growth of IIT, Kharagpur. Parts of the infrastructure that was built by the institute subsequently was as per this plan.
INDEST and On-line Resource Access in the country: Worked for the initiation and served as a founding member of the Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Sciences &Technology (INDEST) consortium constituted by MHRD in the year 2000, which has now evolved phenomenally as major knowledge resource in the country to include more tthan 750 engineering institutions.
Curricular Review in 2006: Heading a committee of senior professors, reviewed and designed the undergraduate curricula (B.Tech., B.Arch, MSc and Dual degree) of IIT, Kharagpur which was implemented for the student batches from the admissions of 2007-08. Prof Kumar took up the responsibility and drafted the initial curricular design which was adopted with minor modifications made subsequently on it.
Major Expansion of Dual Degree Programmes: Conceptualized and was responsible as Dean (Ac) for the expansion of the UG academic programmes at IIT, Kharagur including expanding the Dual degree programmes from 16 to 42 covering all MTech specializations existing in the institute. These programmes include some innovative ones of high relevance.
Reforms in Undergraduate Academics: Responsible for bringing several innovative reforms in the undergraduate regulations of IIT, Kharagpur such as creating flexibility including migration from B.Tech. to Dual degree, review of scholarships and initiation of new ones, review of institute awards etc., during 2003-2006.
Making Yoga Mandatory in EAA: For the first time, during 2003-04, Yoga was made a mandatory component of EAA, a compulsory part of the BTech degree. This was done to impart Yoga training as a life skill means keeping its importance in physical and mental well-being of a student. The training was being imparted from the Technology Student Gymkhana. There has been an excellent response received for Yoga from the students.
Academic Status for GSSST and Initiation of PG Programmes: While serving as the its Chairman, due to his efforts, he was responsible for bringing academic status to the G S Sanyal School of Telecommunications by introducing PhD and MS programmes and in planning and obtaining approvals for Master’s and Diploma programmes in Telecommunication Network Planning and Management.
Conducting of CEP Courses as per a Calendar at GSSST: Responsible for initiating a set of aggressive continuing education programmes as annual feature at G S Sanyal School of Telecommunications, which have been well attended in large numbers by academia and engineers from all over India.
Other Unique Accomplishments: Responsible for numerous other unique contributions such as the following which are the first time or the first few implementations in the country -

           1. Making submission of digital copy of a PhD thesis mandatory in 1999.
           2. Creation of a dual degree with BTech in any engineering branch and MBA.
           3. Creation of courses like Entrepreneurship & Small Ventures

Select Innovative Accomplishments at IIT Kharagpur