The awards were handed over by Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman CII Education Council and Chairman Hero Enterprises to C Valliappa, Chairman, Chocko Valliappa and Thyagu Valliappa, Vice Chairmen, Sona Group of Institutions and the team of academics from Sona College of Technology and Thiagarajar Polytechnic College.

Those present at the award ceremony included Secretary Science and Technology Dr Ashutosh Sharma, President Institution of Engineers Dr TM Gunaraj and Dr BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Hyderabad.

The top awards -- AICTE-CII IndPact Award for Best Industry-Linked Institute for Chemical Engineering and AICTE-CII IndPact Award for Best Industry-Linked Institute for Computer & IT Engineering – for Sona College were awarded from a list of 714 government and self-financing and institutions that participated from across the country.

AICTE-CII IndPact Award for Best Industry-Linked Polytechnic went to a Sona Group institution -- Thiagarajar Polytechnic College, Salem in different streams. By virtue of winning the award for successive years in different streams, the institute has been elevated to the status of a Mentor Institute this year.

“Winning three coveted CII-AICTE awards for best industry linkage is a moment of pride for nearly 6,000 students, 400 academics at Sona Group of Institutions. This award’s a tribute to the strong spirit of collaboration and in-depth industry linkages that hundreds of institutions and Sona Group have forged and taken them to new heights every passing year”, says Mr C Valliappa, Chairman, Sona Group of Institutions. 

It may be recalled that Sona College of Technology’s Special Electrical and Electronics Drives Division (SPEED) supplied three products that were part of ISRO’s Chandrayan-2 moon mission in July 2019.

The three key products were fuel mixer motors that mix liquid oxygen with fuel, the Doppler mechanism for Vikram module to guide the laser to ensure smooth landing on the moon and the Sona Mechanical Research team-built Robotic arm for Vikram module for picking sand and rock samples from the moon.

The results of the eighth edition of CII’s annual survey of industry linkages of technical institutions, in partnership with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), were announced on the second day of CII Education Summit in New Delhi on November 14. Total 10 awards were given in nine categories and The Sona Group of institutions won 3 awards.

Despite a 40 per cent increase in participation from the government institutes in the survey only one Government institute had highest level of industry linkages.

Sona College of Technology and Thiagarajar Polytechnic College are part of the Sona Valliappa Group that is continuing its six decades of philanthropic activity in education.