Today scaling school of technology (SST) has been creating a lot of stir in the Indian higher education industry. It is being positioned as a new age revolutionary undergraduate college, which is soon to establish the right balance that is needed between traditional and academic learning and the demands of the industry, and it is being marketed as the new hope for technology aspirants. It is a school that is convinced that it will go beyond engineering degrees and provide the real experience in the technological realm, where provided options are packaged by Scaler, a grounded powerhouse in the domain of upskilling the common working professional and the coding enthusiast.
But, is it really what it claims to be, the game-changer? We have analyzed in greater detail the program of Scaler School of Technology, what the difference is between this and regular colleges, and whether it comes along with all the hype.
The Idea Behind Scaler School of Technology
This is the ideology of SST, whose agenda is to ventilate one of the most common dissatisfactions of the Indian students, along with the employers: the complete mismatch between what the engineering students are being taught and what is really needed in the technology industry. This is the reason why the founders of Scaler knew that such a gap existed since they had been dealing with professionals who trained after college. SST is a bottom-up effort to fix the issue by reinventing the developer, data scientist, and product leader education of the future.
Scaler, a new age tech school, treads a balance between straight out of the book academics and the Wild West of learning by, on the one hand, providing the serious exposure to the real world and coaching by industry vets to those it takes on, and on the other hand giving them hands-on tasks.
Curriculum That Promises Industry-Readiness
The most salient aspect of the school, perhaps, is the Scaler School of Technology curriculum. In contrast to only learning what is in the textbooks, the school is designed to learn what is currently being used in companies today. The curriculum is also up to date, starting with the fundamentals of computer science all the way up to machine learning, DevOps, backend systems, and even soft skills like communication and collaboration.
It is also performed in collaboration with the top engineers and recruiting managers of such big corporations as Google, Meta, and Amazon. The principles in the field of computer science and software engineering are addressed during the first two years. Students would then be able to specialise in more advanced directions like AI, blockchain, or product design. The model also seems to be based on the idea of project-based learning, according to which students are expected to create real systems instead of passing a hypothetical exam on it.
This is a big change compared to most other traditional institutions of engineering that continue to emphasize primarily academically focused theory with little programming and actual code.
Mentorship from Industry Veterans
Scaler School of Technology does not underestimate mentorship, and this is what it can do better than most universities. SST does not involve only those professors possessing an academic degree: the working professionals of leading tech companies are also recruited to advise students. One of the messages that the school itself makes is that students will receive weekly individual attention with accomplished mentors who have gone, made, and done that.
Such a degree of industry mentorship is normally not present in regular engineering courses, and students do not usually meet people who work in top companies until their final year internship. The ability to consult working engineers on a regular basis can be a humongous benefit not only in the learning process but also in seeing how the expectations of the tech workforce are currently met.
Faculty and Learning Environment
Scaler School of Technology has an instructor workforce that consists of both academic and the best engineers. The blended form of teaching will guarantee the learning of students with experienced educationists and those who are in the enterprise. The classrooms are constructed to be problem-solving types and work together. It is highly participatory in peer-to-peer tech clubs and hackathons with the active engagement of alumni of IITs, NITs, and international universities.
The environment that is experienced in terms of learning is also very practical and practice-based as compared to what it would be in a conventional university setting. This is an excellent way forward and paves the way for the student who is serious to learn by doing and not by listening and seeking a career in the tech arena.
Placement Opportunities and Career Support
The area of placements is one of the greatest worries that parents and students have, and this is where Scaler already has the advantage. The flagship product of the parent company, called Scaler Academy, currently has tie-ups with hundreds of tech companies as well, and a successful history of placing students in companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber.
It has a network in place, and with that, Scaler School of Technology can easily place its graduates in some of the best jobs. It also gives a guarantee of internship opportunities during the course of study and how to get a good professional portfolio. Provided that it goes by what it promises at the placement levels, it has the potential to compete with the best amongst the Indian private and government engineering colleges.
A Costly Affair, But Worth It?
Scaler School of Technology is not economical. It charges over 6-7 lakhs a year as tuition fees and hence straddles the high end of the education scale. Although it makes it sit in the same bracket as the likes of a BITS or Shiv Nadar, its ability to place students in high-paying and future-proof jobs will be the most important determinant of the returns on investment.
To be sure, the school provides outcome-based income share agreements (ISAs) and scholarships, and thus it is affordable to high-performing students of diverse backgrounds.
Campus and Student Life
The local campus is located in Bangalore, the capital of high technology in India, which is a good strategic decision. Some of the biggest technology companies in the world are located in the city, and students have access to internships and networking opportunities, including experience in startup culture. The campus has a high-tech infrastructure, cooperative areas, and technology labs. Although student life is at an early beginning phase, SST appears to be putting an investment in the development of a society of like-minded innovators.
Final Verdict:
Scaler School of Technology is certainly not a typical college in engineering. It is an ambitious, solidly considered project that attempts to correct all the inefficiencies of recruiting, which are associated with conventional tech education. It has a curriculum that is designed to work in the real world, its mentorship is unlike any other, and a hands-on approach to learning is overdue.
It is, however, in its infancy and lacks years of alumni support or placement history. Therefore, though it holds so much potential, those who decide to attend this school now will be students in the experimental model. True tech enthusiasts who are ready to pilot a new system are ready to become early adopters of such a system; in that case, SST might turn out to be the stepping stone to a great career in tech.
Also Read: E-Shikshakosh: Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Classrooms and Digital Education
