Legacy of the Sode Group of Educational Institutions

Shri Sode Vadiraja Mutt, one of the eight mutts of the temple town Udupi, has its footsteps in the academic sector since the pre-independence days of India. The pontiffs of Shri Sode Mutt envisioned providing modern education to all sections of society, irrespective of caste, creed, or community, with a strong commitment towards rural and economically backward students.

In pursuit of this vision, as early as 1943, His Holiness Vishwendra Theertha Swamiji established a residential school (Sanivasa Shale) at Innanje, a small village near Shankarpura, Udupi. This pioneering initiative aimed to provide quality education to financially backward students from rural parts of the country, at a time when residential education in such remote areas was almost unheard of.

The legacy was further strengthened by His Holiness Vishwothama Theertha Swamiji, who instituted a Pre-University College and English medium schools at Innanje, thereby expanding educational opportunities at the pre-university and school levels.

His Holiness Vishwavallabha Theertha Swamiji, the present pontiff of Shri Sode Vadiraja Mutt, continued the sincere efforts of his Guruji in transforming this vision into reality. In 2009, he constituted the Shri Sode Vadiraja Mutt Education Trust (SSVMET) to address the growing need for affordable and quality professional education in the region.

Under the aegis of SSVMET, Shri Madhwa Vadiraja Institute of Technology and Management (SMVITM) was established in 2010 at Vishwothama Nagar, Bantakal, Udupi. Initiated with an intake of only 60 students across four engineering disciplines, SMVITM has grown into a premier institution offering undergraduate programs in five engineering branches with a total intake of 480 students - Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE), Artificial Intelligence & Data Science (AIDS), Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AIML), and Mechanical Engineering.

The institute also offers a postgraduate MBA program with an intake of 120 students, providing dual specializations in Business Analytics, Finance, Human Resources, and Marketing, catering to the evolving demands of industry and management education.

Upholding its commitment to inclusive education, SMVITM disburses more than ₹3 crore worth of scholarships every year to meritorious and economically backward students, ensuring equal access to quality education.

Responding to the healthcare education needs of the rural belt, the institution has recently established the Niraamaya College of Nursing and the Niraamaya College of Allied Health Sciences on the same campus, offering programs in Medical Laboratory Technology, Medical Imaging Technology, and Operation Theatre Technology.

What sets us apart:

At SMVITM, performance speaks louder than promotion. We focus on grooming and empowering engineers and management students who not only meet industry demands but also lead with integrity and purpose.
SMVITM believes the essence of imparting great education is to create a hunger for knowledge in the students and to make them not only to improve their intellect in the subject domain, but also to accomplish total personality development. The institute strives to provide students a holistic education that encourages them to apply their minds and think ‘out of the box’ to get solutions to real timetechnological problems. As today’s industry requires well qualified and industry- ready human resources to meet the challengers of global competitiveness, thebudding engineers are trained here to remain competitive, up-dated & at the cutting edge always.As today, a teacher is considered not as a sage on the stage, but as a guide standing by the side, the faculty here put all efforts to identify, bring out, nurture and promote hidden talents of students.
Our Motto is “Engineering your Career and Character with Care”: We believe that a strong and honest character is equally important as having a successful career. Career may change, but an unshakeable character is a necessity for a life of contentment. Career building of students takes place here through: Knowledge Sharing, Skill Enhancement, Promoting Innovative mindset, Inculcating Curiosity-Creativity & Imagination, Guiding Entrepreneurship and Rigorous Training & Mentorship Character building is taken care through: monitoring Self-Discipline, facilitating Leadership qualities, driving Social Responsibility & Community Service, encouraging Folk-arts & Cultural Heritage of the region, creating Environment Consciousness and spreading Spiritual Essence.

Roadmap Ahead

The institute fully realizes the true import of the dictum: ‘Excellence is not a destination but a journey’. Accordingly, the road map ahead for SMVITM for the next 3 to 5 years is, as follows:

• To promote creative power & innovative ideas of the students and to give them suitable infrastructure for nurturing their curiosity, imagination and hidden technical/cultural talents, developing state-of-the-art “Student Activity Centre” and “Inter-disciplinary Technical Hobby Club” is planned.
• A novel, ‘Centre for Product Development (CPD)’ with the support from external Technology Partners is envisioned to facilitate SMVITM to move towards developing simple, yet unique & innovative products using the latest technologies.
• To explore introduction of ‘Internationalization’ towards improving national/international visibility and accelerated, multi-dimensional growth.
• Planned to possess/enhance necessary infrastructure & modern lab. facilities/equipment/machinery for quality ‘Research’ works and attractive ‘Testing & Consultancy’ undertakings and also to bag external research grants/funding from private/public agencies.
• To introduce new ‘Postgraduate (MTech) programs” in emerging areas having market demand such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Internet of Things, Renewable Energy Systems, Climate Informatics and the like, thereby strengthening advanced academic offerings and boosting focused research activities across interdisciplinary domains.
• To establish a few “Centres of Excellence” in Emerging Technologies in collaboration with premier Industrial/R&D organizations, with a special focus on creating a dedicated Centre for mapping ancient knowledge systems with modern technological advancements, fostering interdisciplinary research, innovation, consultancy and global collaboration rooted in India's intellectual heritage.
• To formulate and execute comprehensive “Faculty and Student Welfare Policies”, including sabbaticals, mentoring programs, mental wellness support, inclusive campus infrastructure, and professional counselling services.
• To develop and execute a comprehensive strategy to significantly improve the institute’s visibility in NIRF, ARIIA, NAAC, NBA, and other such national ranking frameworks as well as in international rankings like THE or QS.
• To tap the leading companies & R&D organizations for periodical Faculty Development Training in the cutting-edge technologies, courseware redesign, and live projects on campus to bridge the workplace-campus gap – Finishing School concept to be introduced through contributing companies and distinguished alumni support.
• To focus on extended services and societal engagement through local community development projects.
• Institute-Industry Interface to be promoted through membership of recognised Industrial Associations / Professional Societies of national/international repute, regular guest lectures/workshops, visiting chairs/professorships, industry visits and industry-institute interactive meets.
• To woo the support from performing/well-settled/benevolent alumni in all developmental projects and growth plans of the institute as well as for increasing attractive merit-cum-means scholarships to the needy, deserving students.
• To enhance state-of-the-art teaching pedagogy and level of modern education – featuring AI-powered smart boards, interactive content delivery, real-time lecture capture, and personalized learning analytics to enable immersive and outcome-based education.
• To provide Professional Counselling/Training towards Competitive Exams / Higher Studies Abroad.
• To arrange Hands-on exposure workshops / Experiential learning sessions aggressively, with workshop-based courses & skill development trainings.
• To set benchmarks against reputed institutes or universities around/abroad, to draw/implement some of their best practices for enhanced visibility, sustainable market standing and higher ranking of SMVITM!