Three engineering colleges in Karnataka to set up CoEs

These colleges will get a one-time financial grant of Rs 5 crore and this will enable them to carry out multi-disciplinary research in specific thematic areas

The Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has selected three engineering colleges from Karnataka for establishment of Centres of Excellence. These colleges would get a one-time financial grant of Rs 5 crore. MHRD and Karnataka government would share the financial grant in the ratio of 75 : 25.

R V College of Engineering, PES Institute of Technology and Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur, are the three engineering colleges selected for setting up centres of excellence, minister for higher education RV Deshpande said.

“The MHRD had invited applications for establishment of 30 centres of excellence across the country. In the first cycle of selection, they have approved 16 institutions, including six National Institutes of Technology and 10 engineering colleges. Three colleges from Karnataka have been included in the first phase,” he said.

This will enable these colleges to carry out multi-disciplinary research in specific thematic areas. The main strategy of this component is to bring collaborative activity between faculty from several departments for a common research programme.

With the sanction of the centres of excellence, it is expected to increase collaboration with national and international academic and research institutions to improve the quality of R&D, further tap into global pools of knowledge and create a critical mass with potential for global research and development, he said.

As a first installment, the state government is releasing Rs 2 crore each, he said.

In addition to this, the MHRD has also selected 19 technical institutions in Karnataka under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP, Phase-2) for strengthening institutions to improve learning outcomes and employability of graduates as well as to scale up PG education and demand-driven research and development.

The total project cost for Karnataka over the next four years is Rs 177 crore. The government-owned and government-aided colleges will get Rs 12.5 crore, while private colleges will get Rs 4 crore under this programme. This amount will be shared by the central and state governments in the ratio of 75:25 per cent respectively. As on date, the Centre has released Rs 26.50 crore and the state government another Rs 7.41 crore.

There are eight private colleges and 11 are government-owned and government-aided.

TEQIP was envisaged in 2003 as a long-term programme to be implemented in three phases for transformation of the technical education system with World Bank assistance. The goal is to improve quality of technical education and enhance existing capacities of the institutions to become dynamic, demand-driven, quality conscious, efficient and forward looking responsive to rapid economic and technological developments.

The project will also support universities affiliating project institutions for their innovations to improve policy, academic and management practices.