Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Sep 17, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Sep 17, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Education Visveswariah Tech varsity signs pact with Microsoft Our Bureau
BANGALORE, Sept. 16 THE Visveswariah Technological University (VTU) today announced a MoU with Microsoft under its academic developer program. VTU becomes the first university in the country to sign such an agreement. Microsoft will provide software and training on .Net development tools and technologies for both the faculty and the students, besides research assistance. The VTU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Balaveera Reddy, said that the MoU was part of the attempt to bring academia close to the industry and make the latest technologies available to students and researchers. VTU, which came into being in 1998, has launched new initiatives to make technical education more relevant to industry needs. VTU, which has 110 engineering colleges in its fold in Karnataka, plans to constantly revise its syllabus to keep pace with the changing technology. "A revision is needed every semester," Prof Reddy said, and added "VTU is aiming for that kind of flexibility." The next batch of students will follow a revised syllabus, which is being drafted jointly by representatives from the industry, professors from IISc and IITs. Reacting to the Central Government's plan to create 16,000 km highway across the Golden Quadrilateral joining the four metros, VTU plans to introduce highway technology as part of the curriculum. "It is a Rs 60-crore project and you can imagine the number of engineers it would require," Prof Reddy said. VTU is gearing up to provide at least a part of that. The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has sanctioned the setting up of an Entrepreneur Development Cell within the university, and each of the 110 colleges has entrepreneurship awareness programs. VTU has also identified 50 research centres in the100 colleges, where professionals from outside as well as teachers guide researchers. Over a 100 students have already registered for research. Dr Reddy said that 3,000-4,000 engineering seats usually went vacant every year. This year, competition from Kerala, where 30 new colleges have been set up may see the number of vacant seats go up. For the fledgling biotechnology courses, VTU is talking to AICTE to set up regional labs. Colleges can use it for their students, while PG students of the university will use the same facility for research. Besides Microsoft, the university has tie-ups with other large corporates such as IBM, United Telecom, and Intel.
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