Saturday, February 20, 2010
VTU’s institute to have multi-centric campus
Chickaballapur: The Belgaum-headquartered Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has decided to develop the proposed VTU Institute of Advanced Technology (VIAT) as a “multi-centric campus”.
The VIAT, conceived as the flagship research institute of the VTU, will now have four campuses — at Muddenahalli in Chickaballapur district, Gulbarga, Mysore and Belgaum.
The VTU has changed its earlier plan to have the headquarters of the VIAT at Muddenahalli and have research sub-centres at Mysore, Gulbarga and Belgaum.
VTU Vice-Chancellor H.C. Khincha told TheHindu on Thursday that the VIAT would function as a multi-centric campus. Each of the four campuses would conduct advanced research in particular fields of science and technology.
The VIAT had been designed keeping in view the technological needs of the next 20 years, he said.
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj will launch the VIAT on February 24 at Muddenahalli, the birthplace of the legendary engineer and statesman Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The foundation stone for the Muddenahalli campus, the first among the four campuses, will be laid by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on the same day.
The university plans to establish two more campuses of the VIAT, probably in Davangere and Mangalore, in the coming years, he said.
A few months earlier, after inspecting the land for the Muddenahalli campus, Prof. Khincha had told The Hindu that the VIAT would focus on research in the fields of embedded technology, software quality, agricultural engineering and bio-engineering among others, and each department would function as a “discovery-innovation centre”.
A high-level expert committee had worked out the structure and programmes of the VIAT. The VTU had initially planned to start an engineering college of its own. But, it decided to go in for an advanced research centre as the State already had several engineering colleges.
The VTU has paid Rs. 1.5 crore to the Chickaballapur district administration and acquired around 200 acres of land near Muddenahalli in the serene surroundings of the Nandi Hills for the establishment of the VIAT campus.
Courtesy: The Hindu