The Hindu : Karnataka News : Khincha agrees that varsities must have many disciplines

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Karnataka

Khincha agrees that varsities must have many disciplines

Staff Correspondent

The Vice-Chancellor, however, says VTU cannot diversify just yet

VTU to set up regional campus in Bangalore
PG centre to come up at Muddenahalli

H.P. Khincha

TUMKUR: H.P. Khincha, Vice-Chancellor, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), has said universities must be multifaceted. Dr. Khincha told presspersons here on Wednesday that any varsity could focus on one area, but embrace all other important areas also to grow robust. He welcomed the recommendation made by the State panel on universities, headed by N.R. Shetty, and said at present, the VTU, however, would not be able to diversify into other areas, such as humanities “as its constitution does not provide for it”.

He said the VTU would set up its regional campus in Bangalore at a cost of Rs. 25 crore. Buildings worth over Rs. 17 crore would come up on the 15-acre plot behind the Amdedkar Institute of Technology in Nagarbhavi, along the Outer Ring Road. Regional campuses have already been set up in Mysore and Gulbarga, he said.

“The objective is to provide teachers and students a face-to-face interaction with the varsity personnel in their own regions,” Dr. Khincha said, and added that postgraduate courses would be offered direct from VTU in all three regions.

The Bangalore region’s PG Centre would be set up at Muddenahalli, the birthplace of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. Earlier, Dr. Khincha while inaugurating the fourth “Indian-International Conference on Artificial Intelligence”, organised by the Siddaganga Institute of Technology (SIT) in Tumkur, said: “Artificial intelligence, which was highly significant in the 1980s and had lost its (significance) now, is likely to gain ground once again, at least in the field of computer science.” Artificial intelligence was overblown and had become a victim of its success, he said. The three-day conference will conclude on Friday.

Sixteen foreign delegates, 11 NRI delegates and over a hundred delegates from across the country are participating in the 14 sessions being held simultaneously at different venues in the SIT campus.

As many as 150 papers on the subject were chosen from among 1,000 entries received from 40 countries, according to the conference coordinator, M.A. Jayaram.

SIT’s President Shivakumara Swamiji, Director M.N. Channabasappa, Dean Basavarajaiah and Principal Shivakumaraiah spoke at the inaugural function.

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