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Bengaluru: The higher education department has constituted a committee headed by former director of IIIT-B, S Sadagopan, to address issues in technical education, including number of engineering seats going vacant.
The committee has been tasked with submitting recommendations to bring about reforms in higher education.
Others in the committee are Jagadish, S Gopalakrishna and Y Narahari, professors of Indian Institute of Science, Shyam S Rao, chief technical officer of Carborundum Limited, S Vidyashankar, vice chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), director of University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), administrator of Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), deputy secretary of higher education department and executive director of state higher education council.
The government has directed the committee to conduct a study and review the intake of computer science and related courses, revise curriculum of basic engineering courses as per current industrial and employment requirements, suggest measures to attract students to basic engineering courses and submit a report within a month.
During the admission process for undergraduate engineering courses through KEA for 2025-26, more than 9,000 seats in computer science and related disciplines had remained unallocated.
The committee will also look into the problem of unemployment among engineering graduates.
“Earlier, engineering colleges under the state’s higher education department were renowned at the national and international levels for providing high quality technical education. However, according to recent media reports, only 17% of the students who graduate in engineering from the state are getting jobs,” reads the government order.
“The minister for higher education has indicated that it is essential to comprehensively review the steps to be taken to revitalize core engineering courses like mechanical, civil and electrical to make them employable and attractive,” it said.