State govt to set up Centre for Excellence in Aerospace soon

The State government, based on the recommendations of the Defense Ministry, is in the process of setting up a Centre for Excellence in Aerospace by entering into an agreement with private companies in the aerospace sector.

Addressing the media in Bengaluru on Monday, Higher Education Minister T B Jayachandra said that the aerospace industry was facing a dearth of trained/skilled personnel, even in a City like Bengaluru, which is the hub of aerospace activities.

As many as three Karnataka-based aerospace companies had come forward to set up the Centre, and have also offered to train students after the completion of the course. The minister said that while three meetings have been held so far, some major decisions will be taken during the Higher Education Council meeting to be held on December 28.

He said that it was an irony that very few state-run engineering varsities offered aerospace engineering courses, as a result of which there was a huge shortage of  high quality engineering manpower trained in the basics of the realm.

The objective behind the Centre of Excellence was to cater to the needs of the sector, for which the State government had also set aside 1,000 acres of land (aerospace cluster) on the outskirts of Bengaluru. 

“We need to cater to the requirements of the industry by providing it with skilled personnel. A memorandum of understanding will be signed with these companies, who will be investing in setting up the Centre and also train the students. This Centre will have to be brought under the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU),” he added.

According to officials in the Higher Education Council, only two colleges under VTU were offering courses in aerospace engineering.

Jindal School of Economics

The minister said that he had re-started dialogue with the Jindal Group to explore the possibilities of reviving the proposal of setting up the Sitaram Jindal School of Economics.

The proposal to set up institution in Bangalore University was met with strong opposition, following which the Group had backed out and withdrawn its proposal. “I have started dialogue with them - we want to bring them back,” he added.