Karnataka’s Centres of Excellence to Boost Skill Development and Innovation

To shape higher education in line with current market needs, the government of Karnataka has decided to set up Centres of Excellence at a cost of about ₹2,500 crore in seven to eight places in the State. These government centers come on the heels of CEs being set up in various private and government colleges by companies such as Bajaj and Toyota and focusing on skill development.

The State Cabinet has approved a World Bank loan for this project, and the government has submitted a detailed project report to the bank. A World Bank team visited the state on January 17, 2025 and discussed with the officials in this regard. The centers are related to engineering, polytechnic and humanities courses like arts, science and commerce with an aim to provide effective skills to the students.

A meeting was held with experts prof. S. Shadagopan, Madan Padke, staff of Microsoft and others top most multi national companies (NMCs) headed by Dr. M. C. Sudhakar, Minister for Higher Education. And, the government has constituted an expert committee headed by the Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department to study the feasibility of the project and submit a report.

“A World Bank team visited the state and inspected it and held detailed discussions on the project. The loan provided by the World Bank needs the approval of the Union government, which is expected to be come soon. Then, the CEs will be established in a phased manned over a period of four years. Of the total ₹2,500 crore, the State government will provide about ₹750 crore. The remaining amount will be in the form of a loan,” said Minister Sudhakar.

Why these centers

In Karnataka, with close to 250 colleges, 44 universities and 25,000 start-ups, every year about 45 to 50 thousand students complete their engineering degrees and enter the job market. In addition, every year, lakhs of graduates of Bachelor of Science (B.Sc), Arts, Commerce and other humanities courses graduate. How skilled and employable they are is a big question, say experts.

Engineering branches like Civil, Mechanical and others are becoming less attractive to students for these reasons. Many institutions are closing down these courses. The government’s aim is to make these courses more relevant and attractive to students by beefing up the skilling component and boosting employability.

“Skill development will be given high priority. The centers will be established to benefit polytechnic, engineering and humanities students. The curriculum will be implemented on the basis of skill development to be applicable to all students across the state. A credit system will be introduced. Instead of implementing skill development in the internship model, it will be implemented as part of the curriculum from the first semester itself as per the needs of the industries,” the minister said.

“Skill training will be made a part of the semesters. Free hostel facility will also be provided to the students in these centers. Start-ups can use students for their programs,” he explained.

Further, he stated that all courses, including technical and non-technical, will be made more attractive by focusing on skilling. Entrepreneurship, critical thinking, proficiency in English, critical thinking, analysis etc., are some of other courses that will be taught. “In these centers, 60% of space will be used by the government. The remaining 20% will be allocated to private firms and the remaining 20% for start-ups. Industries and start-ups can install their technology and machinery here. This will facilitate students to get real-time training,” Sudhakar said.

Centers of excellence in engineering colleges

Meanwhile, many private engineering colleges in the state have started CEs in collaboration with private companies. Bajaj is supporting a CE for Mechanical and Electronics Engineering at PES Institute Technology (PESIT), Bengaluru. A CE in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Business Solutions has been established in RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru.

There are 17 engineering colleges in the state and Toyota has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a CEs for Automobile branch in 11 colleges. Six have already come up including in the Government Engineering College in Ramanagara, related to Innova Diesel and Electric hybrid engine. Other projects are in progress.

Prof. Nagarjuna Sadineni, Pro-Vice Chancellor of PESIT and Director of the Bajaj-supported CE, said, “In India, there is so much demand for engineers but not many are fully trained. As a part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), we established a CE at PESIT. With the aim of providing practical knowledge to the candidates, we created 13 labs and one classroom in the center. In the first batch we trained a total of 60 candidates, for which students are selected from tier 3 cities. We offered six months residential programme to them. We invested more than ₹25 crore for the equipment in this CE. These are actual equipment used in industries like automobile and aerospace and others, spanning the range from basic electronics and basic mechanical to advanced robotics and process control equipment. In six months, the students completely changed their profile after skilling and got jobs. All these candidates got deep manufacturing related jobs.”

Responding to this, Minister Sudhakar said, “An expert committee has been constituted to establish CEs related to other branches of engineering including Civil, Mechanical, AI, Robotics and others.”

Discussion on center of production

In the meeting with industrial experts headed by Minister Sudhakar, some suggested starting Centers of Production instead of CEs to boost employability. The students study and only see the equipment in CEs. But they cannot use it to gain practical knowledge. CPs can offer that.

Speaking to The Hindu, Prasanna. H., Director of Department of Technical Education, recalled an earlier experience with service centers at the Government Sri Krishnarajendra Silver Jubilee Technological Institute (SKSJT) where government vehicles were serviced. Full-fledged garages were run. Also, Printing Technology Engineering students used to be engaged in printing of government work there. “If students are given the opportunity to do things practically, it would be possible to create industrial-ready human resources,” he said.

Responding to this, Minister Sudhakar said, “The government’s objective is to provide practical knowledge to the students in the CEs. Therefore, experts will study and submit a report on how practical skills can be imparted to the students in the CEs. The government will take further action based on the report.”