An innovation industry council will be set up by APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) to link engineering education with industry and to diversify it.
The council will be headed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director (VSSC) S. Somanath and will comprise technical experts and prominent people from the industry.
The Syndicate, presided over by Vice Chancellor M.S. Rajasree, decided to set up the council and appeal to the government to amend the university Act to confer statutory powers of university academic and research councils to the industry council too.
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Focus on jobs
The primary objective of the council is to analyse the State’s engineering curriculum and learning processes and bring about changes, thereby making the courses more job-oriented.
The council will give directions on internships that equip engineering students with skills and expertise to land jobs in related sectors as soon as they graduate and steps to make more subjects part of the curriculum.
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It will also intervene to formulate job-oriented courses that will help develop a society with a scientific bent of mind; examine any lacunae in the current courses and to make them up to date; ensure opportunities for training students in areas such as skill development, start-ups, and entrepreneurship; set up labs in colleges with industry support; and make available to students the skills and expertise of prominent names in the industrial sector.
Probe valuation flaws
The Syndicate entrusted a two-member committee, comprising Pro Vice Chancellor S. Ayoob and examination subcommittee convener C. Satheesh Kumar, with an inquiry into complaints related to valuation of Structural Analysis paper of seventh-semester BTech Civil Engineering and submit a report.
The Syndicate’s academic subcommittee was asked to look into the Comptroller and Auditor General report on teacher promotion in affiliated colleges against the backdrop of the All India Council for Technical Education regulations and submit a report.