The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) approved Pondicherry Engineering College (PEC) as a Centre for Quality Improvement Programme (QIP), said PEC principal Prof V Prithiviraj here on Thursday.
Regular teachers of AICTE-approved degree level engineering institutions are eligible for admission to a three-year PhD programme under the QIP, he said.
A total of 10 seats, two each in civil, mechanical, electronics, communication and computer science engineering would be available under the programme, which would commence in the next academic year.
Teachers from approved institutions across the country can apply for the QIP. Admissions would be based on a written test and interview, Prof Prithviraj said.
The principal also revealed that the PEC was included in the National Knowledge Network (NKN) as per a communique received from the Department of Information Technology, Government of India. The NKN is aimed at providing powerful internet bandwidth and connectivity to various centres of excellence in the country. Many national long distance carriers have provided 1Gbps to 2.5Gbps capacity links for the Knowledge Network.
Prof Prithviraj said the PEC was set up for a speed of 1 Gbps, but initially it would be operational between 150 Mbps to 300 Mbps. He added that students can access e-journals for now but the scope of this network would widen in the near future.