BENGALURU: Even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah emphasised in his state budget 2026–27 on decentralising growth in technology, innovation and expansion of education and industries ‘Beyond Bengaluru’, the Expert Committee on Reforms in Technical Education, in its report Karnataka Engineering Education Transformation, has recommended that the government in coordination with the higher education department develop 15 ‘Hub and Spoke’ models in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.
These should be built majorly to help students and faculty members develop job-ready skills in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and other core skills required in the industry.
The committee, headed by Prof Sadagopan – former director of IIIT Bengaluru – was formed by the higher education department recently to conduct a detailed study on the engineering education system. In its report, the experts comprising professors from IISc, IIIT, VTU and others recommend developing these models in three phases including the first phase in FY2027-28, second in 2029–32 and the final one in 2033–2036.
To make the job easy for the department, the committee has listed few institutions in Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Belagavi where these hubs can be set up. Dr KG Chandrashekara, Executive Director, Karnataka Higher Education Council, told TNIE, “In Tier 1 cities, five hubs shall be established in the initial phase to initiate CORE+AI Curriculum, advanced labs, faculty training.
For instance, we have listed institutions like IISc, IIT Dharwad, National Institute of Technology Surathkal, RV College of Engineering, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, National Institute of Engineering in Mysuru and IIITs. Once the Centre of Excellence-like labs are established in these institutions, surrounding colleges will make use of these facilities. These institutions will serve as hub and colleges that use the facilities will serve as spoke.”
He added, “In Tier 2 cities, the department shall establish more than 10 regional hubs in the next phase so that there is rotation in learning for colleges moving from one lab to another – rotation in the lab weeks. In tier 3 cities, there will be more than 150 spoke colleges affiliated to Visvesaraya Technological University (VTU) that will adopt the reformed curriculum and start operating as hub labs.
This way, the hub labs grow across the state and network with each other via cloud-based virtual labs. They can also run recorded masterclass and four to six weeks of intensive on-site modules to train students across various engineering streams including computer science and related courses, civil, mechanical, automobile, aerospace engineering and others.”