The board of governors of the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), the State’s first autonomous institute on the IIT model, has demanded that the State government release adequate funds for infrastructural development and recruitment process.
At a press conference on Wednesday, B. Muthuraman, chairman of the board, said, “We have sought ₹850 crore from the government over the next five years, including ₹225 crore for salaries of existing as well as yet-to-be-recruited faculty members and staff, ₹125 crore for normal maintenance and ₹500 crore for infrastructure and equipment. We have so far received ₹25 crore for infrastructure and equipment, including salaries for existing faculty. We are positively hopeful of receiving more funds from the government.”
He said, “The annual budget of the IIT Madras is around ₹1,000 crore. It is spending around ₹10 lakh per engineering student per annum. But our annual budget is very small and we are spending less than ₹1 lakh per student per annum. To develop the UVCE on the IIT model, we need around ₹600 crore to ₹700 crore per annum.”
Mr. Muthuraman said, “For 15 years, the government has not recruited any staff. As of now, among 139 sanctioned teaching faculty members, there are 73 regular faculty members and the rest are guest faculties. Among 203 sanctioned non-teaching staff, only 35 are the regular staff and the rest are outsourced.
He said they had also requested the government to provide 50 to 100 acres of land on the Jnana Bharathi campus, but the K.R.Circle campus and heritage building would remain with the institution.
Seat allotment through KEA
Meanwhile, for the next five years, the UVCE will be allocated seats through the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA). H.N. Ramesh, director (Interim) and principal of the UVCE, said, “Seat allocation for the UVCE was being done through the KEA from the beginning. Earlier, we decided to fill 75% of the engineering seats through CET, which will be conducted by the KEA, and 25% seats through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted by the National Testing Agency as all-India quota seats. However, recently we took a decision to allot 100% engineering seats through the KEA for the next five years.”
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