Narayana Murthy's criticism is a thought-provoking observation

Intertwining the computer science-related courses into core engineering, teaching AR/VR and technology to Arts-students, signing MoUs but not for the sake of MoUs and bringing industry-skills further upstream - these are just some of the new pages of a new higher-education course being taken in India. Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr. KNS Acharya, GITAM, Bengaluru Campus tells more as he addresses some key doubts in this classroom.

- Pratima H

You have inked interesting MoUs recently can you share 'why' and 'the roadmap' for the ones with Indian Navy, CSIR-IICT, NIO and also with foreign universities?

Our objective of signing these MoUs is for a win-win proposition and not MoU for the sake of MoU. The MoU with the Indian Navy aims to provide engineering students with opportunities for internships and projects in core engineering sectors, fostering an industry-oriented environment. Visakhapatnam-being one of the hubs of the Indian Navy-this initiative helps in national development and skill-building. As to CSIR-IICT, it is known for its expertise in synthetic organic chemistry, natural products chemistry, lipid science and technology, polymers and functional materials, agro-chemicals, analytical and structural chemistry, among other areas. It is one of the oldest national laboratories under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Our collaboration with this prestigious institute aims to organize invited lectures in core areas of mutual interest, submit project proposals for funding, and enable student visits for internships, training, and research exposure in accordance with the guidelines of host institutions.

On the foreign side, recently we have signed an MoU with Coventry University (UK) to foster research collaborations in the areas of mobility technologies, agroecology, biosensors and arts & humanities. The faculty and researchers have identified specific problems to work on with joint funding by respective universities thus enabling faculty collaboration, research-student exchange, cultural exchange and more.