SOLD THE IIT DREAM

In 2022, Karnataka CM announced that some of the state's engineering colleges would be upgraded into institutions "on par with" the IITs. One year on, that project has seen little progress.

- Atul Krishna

By the time Darshit L, now a second-year engineering student at University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), was into his first year of college, it had already been announced that the institution would be upgraded into a university “on par with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)”.

The 20-year-old son of a construction worker was elated. Here was his chance to study at an institution like the premier IITs but more aˆordable. But that dream quickly soured.

“When the initial announcement was made we were very happy because we will be studying in an IIT-like institution with similar infrastructure. But at that time we were not aware of the internal stuˆ. Now, we are finding out,” said Darshit. First, in March UVCE was disa’liated from Bangalore University and left stranded without adequate funding by the state government. Guest teachers and non-teaching staˆ did not know where their next salaries were coming from. With no possibility of additional funding in sight, students and teachers took to the streets to protest in March. On April 6, according to teachers, the Karnataka higher education department asked UVCE to “maintain status quo” with regard to its a’liation to Bangalore University for one more year, postponing the funding problem by a year.

However, other institutions still await clarity. The 2022 Karnataka budget proposed converting another seven existing colleges into “Karnataka Institutes of Technology” (KITs), following an “IIT-model”. A year on, these colleges are yet to see any progress on that front.

With elections approaching, teachers and students of these institutions are concerned about their fate.

Disaffiliation, chaos