By mid-2022, the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) will have an autonomous vehicle on its campus. Yes, it is one that runs without a driver.
Suzuki Corporation of Japan has decided to establish its Innovation Centre on the premises of IIT-H. This will be the first such centre outside Japan.
Disclosing the details at a press conference held at the institute on Tuesday, IIT-H director B.S. Murty said several industries are showing interest to set up their research centres on their campus, and such developments could benefit both the industry as well as the students. He said the institute will be coming up with a policy in a month that aims to support innovations.
The institute is focusing on improving the industry-academia relationship with a stress on preparing industry-ready graduates and post graduates. A research park and innovations park coming up on about 1.5 lakh square feet each will a boost for startups and innovations, he added.
It will also make arrangements to train the rural youth from select villages in skill development. The IITH is also considering taking diploma students and offering them courses with a duration of one/ two and three years and they will be offered certificate, advanced certificate and under graduation respectively.
The institute director said they have adopted engineering colleges, and agreements were signed with BVRIT, GITAM and Malla Reddy Engineering College.
Mr. Murty said Sanskrit language is being taught to interested students so that they can extract science from the Sanskrit slokas and recalled how they were able to develop some nano-material based on Sanskrit scriptures with the help of a language expert. About 100 students are learning the language.
Answering a question, he said that they have already been implementing the suggestions made in the National Education Policy and as part of that, inter-disciplinary Ph.Ds are being offered.
Referring to the second phase of construction at IIT-H, Mr. Murty said it would be completed by 2023 and by then, the student strength will be about 5,000 while that of faculty will be around 500. The institute is also making efforts to attract bright foreign students by offering them a monthly scholarship of ₹60,000 per month in addition to offering an amount of ₹1 lakh to procure material for research.
IIT-H dean C. Krishna Mohan (Public and Corporate Relations) was also present.
