Digital University Kerala Act comes into effect; Governor approves: Report

NEW DELHI: The Digital University Kerala Act has come into effect with governor Arif Mohammed Khan giving approval to Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology Bill, 2021, as per The Indian Express report. The bill was unanimously approved by the assembly last month.

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The bill aims to set up and incorporate a research and teaching university, non-affiliating, to promote studies, research and incubation in digital technologies and the domains of its applications, the report said.

With the bill being passed and coming into effect, the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) has been successfully converted into Digital University Kerala, the report said.

In January 2018, the governor had unraveled the government’s plan to upgrade IITM to DUK in order to facilitate studies in latest technologies, as per the report.

Two year later, in January 2020, the Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology was announced while in February 2021, the government inaugurated the university on the technocity campus owing to the increasing demand of skilled students, as per the report.

DUK offers post graduate on-campus courses in "cutting-edge areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Ecological Informatics, Geospatial Analytics, etc that caters to the demands of Industry 4.0.

The AICTE-approved Masters programmes offered by the university are MTech in Computer Science and Engineering with specialisations in Connected Systems and Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber Security Engineering.

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The on campus innovation centres, Kerala Blockchain Academy and ThingQbator, help students to work in real-life projects and are equipped with facilities like maker village, the largest hardware incubator in the country.

The university also offers paid internship opportunities for its top performing students of 3rd semester and onwards in real-life projects undertaken by the university.