KL Deemed University, HCL GUVI partner to set up agentic AI campus

K L Deemed to be University has partnered with HCL Group’s HCL GUVI AI Labs to set up the nation’s first agentic AI campus. The event kicked off with the signing of an agreement at the university’s Vaddeswaram campus for the AI campus initiative, followed by student interactions and academic-industry deliberations.

The ceremony was attended by the HCL Group delegation, including Deepak Saravanan, the AVP and national head of AI Lab; Sandeep, the regional head; and Sumita, operations head, along with G Pardha Saradhi Varma, the vice chancellor, KL Deemed University, other university officials, and distinguished guests.

The partnership introduces a student-centric programme designed to equip learners with the knowledge and practical skills across disciplines to understand, develop and deploy next-generation AI and agentic AI systems.

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AI integration into degree courses

According to media reports, the partnership will bring artificial intelligence (AI) integration into degree programmes, curricula, laboratories, projects and learning activities. Learners will gain exposure to AI-ML, generative AI, large language models and other technologies, allowing them to apply AI within their disciplines.

Notably, the focus will be on transforming students from ‘users of AI tools’ into creators of ‘autonomous and semi-autonomous AI agents’. Students will learn how to build smart systems that can understand objectives, work through complex problems, plan out multistep actions, tap into company data, connect with databases and applications, use outside tools and APIs, and execute context-aware workflows.

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While talking about the collaboration, Er Koneru Satyanarayana, the chancellor at the KL Deemed University, said that AI is transforming how industries operate and, through the partnership, the university aims to equip students across disciplines to progress from using AI tools and create useful products for real-world problems.

Srinath, the dean of student skilling and progression, said that students will gain hands-on exposure to prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, multimodal applications, intelligent chatbots, AI copilots, enterprise assistants, workflow automation and AI-enabled decision-support systems.

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K L Deemed University: Project-based learning

Additionally, the programme will improve learners’ software-engineering capabilities in programming, full-stack development, cloud computing, databases, DevOps, cybersecurity and application deployment. The project-based learning will encourage students to develop functional AI solutions for challenges in healthcare, education, agriculture, manufacturing, finance, retail, cybersecurity, smart cities, human resources, supply chains and enterprise automation.

Hackathons, innovation challenges, research projects, and product competitions will strengthen students' practical learning, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. The initiative will further prepare learners for careers such as AI engineer, agentic AI developer, generative AI engineer, LLM application developer, and other roles.