How we see Punjab developing in the coming years!!

Punjabis have brought laurels to the country with excellence in every field. Be it agriculture, manufacturing, business, media, politics, banking or any other field, they have done India proud by succeeding in every field, whether in India or abroad. Now we want to take our achievements even further by creating excellence in technical education and giving our bright, young minds an opportunity to study from the best and get an all round personality development. The Technical Education Summit, 2014, going to be held on the 8^th February, 2014 at Mohali Sports Stadium shall elaborate on these issues, where Sh. Parkash Singh Badal ji, Hon’ble Chief Minister Punjab; Sh. Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for Technical Education, Punjab; Sh. Sunil Kant Munjal, Joint Managing Director of Hero MotoCorp among many others will be present to address the students on the steps taken by Punjab government to create a brighter future for our youth.

Punjab Technical University, with its 108 engineering colleges and more than 400,000 regular and distance education students, has provided technical education to a vast number of students. PTU has performed a new feat in the past year by completely revamping its education system and winning the Best Technical University Award, 2013. To further increase the standards of education, PTU has entered into a MoU with University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) to form an “Institute of Excellence” in Chandigarh. This institute, which is due to start its first batch in June 2014 will focus on providing University of California standard of education at a fraction of the cost. The students studying at this “Institute of Excellence” will be selected from the affiliated colleges of PTU and the details of an entrance exam are being worked out.

Students will, apart from getting an excellent education, be able to exchange credits with UCSC, have the option of attending a semester or more at UCSC, or pursue their Masters at UCSC. The Institute of Excellence will attract international students to Punjab from all over the world, including US and will be a hub of innovation and experimentation. PTU will also very soon be sending a group of students from PTU affiliated colleges to UCSC for a summer programme so that they can learn from the one of the best technical education institutes in the world.

While the first batch of “Institute of Excellence” will have 60 students, the intake is expected to rise to 600 by its second year of operation. The institute will follow a trimester system and will also teach advanced courses like Artificial Intelligence, Mechatronics and Bio-Informatics. The speakers at the Technical Education Summit, 2014 will elaborate on the idea of Destination Punjab for Higher Education and “Institute of Excellence” so that students get a taste of opportunities that have been created for them and get a bright future.

Changing educational preferences

The world is changing and so are the mindsets, demands and the academic preferences of the students around. The students these days are more conscious and aware of their career choices. They know the latest courses available in the Universities, in and around the country and their respective career options. Students are the guiding force for the universities these days in many ways. Therefore, to help its students stay ahead always and provide them with every latest development in the sector of education; Punjab Technical University makes every possible effort to implement the latest of technologies in its colleges.

The PTU’s Institute of Excellence in collaboration with University of California, Santa Cruz, to be set up in Chandigarh is its recent and biggest step to compliment the changing educational preferences of students. By setting up a foreign institute in India, PTU aims give its students foreign level of education in the country itself. Punjab Technical University endeavours to facilitate its students with Global Standards of education in India only, so that they don’t need to go abroad for further studies.

According to Dr. Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, PTU who has been working steadfastly for making Punjab a global hub for higher education and innovation informed, “This is not a Memorandum of Understanding but a Memorandum of Commitment. It is in fact one of the finest examples of Indo-US collaboration when it comes to furthering technical education. There is a sense of urgency to fulfill the human development needs of the people and, therefore, we intend to start, albeit in a limited manner, as early as June 2014.”

“The long term vision of IOE is to enable any student who otherwise qualifies on merit to attend the institution even if he/she is unable to afford the cost. For this purpose, IOE intends to raise funds via grants and donation to finance scholarships for needy students and also to meet other obligations,” added Dr. Arora.

With this global and a distinguished step, PTU aims to make its students at par excellence from the students of any country and of any field of education.