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.