BSNL To Open A Technical Varsity Having Centres At Different Locations

Telecom service provider BSNL a Public Sector Unit has initiated the plan of setting up of a technical university which will have various engineering and management programmes and courses on offer.

BSNL shall approach the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for the same and will also consult University Grants Commission (UGC) to acquire formal approval in 6-8 months from now.

BSNL Director (Consumer Mobility) Anupam Shrivastava told that BSNL would not face many obstacles to acquire approvals since few measures were taken by the Human Resource Development Ministry in 2008 to improve educational system. He further explained that institutions, which run short-term courses such as Defence Institute of Advance Technology, were converted transformed into formal and autonomous education institutions after the initiatives of HRD Ministry, hence the BSNL will find no issues in obtaining sanction from the respective higher education regulating bodies.

Shrivastava stated that as of now exact figures can be disclosed regarding how many seats will be offered at the BSNL's technical institute, however, the company's campus have enough capability and capacity to educate 1,500 to 3,000 students in one academic year.

The BSNL possess an underutilized centre in Ghaziabad, which was issued by United Nations, holding a capacity to train 2,500-3,000 students at a time. Likewise, another centre is located in Jabalpur.  Furthermore, 16 other centres are located elsewhere and each have a minimum capacity of catering 1,000 students as informed by Shrivastava.

The courses on offer would be related to cyber security and this formal course aims to produce 5 lakh professionals who will be proficient in this domain by 2018, this is a target set by government. The BSNL's decision of developing a technical training institute will be a part of its asset utilization scheme and may facilitate in minimizing losses.