Times News NetworkMangaluru: A new ‘bold and balanced’ engineering curriculum has been implemented by the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, starting with the BTech batch of 2026.The total number of credits has been reduced, while allowing interested students to pursue an additional Honours degree in their main discipline, or a Minor degree in another department or inter-disciplinary field.The total number of credits obtained from theory courses (taught in classrooms) will now nearly equal the credits obtained from practical activities outside the classroom.Given that the weekly engagement hours for a practice credit are double those for a theory credit, students will effectively spend 2/3rd of their time outside the classrooms. This includes lab work, life-skill activities, industry internships, R&D projects, and business startup planning, a release from NITK said.Professor Annappa, dean (academics), said: “The new curriculum was developed over the last three years, following many meetings with industry and alumni. They expect engineering graduates to have the right combination of theoretical knowledge, practical skills, soft skills and mindset. The new curriculum allows students to explore different career pathways including industry, R&D and entrepreneurship.”According to Professor Govind Raj Mandela, dean (student welfare): “Life-skill activities are an important part of the new curriculum. These are divided into four types of activities: physical (sports), cultural (creative arts), technical (fabrication), and professional (communication). Each student is expected to spend at least two hours each week on each of the four types of activities, guided by expert coaches.”Dr Nagendrappa H, associate dean (sports), said a lot of planning went into ensuring that 1100-plus students can simultaneously participate in various life-skill activities. Each activity has a faculty coordinator, supported by coaches and staff members. “It was so pleasing to watch the students take part in all the activities with great enthusiasm,” he said.Dr Geetha V, associate dean (life-skills), said: “The students were so excited. I personally felt very happy. It was like they were making friendship with themselves.”NITK director Prof B Ravi said the goal is to prepare students for the AI Era, when the importance of technical knowledge may be superseded by human values such as curiosity, creativity, intuition, emotion, empathy, ethics, context and judgment.“We are betting on the new curriculum to produce well-rounded individuals and successful professionals contributing to a Viksit Bharat by 2047,” Prof Ravi added.
