Mangaluru: The National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) Surathkal inducted the newly admitted BTech students of the 2026–2030 batch at NITK campus on Tuesday. A total of 1,066 BTech students joined this academic year, comprising 834 male students and 232 female students.Addressing the gathering, drector Prof B Ravi told students that the next four years will bring profound changes in the world, which will shape their careers and life choices. “By 2030, your real competition for jobs may not be from fellow students, but from AI,” he said, noting that artificial intelligence already outperforms humans in “logical left-brain” capabilities such as reading, writing, remembering, locating, translating and monitoring. He urged students to work on their “right-brain” capabilities — curiosity, creativity, intuition, emotion, empathy, ethics, context, judgement, nuances and non-verbal communication, and combine these with AI to succeed in the future world.Prof Ravi highlighted that the institute’s newly redesigned curriculum, developed over the past three years, is built to strengthen such human capabilities. Alongside theory and lab courses, students will undertake four categories of life-skill activities — physical (sports), cultural (creative arts), technical (model fabrication) and professional (communication).He also pointed to a stronger institutional focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Students can pursue a parallel minor programme covering product design, fabrication and business plan development, supported by NITK’s alumni as mentors, co-founders and investors. Prof Ravi set an aspirational target for the batch–100 new student startups over the next four years; so that the number of job creators exceed the number of job seekers.Deputy director Prof Subhash Yaragal congratulated the incoming batch. The deans, chief warden and other Institute functionaries delivered presentations on NITK’s academic structure, research opportunities, campus facilities and student life.The UG Induction Programme is designed to enable a smooth transition for new students into the institute’s academic and cultural environment. A separate programme was organised for more than 1,500 parents who came to the Institute. They were given a tour of the institute facilities, followed by addresses by the Institute functionaries. The parents were urged to partner with the Institute in the progression of their wards, and to regularly keep in touch with them.
