– Reshma Ravishanker

The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has formed a committee for integration of Artificial Intelligence into education in line with the vision of Union Budget 2025.

This year, during the Union budget presentation, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman attested importance to the integration of artificial intelligence in education, industry and the setting up of a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education will be set up with a total outlay of 500 crore.    

Former vice chancellor of Bangalore University prof K C Venugopal has been appointed chairman of the committee that has been constituted to advise AICTE on the integration of AI in higher education.

“AICTE Declares 2025 as the Year of All. In line with Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of making India a Vishwa Guru, AICTE is leading the charge in empowering 14,000+ colleges and 40 million students to embrace the future of Al. The Al is a domain poised to reshape education and society,” the Council said in an official communication.

“AICTE is endeavouring to lead the transformation of technical education in India by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and industry readiness in institutions. Over the past year, AICTE has established nine Indovation Centers, fostering robust industry-academia collaboration, with initiatives including 900 technology scouting activities, 65 IP and Tech Transfer meets, and programs promoting entrepreneurship, industry visits and joint research. AICTE has urged all its approved institutions to affirm India’s leadership in Al and Al integration in Education,” they said.

Prof. K. R. Venugopal has been appointed as the chairman and among the members are Dr. Amita Dev DG, VIPS, (Ex-VC, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Delhi), Prof Pijush Samui, Professor, National Institute of Technology, Patna, Dinanath Kolhkar, ex-senior vice president, TCS.

The committee has been entrusted with the task of Creation of Al factory at AICTE headquarters, setting up a Teaching Lab development at AICTE approved institutions, AI Domain specific content creation, content on Ethical use of Al among others.

Prof Venugopal said, “The government has allocated Rs 25,000 crore towards AI this year. There is a need for advanced research. Today, no degree is complete without the integration of cutting-edge concepts of AI, robotics, data analysis, data science and machine learning. In this direction, we are looking at helping students and professionals be equipped with new-age skills.

“We cannot miss that traditional engineering branches in colleges such as mechanical, civil and electrical are being shut due to lack of admissions. These emerging subjects are where our focus has to be to make India a leader in AI.” 

Also read: Artificial intelligence: great opportunity to remedy India’s learning deficit