22-04-2025
COMED KARES Innovation Hub inaugurated in Hubballi
Minister for Medical Education and Skill Development Sharanprakash Patil has said that as just over 10% of graduating students both at the State and national level are employable, the State government has prioritised skill development and constituted a skill council for the purpose.
Inaugurating COMED KARES, the ninth Innovation Hub set up by COMED-K (Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka) in Hubballi on Tuesday, he said that the skill council comprises representatives from industry, academia and the government.
Dr. Patil said that the skill council has structured various courses keeping in mind the technological advances, including Artificial Intelligence, so that graduates acquire future skills by the time they complete their respective degrees.
The Minister said that unemployment is a major problem at the national level and at the State level and the government has adopted a two-pronged approach to address it.
'Under our guarantee scheme, Yuva Nidhi, we are providing allowance to 2.8 lakh unemployed youths. Of them, nearly 40% are engineering graduates. And, to make them employable, we have come up with multi-skill development centres at Koppal, Kalaburagi and Mysuru to provide hands-on training,' he said.
Emphasising the need for students to acquire skills while learning, he said that the idea is to equip them with the right kind of skill-sets so that they are ready not just for India but for the world.
'If you are skilled, you will be in great demand,' he said.
The Minister also said that the government is ready to collaborate with ERA Foundation and COMED-K in setting up innovation hubs at various places.
Pro Vice-Chancellor of KLE Technological University (KLETU) Ashok Shettar emphasised the need for taking learning out of classrooms and making it more experiential and outcome-based.
Lauding COMED-K for taking the initiative of establishing innovation hubs that aim at helping students in developing new skill-sets, he requested it to consider establishing more such centres in North Karnataka.
Lauding the initiative, Hubballi-Dharwad Central MLA Mahesh Tenginakai emphasised the need for the government to implement its Beyond Bengaluru programme effectively.
Chairman of COMED-K M.R. Jayaram spoke about the objective behind establishing the hubs and how they will help in making graduating students more employable.
He too stressed the need for converting colleges from teaching institutions to learning institutions.
CEO of ERA Foundation Muralidhar P. spoke about innovation hubs. Executive secretary S. Kumar was present.
COMED KARES Hubballi will serve nine engineering colleges in the region providing students with access to cutting-edge resources and industry-relevant training.
The hub is designed to bridge the gap between academia and industry by offering state-of-the-art facilities and programmes.
