India gets its first Digital University in Kerala

India first Digital University has been set up in Mangalapuram, Kerala’s Technocity.

Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology (Digital University) has been established by upgrading the two-decade old state government’s Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IIITM-K).

The university is formed with a vision of creating a futuristic institution of higher learning, aspiring to set a global benchmark in Digital technologies and its management. The Digital University is part of the state’s resolve to embrace new technologies and desire to use them for bringing positive changes in the life of people and become a global hub for higher learning and technology.

India’s first Digital University will focus on postgraduate programmes and research along with building strong industry-academic and academic-academic linkages with leading institutions in the country and abroad. Developed on a 10-acre campus in Mangalapuram, the university will provide education to 12,000 residential scholars on the campus and many technology-linked learners outside.

The university seeks to lead the Digital Transformation Initiatives announced by the Kerala Government in the Budget 2021 and has been started with five schools -- School of Computer Science and Engineering; School of Digital Sciences; School of Electronic Systems and Automation; School of Informatics; and School of Digital Humanities and Liberal Arts, covering science, technology and humanities aspects of the Digital world.

Each school will offer PG programmes in Computer Science, Informatics, Applied Electronics and Humanities with various specialisations.

The Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, present at the inaugural ceremony virtually, presided over the function. In his presidential address, the Chief Minister said the launch of the first Digital University in the country will open tremendous opportunities for youngsters.

“There should not be a digital divide in the society. The government is involved in the efforts of attaining digital excellence in various fields. We need to foster technically-talented people in accordance with the changes in the new world,” Chief Minister Vijayan said.

Based on the thoughts that the changes in the fourth industrial revolution is going to disrupt conventional modules of work and business, the Digital University has been set up to provide intellectual support to lap up the new world of opportunities arising through artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Data Analytics and other digital transformation courses.