NIT-K says it has introduced revised ‘bold, balanced’ engineering curriculum

NIT-K says under the revised curriculum students will spend two-thirds of their time outside classrooms

| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The National Institute of Technology-Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, said on Friday that it has introduced a revised, “bold and balanced” engineering curriculum for the BTech batch of 2026.The total number of credits have been reduced in the revised curriculum, while allowing interested students to pursue an additional Honours degree programme in their primary discipline, or Minors degree in another department or inter-disciplinary field, the institute said in a release.The total number of credits obtained from theory courses, taught inside 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 that for a theory credit, the students will effectively spend two-thirds of their time outside the classrooms. This includes laboratory work, life-skills activities, industry internship, research and development (R&D) project, and business startup planning.Annappa, Professor and Dean (Academic Programs), who earlier headed the Career Development Centre, said: “The new curriculum was developed over the last three years with 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.”“Life-skill activities are an important part of the new curriculum”, Govind Raj Mandela, Professor and Dean (Student Welfare) said. “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 per week on each of the four types of activities, guided by expert coaches.”Nagendrappa H., Associate Dean (Sports) said that a lot of planning went for ensuring that 1,100+ students can simultaneously participate in various life-skill activities. Each activity has a faculty coordinator, supported by coaches and staff members.Director of the institute B. Ravi said: “Our goal is to prepare students for the AI era, when the importance of technical knowledge may be exceeded by human values such as curiosity, creativity, intuition, emotion, empathy, ethics, context, and judgement. We are betting on the new curriculum to produce well-rounded individuals and successful professionals contributing to Viksit Bharat by 2047.” Published - September 04, 2026 07:04 pm IST