First of its kind: State govt partners with US varsity for higher education under NEP

Team Udayavani, Oct 26, 2021, 9:56 AM IST

Bengaluru: An ‘Integrated Twinning Program’ for Polytechnic students in Tourism and Hospitality and ‘Cyber Security’ by the Department of Collegiate and Technical Education (GoK) in partnership with Montgomery County Community College, Pennsylvania, USA was unveiled with an aim to internationalize higher education as per New Education Policy-2020

Speaking on the occasion, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, the Minister for Higher Education and Skill Development said, this program will be provided at Sri Jayachamarajendra (Govt) Polytechnic, Bengaluru from the current academic year (2021-22) and as per the mutually signed agreement between the Department of Collegiate and Technical Education (DCTE) and Montgomery County Community College (MCCC), Associate Degree will be awarded to students who complete this course.

The fees for each student for the 3 years course are supposed to cost around Rs 20 lakh (including tuition fees, boarding and lodging, local travel, and medical insurance) and it will be completely borne by the Government of Karnataka in the form of 100 per cent scholarship for all students enrolled into the program, Minister said.

“The government is committed to exploring many more such possibilities for global partnerships in higher education to provide qualitative industry-ready workforce. The very essence of the New Education Policy-2020 is to provide outcome-based skill education to the needy to make an industry-ready workforce,” said Narayan.

The program will have an intake of 24 students each for both the courses for the academic year 2021-22 and students will complete the first year of study as per the C20 curriculum at SJ (Govt) Polytechnic along with some preparatory coursework in English language and mathematics.

After successfully completing all requirements for the 1st year, students will take the remaining 20 courses offered by MCCC online while studying at SJ (Govt) Polytechnic (for 8 Courses) during the 2nd year and on-campus at MCCC campus in the USA (12 Courses) in their 3rd year of study.

Students during the program will have full access to MCCC’s student support services, including 24/7 online tutoring, library resources, academic advising and wellness support, as well as MCCC’s athletics, clubs, and organisations. After successful completion of the program, students will be awarded an Associate Degree by MCCC and will be required to make a choice of either enrolling for a One-year paid apprenticeship at Montgomery or getting a lateral entry into an undergraduate program at any of the 30 transfer partner institutions in the USA.

During his address, Minister Narayan invited MCCC to open an institution in the state of Karnataka.

Dr Victoria L. Bastecki-Perez, President, Montgomery County Community College, Marcel L. Groen, Treasurer, Board of Trustees, Montgomery County Community College virtually attended the event. Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, a renowned scientist also virtually attended. G. Kumar Naik, ACS, Dept of Higher Education, GoK, Pradeep P, Commissioner, Dept of Collegiate and Technical Education were physically present.

As many as 5OOO students had submitted applications seeking entry for this novel program. Finally, students have been selected based on their top marks. While 50 per cent of seats have been given on the basis of reservation, remaining 50 per cent is for general quota.

(With inputs from IANS)