DRDO Labs Will Soon Be Accessible To Students Of Defence Tech Programme
(This News Article Is Originally Posted on LiveMint)
Students pursuing M.Tech in defence technology will be given access to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories to conduct research work.
Other than DRDO labs, they shall be offered access to defence PSUs and industries for conducting research and development, according to a fresh government plan to augment manpower in the defence technology space.
This will be applicable to all students who pursue a specialised M.Tech programme that is approved by the DRDO and technical education regulator All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Other than students access to DRDO and defence PSU labs, any institute or university that decides to offer this will be eligible to certain grants.
“This M.Tech. defence technology programme can be conducted at any AICTE affiliated institutes/universities, IITs, NITs or private engineering institutes. Institute of Defence Scientists & Technologists (IDST) will provide support to the institutes for conducting this program, which can be conducted in online as well as offline formats.” the union government said.
“The programme will be helpful to students seeking opportunities in the ever-expanding defence research and manufacturing sector,” it added. Access to DRDO labs will be helpful for students as it focuses on defence technology, and defence equipment R&D activities and are considered highly sophisticated.
DRDO believes that the initiative will enable the creation of a large pool of talented workforce for the defence sector. AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe said it “will not only generate skilled manpower pool in defence technology but will also create spin-off benefits in terms of new defence start-ups and entrepreneurs.”
India has been talking about improving industry-academia connect and co-creation and promotion of specialised education and R&D efforts. There are some 9,600 professional and technical colleges in the country under the regulatory purview of AICTE, of which 6,000 are engineering and technology colleges.
