SBTET inks MoU with BITS Pilani

Hyderabad: The State Board of Technical Education and Training (SBTET) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Work Integrated Learning Programmes (WILP) division, in an effort to design, develop, and deploy Technology Enabled Laboratories (TEL) for polytechnics and engineering institutions in Telangana on Thursday.

TEL project will be funded by SBTET and would be executed in multiple phases for two years that is from designing the remote and virtual labs in selected domains and programmes to develop the software interface and selecting the lab equipment to developing lab exercises and associated digital content, and finally training several faculty members who will be deployed in the labs in few selected institutions. With an aim to provide comprehensive experiential learning for students, over the years, BITS Pilani WILP has deployed about 10 remote labs (physical labs, which are accessible from anywhere and at any time) and 26 virtual labs (that allow for software simulation studies of various phenomena, which may be extremely challenging to study in the real environment or physical laboratories).

Prof G Sundar, Director, Off-Campus Programmes and Industry Engagement, BITS Pilani, remarked, "Over the last several years, we at BITS Pilani have designed, developed, and deployed several remote and virtual labs especially for the WILP for working professionals from across India and the globe. Such labs carry the immense potential to be developed as shared resources, which students from many institutions can use. As an Institution of Eminence, I am delighted that we will be sharing some of our best practices and expertise in this domain with the world beyond BITS Pilani for the larger good of students, other institutions, and society. And this collaboration with SBTET is our first major step in this regard, which makes this collaboration even more special."

Navin Mittal, IAS, Commissioner, Collegiate Education and Technical Education, Government of Telangana, said, "From technical education's perspective, optimal skills development in our students certainly requires access to the relevant experiential learning

opportunities."