Digital University of Kerala receives 500 applications for doctoral programmes

India’s first digital university, Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, which began its admission process for the first academic session in May, has received a tremendous response from students.  

Nearly 500 applications have been received for 22 vacancies of various PhD programmes at the university. The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IIITM-K) was upgraded to the digital university in January.  

Shiksha caught up with K Pradeep Kumar, Chairperson of Admissions Committee, Digital University of Kerala, to understand the ongoing admission process at the varsity. Scroll down to read the full story. 

K Pradeep Kumar said, “We received nearly 500 applications for the 22 vacancies of PhD courses. We offer three types of PhDs – full-time, part-time and industry PhD. The majority of candidates had applied for full-time PhD.” 

He said, “The admission process for PhD programmes began on May 3. We shortlisted students either on the basis of entrance exam (Digital University Research Aptitude Test) or GATE score (80 percentile or above) or NET/JRF. Currently, we are conducting interviews of shortlisted candidates. The process will continue till July-end. For PhDs, we have started with four schools of knowledge – School of Computer Science and Engineering; School of Digital Sciences; School of Electronic Systems and Automation; and School of Informatics.” 

When asked when and how admissions to MSc and MTech courses will take place, Pradeep said, “For admission to MSc and MTech programmes, candidates are required to have a valid GATE score. If they don’t have a valid GATE score, there have to appear for an entrance exam called Digital University Aptitude Test, which will be held on August 29. After that, there will be an interview. There are around 30 seats each for MTech programmes and 30-40 seats each for MSc programmes.” 

He said, “We are also running a postgraduate diploma in e-governance, which is mainly for the government employees. They come on deputation for one year. We are also offering specialised courses on artificial intelligence (AI), AI hardware, cyber security engineering, cyber-physical systems and signal process, and connected systems and intelligence.” 

When asked if the courses will be online since it is a digital university, he said, “No, the courses will not be online after the pandemic. We have got two campuses – the old IIIMK campus and another 10-acre campus. Students will be back to the campus post COVID. We are mainly focusing on new digital technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chain and big data analytics.” 

Read more: 

• India's  first digital varsity; check details here 
• Kerala  University Courses & Fees 2021 
• Kerala  University Admission 2020