The University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) was inaugurated and granted autonomy status by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, Bommai said his government was committed to developing UVCE into an institution on par with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), in three years.

He said the autonomous status was necessary for the institute to make it grow independently and assured that his government would not interfere in its functioning and yet provide complete support in terms of resources needed.

The inauguration of UVCE coincided with the 162nd birth anniversary of M Visvesvaraya, which is also observed as Engineers’ Day. Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who was present on the occasion, said the UVCE has become functional but maximum work was required from the students’ end to achieve greater heights. He also said the initiative was in the pipeline for the past 20 years but it was only under the present BJP government that it saw the light of the day. The minister also announced that CET rank students will get first preference for admissions to UVCE.

B Muthuraman, UVCE Chairman and former chairman of Tata International and Tata Steel, said the inauguration was a major milestone in the history of the group which runs many institutions and said all efforts will be made to make it one of the best universities for technical education in the country.