Kerala budget 2024: Rs 250 crores for Digital university, scholarship for research in Oxford

Thiruvananthapuram: Rs 250 crores development work will be carried out in Kerala Digital university, finance minister K.N Balagopal said in his budget presentation speech. This is the first university in India to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) processor and has already received 16 patents, the minister said.

“A brain computing lab has been set up at the Kerala Digital University to promote research in neuroscience. Sir Andre Geim, a Nobel laureate and the inventor of graphene has joined the digital university as a visiting professor.

Within three years of its establishment, Digital university has been able to mobilise an assistance of Rs 200 crores from national and international agencies. By offering support to more than 80 startups, the Digital university has become the country’s largest incubator for hardware products,” the minister added.

The Digital university will be allowed to take loans as a revenue generation, self-sufficient institution from the first year of operation. The government will provide interest relief assistance for loans. The university has signed an MoU for academic collaboration with Oxford University. The top UK university will reportedly be designing a special research scholarship for Kerala students to carry out studies at Oxford, Balagopal said.

Those who complete their masters from Kerala Digital University, can continue their studies by doing PhD at Oxford university. There will be a condition that the students, who take up such studies, will need to return to Kerala and contribute to the state’s development for three years. Rs 10 crore will be earmarked for a special scholarship in this regard. Kerala digital university will have three regional centres in the north, east and central regions of the state, the minister promised.